You see yourself a mover/shaker? You going to be lining up deals and inking contracts? Then get used to waiting. Your life isn’t a half-hour scripted series – no roll credits, scroll to next episode, cue theme music, and bingo-bango! the deal be done, chico, and you’re skipping to the bank.
Two ways to attack the waiting period. The first is with your ego on a pedestal: how dare they make me wait? Don’t they know who I am? Well, I’m nobody, but it’s still rude.
Or –
How could they make me wait this long? Didn’t they see my qualifications? Didn’t they whiff the desperation I be reeking?
Or –
Replay the entire interview like a TiVo’ed Lifetime movie you can’t delete: did I say the right things? Did they misinterpret my words? Did I offend someone?
Method deuce: go in with no ego.
See it isn’t about you – a difficult concept for those who wear their interviewing ability like a merit badge, tallying their flawless interview-to-job-offer stats like notches on a bedpost. A sign clear like crystal that their reach never exceeded their grasp.
Not nobody interviews you to advance your career. The interview is about advancing the best interests of the company. Whether you’re that person or not isn’t a reflection on you.
Wait – backtrack, flip that: if their decision makes you feel more or less whole, then you’re already missing a piece no job or salary can fill.
Not to say you should be delighted to get passed on. “Show me a happy loser, I’ll show you someone with a short-lived Hollywood career.”
But get the job, don’t get the job – says nada about a person’s character.
The only thing that says anything is this: how do you spend that time waiting? The world doesn’t pause while waiting on this one, this miniscule deal, this microcosm of a negotiation in the big picture of things. You got to be stirring other pots, simmering sauces and catching whiffs. Because with several pots cooking, why sweat the buns in the oven? – they’ll rise in their own time. In the long-run game, that’s how you earn maximum bonus.
Then if you get an offer, super-duper. Put pots on the back burner.
If you don’t, battling ego is a 24-7. There be no ceasefires, friend. So easy, to take it personally. Sulk into the office with a chip on your shoulder that’d have Atlas asking you for tips. Stop giving your best, stop anticipating the needs of others. Hey, they passed on you, right? So screw them. Start looking for another opportunity elsewhere, because you know this isn’t the source.
Or…
You let it go. Harder than it looks. But you do it anyway – keep doing what got you noticed in the first place. No, scratch that – do it better. Every time your goddamn contagiously cheerful mug waltzes by, every time their new hire messes up, make them ask themselves: “Did we make a mistake?”
In the meantime, keep them pots a-stirring.
Photo Credit: 30miller
