"Top 10 Interview Tips of All Time" InterviewIQ

This list of the "Top 10 Interview Tips of All Time" is care of @interviewiq on twitter.  The list is fairly basic, but in its simplicity, I am aware that all of these things are things that I need to be reminded of.  I feel lucky that as a management consultant over the last 9 years, I have gone through a series of interviews everytime I have worked with a new client, but the need for practice and research on behavioral interviews will be important.  I have been the person that has been on the panel using behavioral interviews to find the right candidate and I value its importance and method.  It will be odd to be on the other side.

The Pink Slip Chick Blog Thoghts

I have been trying to decide how I will use this blog other than just my thoughts/journey on a career search and the emotions surrounding the process. One thing that I thought I would try and do is start amalgamating some information on here for when I am ready to apply for a job. Looking at things like interview tips, online job searching, using twitter to find a job, etcetera. For me, at least, when I need this information, I know that I will be happy that it is here.

Day 4 - Things to do

They say that sometimes you need a peaceful space to have a peaceful mind.  My space is definitely not peaceful currently.  There is stuff everywhere.  I have been living in a tiny area of my couch and in my bed, other than that my apt is a disaster zone.  It needs to be dealt with.  One of the things I think having some time will enable me to do is to tackle some to-do's that have been hanging over my head.  I would like to create a space that is happy and healthy and peaceful, this will transpire into some calm space in my soul and in my head.

On my apartment to-do list is:

• unpack all of my bags from the return home from my client
• put away all of my christmas decorations (I knew there was a reason I left my tree up, and this was it.  It has given me great pleasure over the last little while, but I have to pack it up!)
• paint my living room, hallway and bathroom
• clean out my linen closet
• clean out my cleaning closet
• deal with all of my clothes and drop a whole bunch off at Good Will
• put away my awards from my past client
• re-arrange some of my furniture
• find some better storage solutions

So that is just the beginning, but it is a good start.  Now just to think about when I am going to actually start on this list.  Maybe tonight.  I just don't feel like doing anything.

Day 3 - A sense of calm

Today was the first day in a long time that I woke up and I felt a sense of calm in my head.  It was not a feeling of security or of happiness, but it was a sense that everything would be ok.  I also feel that perhaps this is a good thing, that at the end of this whole process I will have a better job, a job that I like more, or maybe it will be the same job, just after I've had a little bit of time.

I am not sure what the next steps look like, but I feel that at the end of the day, this may be the thing that I need to move on with the next step in my life.

Don't they say: as a door closes a window open.

Day 2 - What to say

So what do I say when someone asks me what I am up to? I have always been defined by my job. I don't have a husband, I don't have children, I don't have a boyfriend, but for 12 years I have had a career that I have been good at. I have spent hours at. Now I am with out it. I am struggling with what to say about it not being here anymore. I have had a few conversations with close friends over the last few days and I was able to say that I was laid off, but how do I position the story? What do I say happened? Is it the proverbial "Hard Economic Times" reason? I think that that is the right reason. It is the reason that I have been laid off and so it is the appropriate reason, I just have to come to terms with it.
I obviously am still not comfortable with this whole thing. I think I am still in shock. Hopefully I will start to feel more like doing some things and sorting some things out in my head soon.
PSC

Day 1 - The shock

I knew that this morning I was going to be laid off/fired.  I felt it last week when I was asked to leave a client that this meant the end of my tenure with the firm that I have worked with since September 11, 2001. 

I do not know what happened at my client.  I am not sure why they wanted me to leave and I do not think that I will ever be given a clear sense of what I did to cause them to be unhappy, but I do know that it will take me a while to come to terms with it and the loss of my job. 

I am struck by how much I have let my job define me over the last years.  I work increadibly hard and often this means that I often am giving up parts of myself to make that happen.  I don't know that I truly understood just how much of myself I had given up over the last few years.  This makes me very unhappy.

When I was walking home from the meeting with our CEO, I spent some time wondering what I could do to start moving this forward today.  I am exhausted.  I will likely not do anything productive for a few weeks if not more and I still have to figure out my severence package details, but the one thing that I knew I could do easily was start to write about what I was going through.

I am seeing this all as an opportunity to not only find another job, but to find another career.  A career that I love, that I want to go to everyday and that I am proud to do.  As you will see in future posts, I have a number of hurdles to climb over to figure that out, but I will get there.  Having faith in that, while being in this much shock, feels like all I have right now.