{"id":63308,"date":"2014-03-05T13:45:40","date_gmt":"2014-03-05T18:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=63308"},"modified":"2014-03-05T13:53:46","modified_gmt":"2014-03-05T18:53:46","slug":"interviewing-for-the-job-you-already-have","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=63308","title":{"rendered":"Interviewing for the Job You Already Have"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Katherine Kimball Adelberg, Head Editor,\u00a0INALJ Michigan<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Interviewing for the Job You Already Have<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"Katherine<\/a>Three years ago, I graduated with my MLS and applied for a job on a whim. I\u00a0was thrilled to be called for an interview and had nothing to lose since I already\u00a0had a good job. Confident and relaxed, I aced the lengthy interview process. My\u00a0interview demonstrated that I was ready to transition from front-desk public library\u00a0paraprofessional to administrator of a statewide program.<\/p>\n

The only drawback was that the position was grant-funded and scheduled to end in\u00a02013. Fortunately, a new position was created to continue the work I had been doing,\u00a0and I found myself in the unique position of interviewing for the job I already had.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Standard job interviews measure a candidate\u2019s flexibility, depth of experience, and\u00a0ability to fit into the organizational culture. In my case, the interviewers already knew\u00a0a great deal about these indicators since I had worked with them for two years. Along\u00a0with not being a typical interview, this started out as the most difficult interview of my\u00a0career.<\/strong> I found myself struggling to articulate my accomplishments, not wanting to\u00a0brag to my colleagues or bore them with stories they already knew about my successes.\u00a0Fortunately, I was still the best candidate for the job, and overcame my initial\u00a0nervousness by drawing inspiration from an unexpected source: orchestra auditions.<\/p>\n

The most grueling job interview process I\u2019ve ever encountered was an orchestra\u00a0audition. Imagine: at least 50 people are interviewing for the same position you are,\u00a0and you\u2019re all in a room together. Everyone is practicing answers to the same common\u00a0interview questions (or the same pieces of music). Eventually, you\u2019re ushered into a\u00a0room where a panel of judges sits behind a screen. You have 5 minutes to answer 3\u00a0questions (or play 3 excerpts). If they like your answers, you\u2019ll be invited back for a\u00a0longer session later in the day. If not, you\u2019ll be dismissed immediately. This process\u00a0continues until only one candidate remains.<\/p>\n

In interviewing for the job I had been holding, I benefited from applying the same\u00a0mindset I used in successful auditions.<\/p>\n

1. Focus on the performance, not on the audience<\/strong>. Instead of concerning myself\u00a0on my interviewers\u2019 knowledge of my skills and accomplishments, I regrouped\u00a0and started with the basics, making no assumptions. In a blind audition, your\u00a0performance speaks for itself; even if you know the judges behind the screen\u00a0personally, they won\u2019t be able to identify you.<\/p>\n

2. Ignore the other applicants.<\/strong> One of my co-workers was also applying for\u00a0this position, and I found myself wondering about her answers to the same\u00a0questions. I refocused and spent that time polishing my answers instead.<\/p>\n

3. Believe you are the best candidate.<\/strong> To succeed in an audition, you must believe\u00a0that your interpretation and skill will be the best that the judges will hear all day.\u00a049 other people will play the same thing, but if your interpretation in engaging,\u00a0exciting, and confident enough, it will be convincing. This is sometimes known as swagger.<\/p>\n

I found myself in a unique situation, and landed the job thanks to techniques borrowed\u00a0from another discipline. The next time I prepare for an interview, I\u2019ll tune out the\u00a0other applicants, focus on my preparation, and most importantly, I won\u2019t be shy about\u00a0trumpeting my successes. The next time you schedule a job interview, think about past\u00a0experiences that will help you perform at your best on audition day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Katherine Kimball Adelberg, Head Editor,\u00a0INALJ Michigan Interviewing for the Job You Already Have Three years ago, I graduated with my MLS and applied for a job on a whim. I\u00a0was thrilled to be called for an interview and had nothing to lose since I already\u00a0had a good job. Confident and relaxed, I aced the…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":56971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[69,5965,3592,3638,4514,3975,6013,5921,111],"class_list":["post-63308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-article","tag-being-interviewed","tag-blog","tag-inalj-michigan","tag-interview-tips","tag-interviewing","tag-interviewing-for-the-job-you-already-have","tag-katherine-kimball-adelberg","tag-tips"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Katherine-Kimball-Adelberg.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-gt6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/56971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}