Interview prep: Digging your career diamonds- the good, the bad, and even the ugly
Interviews! Last time, we explored the importance of getting to know your own self as a much bigger construct than the result of any one interview and as a much wider casted net of strengths that could attribute to any number of jobs in your future. Now that you hopefully feel more grounded and secure within your own self as a multidimensional human being, we can start narrowing in to your unique experience with work in general including the good, the bad, and the ugly. That’s the question, isn’t it? What the heck do we do with those bad and ugly parts when it comes to being asked questions in interviews that hit at the heart of them? What if there were questions you could ask yourself in the privacy of your own personal time that are the best at sifting out the diamonds from the rough so you are armed with only the diamonds at the mere mention of past work challenges?
5 tips on digging your diamonds
Take Stock: Think of all the different jobs you’ve had in your past. You can either go by a resume you’ve already created or use this list as a brainstorm for creating your first resume (However, refrain from including the answers to these next questions in your resume). For each job, try to remember and list things you liked and disliked about it, things you felt confident in, things you improved on, and things that just flat out were not your skill set.
Celebrate the good: For the things you liked, add them to your list of passions from the last blog if they’re not already there. For the things you felt confident in, add them to your strengths list if they’re not already there. For both of these, find a way to celebrate these wins retroactively. It might look like doing these things again for the simple joy of doing them, teaching them to others, or sharing a story about them with others. The more you celebrate and spend time with these professional peaks, the more space they’ll be top of mind and available when they’re needed.
Leverage the bad: For the things you were able to learn, what helped you improve? Was it learning by doing, drawing pictures, talking with a supportive boss or coworker about it, physically moving your body while contemplating, and or practicing over and over? Whatever your answers are, list these as possible helpful tools that could make a huge difference during future learning curves. They can also be great to keep in mind for deciding how supportive a prospective work environment would be for your specific learning style.
Flip the Ugly: For the things you felt like you fell flat on your face at, was there anything about the situation that was particularly unhelpful? If so, list those things and ask yourself if you could change anything about that situation (other than your unique self), what would you adjust so that it may have helped you feel less like a failure and more curious about the activity itself? Be sure to consider the amount of focus on actions rather than people as a whole, setting including outdoors or indoors, temperature, lighting, background noise, encouragement/discouragement from others, amount of social support you felt like you had at the time, working directly with others vs. alone…
Clarify your reset: If you were facing a learning curve in a future job, what do the answers to the last two questions inform you that would be important for helping you make that climb? Set the answers to this question as expectations of your own regarding your new work environment. This is your way of protecting your own self and maximizing your own potential by ensuring you have as many resources as possible when the going gets tough. You’ll also be helping your prospective employers by letting them know exactly how to ensure you’re able to contribute the best of your best to they’re overall performance as a company. Win, win!!
To wrap up, revisiting the yuck of your past experience, especially in the area of profession, can be extra daunting. However, the above tips have hopefully allowed you a template for gaining momentum and energy from the good to strain out the meaning from what was, while letting go of the unhelpful, setting yourself up with wisdom for your future tailored to your unique talents, skills, and mode of improvement.