Tell Me About Yourself

Copyright © WD, 2021 All rights reserved.

Tell me about yourself. A question that can make me go silent forever.

An interview lasts for around 20 minutes to an hour and decides about your future. The future that you have been dreaming for yourself. It will be an understatement if I say that people do not get affected by these events in life. If I do a bit of calculation and take an average life span of 80 years then in the about 42 million minutes of your life you spend just 3 thousand minutes on your interview. (Considering that you give 100 interviews throughout your life, 30 minutes each) 1/14000 times of your life.

We prepare ourselves to be in our best possible impression. Hair done, shoes shining, formals ironed, tattoos hidden, makeup on that saggy dark under eyes done, and smiles plastered. We spend almost four times more time preparing for these interviews than the time spent in the interview. Endless caffeinated nights, papers scattered everywhere, no time to groom yourself, colorful sticky notes all over the places, laptop not being shut down for days, phones becoming hot like lava due to overuse. We do not even remember what we had for lunch and what was for dinner. When working for things, time seems to be moving by the speed of light-years, and when anticipating the results, it moves by the speed of snails and maybe sometimes sleeps midway.

I always have one question in my mind. How am I supposed to show myself, in and out just in those 30 minutes? The self that I have created by working so much on so many things. Vocabulary, understanding, analysis, expression, soft skills, hard skills, and that too leaving the long list of extracurricular activities. It is so rude to ask someone to sum up his/her life in a 2 minutes introduction. This can make or break your first impression. Every time the HR department of a company screams that they identify the candidate's inner capabilities and that they do not judge a book by its cover, a very sore smile creeps on my face. Because that is a lie, they conclude by what they see in those 30 minutes, and it is not their fault. In this case, we do not have any idea who are we supposed to blame? Blame for our failure or our rejection? We seem to linger in a dilemma we created on our own. 

People who know us expect so much that it hurts when they are disappointed. Somewhere you become helpless because it seems like you gave it your all. 

I rolled over my life on a sheet of paper into some sentences and spilled it. Still, I failed to appeal to one person who was sitting in front of me. The one who was trying to find out reasons to say, "No!". My fake smiles, my trembling hands, my eyes that cried just before the interview, and the stammers. The person sitting in front of me was examining my every move. Maybe all this never happened before the person sitting in front of me, nothing might have been visible because I was pretending. I can laugh when I am crying inside. But one person did judge me that day.

COVID-19 has made things funnier as you can not even see the person judging you!

The one judgment which has the power to make you worth millions or an unemployed person just in those 20-30 minutes.

There might be instances where you might end up giving a dreadful existential crisis to your interviewer. But be prepared even in that case, you will be leaving. Leave because you were over knowledgeable. The whole process is very confusing. For me, it always feels like no one job can do justice for my brain's working capacity. I still am in search of that one thing that I can do for the rest of my life without getting bored or feeling incomplete and tired. It is difficult. Even when you end up getting a job it is difficult.

After the let us say “rejection”, I am crossing my statement from my previous blog "Rejected or failed" I know, but in this situation let us say that you are satisfied with the effort you have put in, then it is rejection. You should know that you did not “fail”. You will feel dejected and unjustified, but you will not feel sad. If you end up feeling sad, know that your inner self knows you have to push more, that the best part of you is still inside you. For now, after your rejection, if you have other options, you will indulge in them but, if you do not have the next option handy, you will experience a sudden void, a vacuum that will suck you inside and force you to go on a repeat of the same things. All the sad stories from your life and your past life will come into play. That will drain you, make you pale.

That is when you should remember me and billions like you and me, because we all are battling to prove that everything in our resume is true, and so many of us understand how you are feeling. I can not ask anyone to try to be happy, or dance out the agitation in your life, or sing songs on top of your lungs when you are bathing after a tiring day, but still, you can smile right? You can still shovel off all those deadly thoughts you might be getting! Why? Because you are here for something, and you are not going anywhere before you do that. You are much needed in this world, like any other human be it Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk. So cherish your existence and know one thing, things will change for good. The only deciding factor is your satisfaction from your efforts, self-love, some good deeds, and a very positive attitude. 

To all those who are fighting in their jobs, fighting to get the jobs, or fighting for life, I support you with all my might and heart. I know things are hard, I know things might get harder, there are no guarantees you see. A person who wrote a book for 15 years struggles to sell 15 copies of it on the first day. Different situations different stories, but we all are fighting the same fight, and I acknowledge you for all your efforts, just hang in there. Let us fight together and win together because we will have the last laugh always!