Job Interview Woes

"Confident potential employees make for an insecure manager."

I said this statement when I was talking to my girlfriend who was recalling a conversation she had with one of her business professors. She was told that “Hiring managers look for more reasons not to hire as opposed to putting you on the team”

This made me wonder: 1. Is this really true? And 2. If it is true, we’re pretty doomed.

When walking into an interview you have to hold your head high because in about two minutes you have to sell yourself and explain why you’re the best fit for the job that you’re going for. It’s a little unfair to me when you think about it. The person across the table from me gets to judge every single last thing about me while all I can do is sit there and hope and pray that I get the job. They look at my natural hair that I have more than likely twisted into some type of updo since my blonde fro wouldn’t be considered the status quo in an office setting. My outfit is next to follow, not to tight, not too small, no wrinkles, down to the shoes: no sandals, scuff marks, rips or holes and god forbid if you’re wearing a dress/skirt with no stockings! And this is all before I open up my mouth.

I can honestly say that I HATE the interview process. You have to sit through one, two and sometimes three callback interviews and there’s still a possibility that you will not get the job. And if you go back and try to get the answer why you weren’t hired, there is no answer, or that pacifist type of answer “you were really great, positive, attentive etc. etc, we just went with someone else. Allow me to vent here and say if you cannot give me an answer why you couldn’t hire me then you obviously need to hire me. The other person must have paled my attentiveness and positivity so much that there was no real reason I did not get hired but it was reason enough to hire someone else. This makes perfect sense.

Back to the interview. You’re sitting there, across from the hiring manager KNOWING that your qualifications exceed those needed to do the job, to the point where you are at manager status, however there is still a 50/50 chance you could get hired. Let’s be honest here, a manager is not going to hire someone who could be coming for their job in just a few short months. The only exception to this is if the manager is planning on leaving soon. And by knowing these odds while I sit in that interview room I begin to wonder is this even worth it? Am I even going to get this job? But before I start to think too negatively, I say a quick prayer and say “Hello, I’m Lenora, it’s nice to meet you.”

-N.P