Living in the Midwest certainly comes with it's challenges, especially in the winter. This weekend was no exception as we had an unexpected snowstorm sneak up on us. We happened to be out of town visiting my grandmothers in Northwest Iowa and woke up on Sunday morning with an inch of ice on our windshield and rapidly deteriorating road conditions. Our choices were to stay and hope that the roads would clear up, or make a mad dash for the nearest exit just in case it got worse. We decided to head out and hope we would eventually get ahead of the storm and get home safely. It ended up being the right decision, even though my children were not thrilled with it as it meant less time at the swimming pool and no lunch out with grandma.
It got quite interesting at the beginning of the road trip as visibility was less than a quarter of a mile. Our kids were troopers and we ended up having a lot of fun on the way home. Instead of disappointment, we changed our attitude to gratitude for safety and a memorable trip home.
How does this relate to a job search? Easy. I hear all kinds of stories from clients and candidates alike that run into unintended and unexpected road blocks, obstacles, and issues that might otherwise de-rail an interview process or ongoing discussions. The outcome is 100% dependent upon how you react to the situation when thrown a curveball. You really only have three choices:
1) Express disappointment and frustration at something that can't really be controlled. I could have spent the 4.5 hour road trip home on Sunday mulling over how rotten the weather was. It has already been a long winter in Iowa and this only adds to the misery. But what good does that do? I am pretty sure my kids and wife would not have put up with my moaning for long. Same goes for an interview. No one wants to hear belly-aching when schedules don't align well or something changes during the course of a search.
2) Do nothing. One option for us was to ignore the pending bad weather and simply enjoy a little more time at the pool and with relatives. But it would have been ignoring reality and possibly caused more headache later with an even longer trip home or even road closures. During the course of an interview if things slow down or change course candidates especially tend to take no news as no news and sit back and wait for someone to call them. Sometimes that works, but if you are waiting for your phone to simply ring or your inbox to blow up with incoming messages, you may be waiting a long time.
3) Take action and remain positive. I would be lying if I told you my knuckles weren't white during the first 45 minutes of our trip. But we had planned ahead, packed snacks, took our time, and took an alternative route home to avoid driving into the teeth of the storm. When an employer changes the rules mid-interview or a candidate decides to present new information that can be mis-interpreted, do your due diligence, seek some answers, and have a healthy conversation about them.
I will let you decide which is the obvious approach to take when faced with an ever-changing landscape with interviews and opportunities. You are better off to expect the unexpected and react accordingly when, not if, things go in a different direction than you might have originally expected when entering into the interview.
No comments:
Post a Comment