I recently had a job interview for a management position I believed in and chased for the passed year.
In comparison with my fellow candidates, I deliberately refused to read and research online for the best answers that would have raised my chances to conquer my tough assessor and audience, and probably made me one step closer of getting the job. That would have been cheating, and to my mind, also sad, as I have always believed that the energy should be focused towards honesty and individuality. The world needs more truth than colorful words.
I wanted to get the job for who I am, a passionate and truthful hard worker, a creative and innovative spirit who strives for meaning, so I answered all the questions with calm, without hesitation, believing that I am their man. I let the guard down, I let myself being seen by my people.
On the other hand, my interviewer for whom my intuition has always had a good impression about, had a surprisingly face, almost as if its forty-something muscles were all broken. I talked to a highly educated man, with many years of work experience in our field, which I respect, who had the right question and exclamation marks, the commas were all at their place, but he was lacking emotion.
When asked “why should we peak you”, I said among other things, without thinking too much, “because I put heart in my work, otherwise I wouldn’t do it”. At that point, he almost smiled. Of course, not knowing then what was behind that half-smile.
Oh, and that painful turn down! After one week, I was called for a meeting and told that I wasn’t convincing enough, but got congratulated for my English speaking level. Wow, gees, thanks, but apparently my heart was not enough for you.
I almost could hear my father in my head saying “told you so!”, because he has always told me that I should focus on facts and numbers.
And I know I am an idealist and maybe too much of a poet sometimes, but trust me, I sleep very well at night not thinking of numbers, unlike many people around me that become more of a robot with each day that passes.
I believe that people and emotions will never be replaced by robots, as hard as I believe that the heart of a poet will forever be appreciated by who matters the most.
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