In this post I’m going to tell you a story about the time I gave some really horrible interviews, The reason is because my mindset was completely wrong.
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Hi friend Tim Lannon here from animation insights.com.During the Spring and Summer of 2003 I was out of work and looking for a job.Unfortunately I gave some really horrible interviews during this time.My mindset was in a really bad place.
To understand why we have to go back about a year-and-a-half to 9/11. I was working for Big idea Productions at the time. Because of 9/11 and a lot of other things that we’re going on at the company, the company began to hurt financially.
I lived for a year-and-a-half wondering if I was going to lose my job. Wave after wave of layoffs happened and I had to say goodbye to a lot of good friends. I wasn’t sure if the company I love working for was even going to make it. Fortunately after a year-and-a-half of all that stress, the company did go bankrupt and I lost my job.
Now a similar thing had happened to me just three years prior when the first studio I worked for also ran out of money, went bankrupt, closed its doors, and I lost my job.
So my first two experiences in the industry ended in very similar ways. A company with a lot of money, I got laid off, and the future felt very uncertain.
As I record this, a lot of people are experiencing something similar with the covid-19 pandemic The United States was pretty much shut down, The economy is hurting, the stock market has crashed, and the future feels very uncertain.
If you are not careful, this can mess with your mindset pretty badly, and lead to some horrible interviewing.
So in 2003, I was unemployed, bitter, depressed, and I did not want to work for another company that was going to run out of money and lay me off.
Unfortunately because of this bitterness and depression I interviewed very poorly.
I remember one phone interview I had which happened to be at 9 o’clock at night. I was tired. I was reclined while on the phone. I was depressed. So I came across as very unenthusiastic about the job. Needless to say, I did not get an offer.
Another interview I had was in person in Seattle for a game company. It went pretty well at first and I was more enthusiastic about this job. But it still ended up going kind of wrong in the end.
Because both companies I had worked for in the past have gone bankrupt, I was curious about the financial stability of this company. Before my interview was over I asked to speak with the owner of the company.
I don’t remember exactly what I asked. It was probably something about where his company would be in 5 years and how financially stable his company was. Stuff I really had no business asking. Whatever it was I could tell he didn’t like my questions and I don’t blame him. That probably blew the interview. I didn’t get an offer.
It seems like an obvious mistake now, but at the time I didn’t realize how badly I was blowing it because I was in such a poor mindset.
What snapped me out of it?
Believe it or not, it was a part-time job at Costco giving out food samples.
I took the job because I needed to bring in some income and the hourly rate was pretty good. it was nothing like what I could make as an animator, but it was something to hold me over in the mean time while I was looking.
Turns out it was the best thing I could have done.
The Costco job did a couple of things for me.
Number one. it humbled me.
I needed to be reminded that working in animation was a privilege not a right. If I had to go through another company when you’re off it was worth it for the time I got to work in animation rather than having to work in something unrelated. like handing out food samples.
It’s hard to be full of yourself when you’re wearing a beard-net. Yes I had to wear a beard-net everyday. I just could not bring myself to shave my beard for a part-time job.
Number 2, and this was the most important benefit, it got me out of my own head and it got me talking to people again. I had to pitch products. I had to call out to complete strangers and say, “Hey come over here and try this. I had to be friendly, relatable, a little obnoxious, and I had to sell.
That’s not easy for an introvert.
But that’s what you’re doing when you’re going to an interview. You’re selling yourself. You’re selling your value to the company.
So this really helped me in my interviewing a lot, and I started to interview a lot better after this. I was more humble. I was more upbeat. I was more outgoing and enthusiastic.
And soon after I got an offer to work at Reel FX where I happened to be for 9 years.
All that worried about getting laid off again was for nothing.
I was really fortunate and didn’t even see it because of my mindset.
Mindset makes a big difference.
How is your mindset?
Are you feeling optimistic about your job search?
Are you feeling afraid and concerned about the current state of the world and the economy. Are you feeling discouraged, or maybe even a little depressed. Maybe you’ve been looking for work and had no luck so far. Maybe you’re feeling upset that you had to end school working remotely and did not get to graduate with your friends.
It’s totally normal to feel upset about these things. But if you don’t face them they could put you in a funk that messes up your interviewing.
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