238: How to take that dream job off the pedestal!

Interview Boss

Hosts Emma and Sarah discuss psychological strategies for managing the intense pressure of interviewing for a 'dream job.' Through listener

Key takeaways

• Stephanie's journey shows how navigating major health crises like cancer can lead to unexpected and better career redirections.
• Using physical tools, such as A-Z post-it tabs in an interview notebook, can help candidates stay grounded during high-stakes meetings.

Main topics

• Interview Mindset
• Managing Interview Nerves

Notable quotes

this is a conversation I'm capable of having

Conclusion

The episode offers a toolkit of psychological reframing techniques to

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:02) If we've been your job search besties and helped you in some way, there's a cool way you can support the show. Shout us a virtual coffee. As Speaker 1 (0:11) an independent podcast, we couldn't do what we do without your support. Head to buymeacoffee.com forward slash interview boss. If you keep us Speaker 2 (0:19) caffeinated, we'll keep the content coming. Speaker 1 (0:29) Another one that I think is a helpful mindset idea, someone who works there already is desperate to leave. There are people who are desperate to leave every kind of job, including your dream job. So true. Speaker 2 (0:42) Hey everyone and welcome back to Interview Boss. My name is Emma. I'm a radio journalist who's teamed up with my sister to give you advice, inspiration and support when you're looking for a new job. Sarah is a HR and recruitment professional and together we're excited to give you all the tips, tricks and behind the scenes knowledge Speaker 1 (0:59) to help you in your career. Speaker 1 (1:03) Hey Em, and welcome back everyone. We are always telling you guys to shoot your shot. So at the beginning of every episode, we're telling you about a listener who's done exactly that. This ep, we're shouting out Stephanie who bought us a coffee. Thank you for supporting the show, Stephanie. She Speaker 2 (1:20) said, Speaker 2 (1:49) I responded by saying I'd be there on Monday and they granted the additional four weeks after polling my friends and co-workers. My heart was broken and I completely lost trust, but I needed health insurance. I was hurt so bad and honestly, being cancer-free was so much harder than having it because of the adjustment to my rectum amputation. Things had shifted in me as my body healed and in January, I applied for a new job for the first time in 11 years. I listened to your podcast on every trip to and from work, listened to some more than once, fixed my resume, worked on my best bits and started interviewing shortly thereafter. I had three Zoom interviews for separate positions and two in-person interviews. I didn't get either of them, but I felt really good about how well I did and wasn't disappointed. I appreciated the experiences because they were setting me up for my next interview. Well, that didn't happen because a new position was created and they called to see if I'd be interested. They didn't even post the position as it was an immediate yes from me. I start on Monday. Thank you so much for the work you do. You're so good at it. I tell everyone who's job searching to listen in. You've created a space which makes finding something new feel more attainable. Speaker 1 (3:04) Oh, oh my God. What a journey. They were going to post your role? So that you could recover from cancer surgery for 12 weeks? Speaker 2 (3:14) Some people take 12-week holidays and they were acting like 12 weeks wasn't enough for you to recover from a life-changing surgery. How Speaker 1 (3:24) are you even going to post the role and interview and then hire someone and have them start and learn anything in order to be useful? That's Speaker 2 (3:32) crazy. So, so stressful. I can't even imagine what that was like to go through. Your strength is incredible and... It sounds like that was redirection to force you into putting yourself out there to find something better. And Speaker 1 (3:47) what power it is to have the skills to know that you can get another job. Yeah. You know, like there's freedom in that. There is strength in that to think, okay, I really need health insurance. I know how to land another job. I know that I can do that. I don't want to have to all the time and I might not like it, but I know I can. that is something that you can really back yourself on and can give you a little bit of confidence to go, cool, I did really well. And how cool is the mindset piece of, you know, oh, it's okay. It doesn't even matter. I did well. I'm proud of myself. And then that's the exact role that was super happy to have you on board. I think that is such an incredible lesson. Thank you so much for sharing and being so vulnerable, Stephanie, and telling us your story. Speaker 2 (4:33) Now, before we get into this episode, if you need more help than we can fit in a podcast, go check out our website for free templates, coaching services, and our interview academy. This week, we're dedicating our topic to Logan. Logan said, Hi guys, I've been listening to the podcast for quite a while now and absolutely love it, particularly the way you pronounce data. They probably say data. And we say data. Every time you say it, I have to fight the urge to go, ta-da, in my head. Data, ta-da. I want to pick your brains about my current interview situation, if you don't mind. Becoming a train driver has been a goal Speaker 1 (5:15) of mine for 20 years. And in this section, Logan gave us some extra bits and pieces of detail about all the things that he's been doing in the last little while. all the ways that he's kind of been working towards this. But... interview stage has been historically the part where he's fallen down until he found the podcast. So good. So he said, this time around, Speaker 2 (5:37) my preparation feels totally different. The company has actually given us a cheat sheet of potential questions based around their three core values. So I've been doing exactly what you recommend, identifying my best examples and working out how to adapt them rather than trying to memorize robotic answers. And we love you for that, Logan. I've even got my interview note. book ready with A to Z post-it tabs. So if I get a question about communication, teamwork, et cetera, I can flick straight to the relevant page and have a one-line prompt to refresh my memory with the example I want to use. It sounds a bit over the top, but I think it'll help keep me grounded rather than feeling like I have to suddenly invent an answer on the spot. My biggest problem is that I've put this job on an absolutely ridiculous pedestal. It's something I've wanted for 20 years. I've worked incredibly hard to get here. I've even been working a second job and saving because the training means taking a huge pay cut for around a year. Add four young kids and a wife who's contractually obliged to spend money at Disney and you can imagine how easy that's been. I've registered my interest for the next intake and received an email saying they're looking at interviews in the autumn for a possible January start. Hang on, he said autumn instead of fall. I know. I just Speaker 1 (6:57) clocked that. Do you know what gave it away? The word the in front of it. Yeah, in the autumn. Interviews in autumn. We would never say the autumn. But wow. I think he said that just for us. What a little tidbit. Speaker 2 (7:11) I Speaker 1 (7:11) think so too. Yeah, Speaker 2 (7:13) I'm going to tell myself that. So yeah, they're looking at autumn for a possible January start. I'll attach the email because I genuinely love your take on how to interpret it. I don't want to convince myself it's more positive than it actually is. I know I have the experience and on paper, I believe I'm a strong candidate. It's just getting that across when I'm sitting in front of the depot manager, knowing how much this means to me. I've been working really hard on my interview technique already, including the occasional argument with ChatGPT because I refuse. to sound like a robot. If and when I'm offered an interview, I'm also planning to book a chat with Sarah nearer the time as I think that would really help me prepare. So I suppose my biggest question is how do I take a job I've wanted for 20 years off the pedestal and walk into that interview thinking this is a conversation I'm capable of having rather than I absolutely cannot mess this up. I know I'm going to be nervous and I'm trying to find a way to turn that nervousness into something positive rather than letting it take over like it had in previous interviews. Any advice would genuinely mean a lot. I've learned loads Speaker 1 (8:17) from the podcast already, so thank you. Oh, okay. How great is that story? Amazing. So much effort has gone into that question, right? Of like giving us all the background information and you can tell he's really been listening and doing his studying, like the A to Z tabs, like how great is all of that? And like knowing data and autumn and like there's been a lot of listening happening. He is a student of the podcast. So I really loved that this episode came in because our very last episode was about like how to prepare for a job that you've been targeting for a while, which is almost exactly this situation. So I don't think that has come out by the time Logan had sent us this message. So how great is that episode going to be? But I thought this episode worked really well because he mentions taking the job off a pedestal. So many people mentioned that episode. I think it's been one of our most popular in terms of people mentioning it or one of the most impactful, like people really remember it. And I thought we can take that a little bit further. In that episode, if you haven't listened to it, we will link it below. It talks about... here's what it might sound like if you're putting this job on a pedestal, how it can hurt you and be really negative for your job search, and then how to reframe and start