“Tell me about a time you overcame a challenge…”

“Tell me about a time you overcame a challenge.”

“Yea sure! Can I have a few minutes to think?”

“Yes, absolutely.”

Dorothy’s brain goes into overdrive mode. God I really need to have a compelling example. What is a compelling example? Oh! What about that one time I created a Google doc to track the audio scripts for that campaign? But how do I frame it so it sounds cool? Because all I really did was just create a table in a Google sheet. It doesn’t sound that cool…But I know it’s really about how I say it! People have done way less cool things and made it sound awesome…But maybe it’s just not good enough…oh god what’s a time I did something meaningful and awesome? THINK. Holy shit how much time has passed? Some answer is better than no answer at all. Ok, ready set go you need to talk now or they’re going to take your silence as a worse answer. READY SET GO.

“So I can talk about a time when I helped create an audio script organization system for the clients…” Dorothy started. Her heart is pounding and her brain is scattered. She knows the story and the structure of her response is not going well at all. She feels herself repeating lines over and over, such as, “The clients were very responsive to the document and using it for the rest of the campaign.” She bombed it. Absolutely and horrifically bombed it. Another one for the books.

After the final thank you’s, Dorothy clicks the ‘End Call” button on her phone and takes a deep breath. She feels relieved that it’s over, but at the same time, she is upset that she did not take the time to prepare for this question last night. THEY ALWAYS ASK THIS QUESTION, YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER…What a waste of preparation time when one question can bomb it all.

Interviews have never been Dorothy’s strong suit. She’s the type of person who would prefer to text someone rather than call someone. If she can write it out, she can think through it and make edits before hitting send. But then again, of course she understands that the point of an interview is to test a person’s ability to think on the spot, and this is something that she utterly fails at. But interviews can also be all about preparation. Dorothy knows that if she prepares for every possible interview question and worst possible scenario, she can pass with flying colors. It is just such a PAIN to do…but in order to land that perfect job, it’s also a necessary thing to do.

As these thoughts roil around through her head, she takes another sigh and decides to move on. Every failure in the present is a lesson for the future. Everything is going to be ok, and there will always be a next time.