The bus dropped me off 25 minutes later than it should have. It was 9:50. My interview was at 10:00. I needed to be there five minutes ago! I could not stop panicking. I planned ahead for traffic, taking the bus at 9:00 a.m., however I didn’t expect it to be running that far behind. Especially on a Tuesday morning. I literally took off sprinting in my business suit. Plus, they don’t call it “The Windy City” for no reason. The bitter Chicago cold got the best of me by the time I reached the John Hancock Center. My hair resembled a birds nest. I was sweaty from running and my nose was runny. I got to my job interview right at 10:00, almost late. Frazzled, I felt like I blew my chance already and just shut down.

A glimpse of where I could have worked and the great view with it. Photo courtesy of villaverdone.com

This recent graduate just got her first “big girl job” interview in her favorite city. Growing up, it was my dream to end up in a large city, working as a writer or as I recently discovered, an account executive. So when Weber Shandwick, a PR agency requested an interview, I literally squealed like a little girl. To give you an idea just how huge they are, they’re the ones behind those oh so famous “Got Milk?” milk mustache advertisements.

I was always nervous for job interviews, but not this bad. Every job I ever interviewed for, I got it. If I didn’t get the job, I just never heard from the company, or received that standard rejection email. So whenever I had an interview, I felt confident that I

Brenda Yealy, Manager of Eddie Bauer asked me standard interview questions to help me prepare for real interviews. I got the mock job with her!

already had the job. Because of that confidence, I was always able to do well. I even did several mock interviews at Career Services, so I knew I had the right answers to those tough questions.

For this interview, on the other hand, I could not calm my nerves. I felt small in Chicago, coming from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I worked that much harder to make sure I made an impression, because I felt like I had more against me.

I wanted so badly for everything to be perfect, that when my bus arrived late, I let it throw me off. I put in so much effort to make sure something like that would not happen, that when it did, I was horrified. Once the interview began, I was shaken. I lost myself during the process. I was unsure how my hair looked, so I kept worrying about that, along with how my suit placed since everything shifted when I was running. I was not focusing on the actual questions being asked, which was the most important part.

Needless to say, I didn’t get that job. It was clear I didn’t have my confidence with me that day. I must have lost it on the bus. I am still taking it pretty hard, though I am glad this happened. Sometimes, mistakes are the best way to learn. There is no way you can prepare enough for an interview. It takes much more than researching the company, it is also researching the area around them, along with companies that are similar to them. Just because I did well on interviews in the past, didn’t mean I was perfect. There are always things to improve.

Upset as I am, this happens to everyone and I still learned a lot from the experience. There is a reason I wasn’t meant to get this job and now I know what to expect for my next interview and be much better prepared. Ahh… the life lessons of the awkward post-grad stage of life, but I still have my friends at Career Services assisting me in this journey and continuing to help me improve.