As some of you may know, I’m currently on a job hunt in Hong Kong, and I have to say that the job market here is ruthless. Being on the active lookout for an interesting position is a bit of an emotional roller-coaster ride, especially as hiring processes and corporate philosophy can sometimes be radically different from what we’re used to in laid-back Montreal. After an interview that didn’t go well, I was pretty bummed out: first, this had never happened to me before (I usually kill it in job interviews), and second, I was really starting to wonder if all of this was a waste of time and if I shouldn’t be better off just going back home.
It’s natural when first being faced to failure to be kind of depressed about it – nobody likes to not have what they want-, but don’t let this bring your spirits down; try to find positive aspects about this experience that will help you on the long run. What have you learned? What have you accomplished? Make a list: I find that physically seeing all those words can really help me see things in a different perspective and take effective measures afterwards. Here are some of the things I learned or am proud of from that bad interview:
1. It was the first time I was being interviewed in English. I’m more than happy that I had this “practice interview” with a company I ended up not being interested in. What if my first time would’ve been with a very exciting organization? I’m glad I could pass my stress and hesitations in an interviews that didn’t really matter, so that when I show up in one that does matter, I’ll be super confident and prepared!
2. I was able to pinpoint aspects of my strategy that don’t work here. As I said earlier, the Hong Kong job market is somewhat very different from the one back home, so some strategies that I used in Montreal proved ineffective here. I can now identify what parts of my speech didn’t impress the interviewer and change them.
3. I wasn’t prepared for some questions that the interviewer asked me. She asked me for a portfolio: I have one on my computer, but I didn’t think of printing a copy and bringing it to the interview. She asked me if I had any experience working in the field of her company: I was not prepared for that question, as it’s completely irrelevant, in my opinion. If you own a fashion boutique and need some lighting installed, you’re not going to look for an electrician that has worked selling clothes in the past, you’ll be looking for a professional who knows how to wire a room correctly and install lights. Let’s say that I will be ready to answer that question in the future! She asked me many other questions that I didn’t prepare, either because I had forgotten or because it would never come up back home.
Those are some of the positive aspects I was able to get from that experience. This bad interview might have seemed like a waste of time at first, but everything I learned will be useful in the future!
Have you ever had a bad experience while applying for jobs? What have you learned from it?
La vie, la mort... les chats 