Gutwrench

Quickly, pick the activity you like least:

A) Getting pulled over for speeding

B) Going on an all-day job interview

C) Getting a cavity filled

D) Listening to President Bush bludgeon the English language into submission

E) Touching a 9-volt battery to your tongue to see if it has any juice left

I'm betting most of you chose B. If you are some kind of demented freak and actually *enjoy* job interviews then you are either already an HR professional or should consider a career change.

I just got back from California where I spent the better part of Friday engaged in option B. Going into this interview. I had every reason to believe it was going to go well. Yet despite that, for the week preceding the interview I had an ever-growing knot of anxiety. By the time I flew out on Thursday it had blown into what might be described as a full-on, never-ending anxiety attack.

The day of the interview I woke up at 3:00 am and couldn't get back to sleep. By this time I had completely convinced myself that not only was I not going to get the job, but that I would be humiliated and run out of the office before the day was even done. Despite my absolute conviction that utter and total doom was all that awaited, the interviews actually went quite well.

Now the odd thing is, I'm a fairly optimistic fellow. In just about everything other aspect of life I expect a good outcome, regardless of whether the facts support such a position. So what is it about job interviews that bring out my über pessimist? I have plenty of ideas as to why, but I realize it doesn't matter, this is just a case where even knowing why I do something is simply not going to help, I'm just always going to hate job interviews.

ptb