The Job Search: Don’t Let Them See You Cry

I had an interesting conversation with a nice gentleman today. He is 57 years old and has been laid off from a job he’s worked at for over 20 years. “Joe” (this is not his real name) has been looking for work for over five months. At first he did what I did and looked at local jobs. Unfortunately, in our semi-rural area, his field of expertise was not in high demand. Joe told me that he began applying for jobs in the nearest metropolitan area, an hour’s drive away. When he got to the interview, a particularly aggressive interviewer kept harping about Joe’s long commute. Joe got so upset, he walked out. That not only may have cost him a job, but it certainly cost Joe his gas and valuable time.
I’m sure many job applicants–myself included–have experienced what I call “interviewers with attitude.” Business people in today’s job market are more aggressive than ever. Instead of getting upset and walking out the door, Joe should have taken a mini time-out. He should have taken a pause to silently count to five. Then maybe he would have been calm enough to stress that either, there were no openings any nearer to him, that he had reliable transportation and was a good driver and/or that jobs in that particular location offered much better pay and benefits. He could even have impressed the interviewer by saying that theirs was exactly the type of company he’d enjoy working for, and that he didn’t mind the commute at all. Another tack, although a last ditch one, would have been to point out that many people who work in New York City may commute as much as two hours to work. Do not walk away from interviews, even if you are ticked off or on the verge of tears. Save it for the car. Many interviewers have so many applicants for a position, that aggressive tactics are their way of weeding out prospective employees.