Interview or date?

Tonight is the big night…it’s an interview. That’s right, just like a first date with someone that you aren’t quite sure if they are Friday worthy, it’s on a week night and uncomfortable. I’ve compared finding the right job to dating, well I’m about to go on another first date.

Just like any good relationship, it’s all about taking it slow. With internet dating becoming the new norm in our society, it’s almost as if dating has become a job interview that you landed off of Monster.com, why not compare it the other way around as well? I mean, for a first date most people take time to pick out the perfect outfit, do their hair, make sure they are the best representation of themselves they can be. Already I have laid out my outfit, played with my hair, and decided no to the eye shadow but yes to the mascara!

Ironically my interview is at night, which make this even more like a first date. So all day I get to fantasize about what will be said, how they will look, and if we will have chemistry. That’s right, chemistry is not only for dating. There is this underlying tone to every interview, they want to like you if they have to see you every day. I honestly believe an interview is what a first date should be called anyway, because it’s just a bunch of questions and formalities, and just like an interview most of the time you know after the first one if this is going anywhere,  if you feel something, and recently I’ve been a bit of a one date sort of girl.

What about speed dating? That is like a job fair. And then there is the resume. Well, that’s your facebook, myspace, blog, insert dating website name here, with all of that we know more about people on the first date than we probably want to know. In many cases, people probably have passed up their soul mates because they didn’t look good on paper…in my case that would be a certain dream job, on paper I probably looked like 5 and they thought, “I could totally get a 9, why waste my time with a 5?!”

The irony is, that job searching is like looking for your soul mate via the wanted ads. I know that I’m not interviewing for my soul mate, but I want them to think, “I want her,” obviously in the employment sense of the word! You know, catch their interest on paper, but get them to be “attracted” to you in person.

So I’ve decided it’s time to approach this like a date. I’m going to dress nice, suit of course, do my hair, wear my flats, you never want to be taller than your date as a girl! But I’m going to go one step further, as an experiment of sorts. I’m going to be me. I’m going to be the me that’s not stressed out or bothered, the me that is confident that I’m a pretty smart cookie and can do anything I put my mind to, the same blunt me that got the interview in the first place. I’m going to radiate, “you want this” and they are going to know, “it’s okay, I want this too.”

Now there is always the chance that when you walk in you think, no this is not right. You don’t feel comfortable, you will be thrown off your game. If that happens, be honest! Most of us have walked into a place and gone, no I’m not working here. That’s okay too. So I’m prepared to meet the job of my dreams, or a dud, but either way I’m preparing for the stud, and they better be ready because I’m looking for a second date.