JOB SEARCHING

I am spending my day up in the air as I travel for a job interview. I was finishing up with packing this morning when it occurred to me what this whole process reminds me of. I was thinking about how it is so funny and true when people say that when you have an interview, you are interviewing the company also. Trust me, this is 100% true although it may not feel like it. This reminded me so much of the formal recruitment process. Sounds silly, right? Hear me out.

When you apply for a job you are telling that job that you are interested in them. If they offer you a phone interview it is mutual. You’ve made it through the first round of the process. Finally, you get to the actual face-to-face interview. You may still have several applications out and possible other interviews coming up in the coming weeks, but your interviewer has narrowed down their selection pool to only a fraction of those that applied. This reminds me of the Preference round. You are both trying to sell your best abilities and qualities to each other. Finally, the job offer comes in and you have to make the decision to accept or not. Tell me this isn’t a mutual selection process.

I think as you begin job searching it is easy to forget that you, as sorority women, have been through a process very similar to this before. No, it isn’t the same, but the overall process is very similar. The best advice I can give you, from one job seeker to another, is to be authentic. In the professional sense, treat it like an interview, but in the conversation act like you are just talking to your current boss or how you would if you were offered the job. There is no reason to present a false image of who you are. That is who interviewers want to see.