This morning, Jennifer headed out for a somewhat annual family vacation to South Padre Island. You could say it’s her Las Vegas. Tagging along are the usual crew: her mom, her two adult children, the daughter’s boyfriend and her friend John. Why didn’t I go? I lack vacation time currently (thanks IRS) plus this is a family matter. Wait, the boyfriend and John aren’t related. They’ve been in Jennifer’s circle much longer than me and it’s OK. We hope to go somewhere, just the two of us, in March. I’ll have extra time to tackle other matters anyway.
As for the interview, boy did I have to cram! I only knew it was scheduled yesterday. No sweat. I did some decent homework to prepare. What is it? Oh, my employer has a course or training thing for those interested in management. And before you go…
- I thought you were through with that after some bad experiences a decade ago!
- You’ve already done pseudo management twice before in your 24 years there!
With the first point, there has been some philosophical changes in the leadership as well as different people. They reviewed my work thus far and asked me to apply. I responded with thank you but no thank you while explaining why I wasn’t interested, namely on how it turned sour. Besides, I like what I do more now and I’m more useful this way. After some convincing that the rationale for the rejections I experienced were no longer valid nor would be considered, I said. OK, I’ll do it.
Since I went into the interview knowing there would be no guarantees on certain things, namely being promoted, and even answered in the written application, I’m good with the possibility I will never be a manager; I did the best I could and regardless of the outcome, I had a fun time talking, laughing and making the two interviewers laugh. It is funny. When you have nothing to lose, those are the greatest interviews.
I do have another for a different department which is equally prestigious. It’s delayed since they’re continuing to take applicants until the end of the week. This is going to require way more studying and preparing.