This job-interview nightmare story is downright chilling

by Angela Copeland | Oct 31, 2016 | Advice, Newsletter

Happy Halloween!! 🎃🎃🎃 In celebration of this fun holiday, I wanted to share a piece I wrote for Monster.com about a nightmare interview I had.

A number of years ago, I was interviewing for a job in Pittsburgh. The
 company flew me to Pittsburgh to interview in person.

I flew in relatively late at night and was taken by taxi to my hotel, with 
the interview scheduled first thing the next morning.

As I unpacked my
 suitcase, I realized I had forgotten the pants to my suit at home. 
Uh oh.

My mind was racing as I went through the options of what to do:

Could I
 wear the pants I’d flown to Pittsburgh in? No, they were sweatpants—and
 I was interviewing at a large corporation.

Could I call a cab to take me to
 a mall to shop for a new suit? No, it was around 10 p.m. and everything was 
closed.

Could I go into a nearby 24-hour store and look for pants? No, the 
only store nearby was a drugstore and they didn’t carry pants.

Could I have 
a pair of pants shipped to me from home? No, all the shippers were closed
 for the day.

This brainstorming went on for about an hour. I tried to calmly think of a
 creative solution to this big problem.

Eventually, I found the answer 
online.

It turned out, packages could be dropped off directly at the
 airport until around midnight for FedEx, and could be delivered as early as
 6 a.m. the next morning. The only catch was getting them to the airport.

So, then began the task of figuring out how to get pants from my apartment to
 FedEx in a short period of time. The building manager was the only one with a key to my apartment, but I didn’t have her phone number. So I called a female neighbor who was friends
 with another male neighbor who had a dog that the building manager walked every day—I knew he 
would have the building manager’s personal contact information, and I knew my female neighbor had the dog owner’s phone number.

After a few calls, I got the building manager’s phone 
number. Then, I called the building manager and asked her to give my backup 
key to a friend who was willing to drive the pants to the airport.
 Fortunately, the building manager was willing to do this and the friend got my key.

Then, 
the friend entered my apartment and called me in order to locate the 
correct pair of pants that matched the suit. After locating the pants, the 
friend drove them to FedEx, which was at the airport, and set them to be delivered at the earliest 
possible time.

Then, I alerted the hotel to contact me the moment the pants
 arrived at 6 a.m.—which they did. The interview went smoothly and nobody noticed anything unusual.

The funny thing was that
 one of the questions they asked was, “Tell us about a time you encountered
 a problem and were able to find a creative way to solve it.”

It was the
 perfect opportunity to share my story. The interviewers were both surprised 
and very impressed. What started as a potential nightmare turned out to be
 a big win.

I honestly don’t remember if I got that job, but I do remember that the interview went really well.

The lesson here: When it comes to job interviews, don’t expect everything to go perfectly. In fact, there’s often one thing that will go wrong. If you can plan on that one thing, it’s much easier to roll with the punches and have an overall positive experience.

Interviewing is not about answering every question exactly right, either. The hiring manager is much more likely to remember how they felt about you than how you answered each specific question. It’s much like the experience of going to a live comedy show. You don’t remember each joke that was performed, but you remember whether you laughed and had a good time.

I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search. If I can be of assistance to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here.

Happy hunting!

Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach

Plan for the Worst & Work Toward the Best

by Angela Copeland | Oct 10, 2016 | Advice, Newsletter

Very often, people ask me how I’ve been able to do it. Lately, they’ve asked how I was able to start my business – and stay in business. Before that, I was asked how I was able to be successful in my own career – or go to a faraway college and graduate school.

Thomas Jefferson is quoted as saying, “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” I really like this quote. It reminds me a lot of my own journey. Those who know me well know that throughout my life, I have rarely encountered things that came easy.

School, for example, was never an easy task. Because I knew this, I always planned accordingly. I studied more than those around me. I worked hard. And, often, I prepared for the unknown. In the off chance that something went wrong along the way, I was prepared to handle it. I had a backup plan. Sometimes, I even had a backup, backup plan.

Succeeding at work is very much the same. Even though you love your job, and may want to retire there, unforeseen things could happen. The company could go out of business, your boss could be replaced, or something else. If the worst were to happen to you, what would you do?

First and foremost, set aside an emergency fund, and start investing in your retirement early. When you have an emergency fund, you have options. You have a safety net. An emergency fund can allow you to get over a bump in the road without a major impact to your everyday life. It ensures you can pay your rent and put food on the table.

But, beyond the financial piece, there’s something equally important. When you surround yourself with only those from your current job, what happens if your workplace goes out of business? Who will you reach out to? Networking with people at different companies and in different industries helps to diversify your risk. It’s a bit like diversifying your financial investments. If one industry goes under, another may grow. In the same way that having money gives you choices, so does having an extended network.

And, when you are out there searching for a job – don’t fall into the trap of only interviewing with one company. Very often, we are so interested in one particular job that we can’t be bothered to apply anywhere else. We’re certain this is the job we want and we’re going to spend every spare moment trying to turn this job into a reality. But, what happens when the job is put on hold? Or what happens when someone else is hired? Or even worse – what happens when they give you a lowball offer? If you are unhappy with your current job, these scenarios can take away all your power. They may put you in a situation to take a job you don’t really want, for less money than you’re worth.

I hate to be too negative, but I often think about the question, “What’s the worst thing that could happen?” Then, I plan for what I’d do in the worst case scenario. Rarely does it get that bad, but because I’ve already planned for it, things turn out much better than they would have otherwise.

As the title of my newsletter this week says, plan for the worst, but work toward the best!

I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search. If I can be of assistance to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here.

Happy hunting!

Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach