Episode 8: Finding Some Sunshine in the Job Search Clouds

This month’s instalment in my monthly #jobsearch series was not so much delayed by a 2-week hiatus from all social media as it was enhanced by it. You can find and binge (re)read the entire series through my LinkedIn Profile page, and I always invite your comments and direct messages to keep the dialogue alive. As July melts away into August, I have 3 sizzling hot topics for exploration: infinity #interview sequences, what’s underneath a simple question, and finding and sustaining a sense of humor when the joke appears to be on you.  

Infinity Interviews—when a first leads to a second, a second to a third; then, 4 months later, you realize maybe they’re really not that into you.

It can sometimes be hard to tell whether an employer is dragging out the interview process for legitimate reasons such as pending funding, rapidly changing needs, highly participatory #hiring processes, and more. Deciding whether to ride it out or jump off the carousel is not easy.

• In a recent interview sequence that over the course of 4 months morphed from the originally described 3 steps to a total of 9 virtual and in-person interviews, follow-ups, and check-ins, I felt the courtship had begun to sour at the halfway mark but stuck it out anyway because—as a free agent—I had nothing to lose and likely something to learn by waiting.
• Although I enjoy getting to share this experience with readers, I regret my decision to stay in the search. When the hiring manager finally called to let me know that “after many difficult internal conversations and extended deliberations, the position [was] not going to be filled after all,” I was disappointed for all the time, travel, and energy I had put into a failed process.
• Unfortunately, that feeling only intensified when I read an announcement just two weeks later that they had promoted someone from within into the very position for which I had applied. Integrity matters. I cannot see myself ever looking at them again.

Reading between the li(n)es—#interviewquestions that initially seem straightforward but may reveal more about the employer later than they do in the moment you respond.

• An employer who found me via LinkedIn and recruited me for a writing position asked for his first question, “I need to understand how you place value on your work. What is the least amount you would accept per page for your it?” I calmly pivoted to a discussion centered not on page rates but project complexity and could see the blood begin to drain from the interviewer’s face. It was simply a “how cheap will you go" question and nothing more. I passed on him before he passed out.
• In a cabinet-level #highereducation search, a committee member asked me, “Do you have a thick skin? These days this job seems to require someone with a thick skin. Tell us how you got yours.” It was not until the trip home from the interview when I realized that this was actually the #college's way of asking about academic freedom, shared governance, and employee morale without specifically using any of those words. Language matters.
• For a position advertised as "fully remote with just 2 employer-paid meetings per year at national headquarters," I was asked, “Is Iowa where you would plan to have your home office? There are so many other places you could live. Why Iowa?” It dawned on me later and was confirmed in a post-rejection debriefing that they really were not open to remote employees outside a 1-hour drive from HQ. Okay. Why not just say so from the beginning?

“Are you having a laugh?”—Remember, it’s not a good day until you’ve had a good laugh, even when the changing #career tide seems to be moving against you. So, I will try to land this article with some levity—my top 3 laughs of the past month or so.

• During a Zoom interview for a #development position, and for which I had already relocated myself twice because of unexpected tree trimming immediately outside my home office, a huge crash interrupted my train of thought and led the interviewer to share, “If hired, you will need to find a safe and distraction-free workspace.” Her comment was punctuated by a cat dropping from nowhere onto her lap before scrambling away, and it was all I could do to keep my poker face in the irony of the moment.
• Another interviewer asked about my #socialmedia, “You seem to post a fair amount about craft beer. Are you a beer drinker yourself?” After I answered in the affirmative, he deadpan asked whether I might consider “beer mailing” him some product that was not yet distributed in his home state. Suffice to say, a job offer and that shipment did not sail.
• In an in-person panel interview, I was asked whether I liked “to get my hands dirty.” I immediately shared my preference for hiring good people, supporting and investing in them to do their jobs, and always being accessible for questions, input, and their ongoing professional development. The questioner interrupted me to clarify, “No. I just noticed you have the hands of a gardener, and I’m wondering if I’m right. And remember, this is just lunch.” We all laughed and talked about trees, tools, and trellises from that point on. 

With that I will close this 8th episode indoors and return outside to weed my perennial beds. Thanks for reading and please continue to share your questions, comments, and ideas for future articles. You can also find me on X. As always, my DMs remain open for the open-minded. I’ll see you again next month.