Difficult Job Interview Situations - Continued

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Then Jim refocused. After all, the layoff was not the culmination of his professional history or the exhaustive evaluation of his merit. Instead of dwelling on his loss, Jim made a list of his professional and personal accomplishments. For example, he had successfully launched a new drug, taking it from experimental testing through marketing. He had initiated and developed a new employee mentoring program in his company, effectively training other mentors to provide guidance to employees. As a result, the morale of the office and communication flows improved. After highlighting several other accomplishments, Jim made a list of the constructive feedback he received from his team, colleagues, and managers. Several people had noted his initiative and his organizational abilities, others had thanked him for his encouragement and accessibility. Still others saw him as an excellent negotiator. Two of his managers had commented on his attention to detail in quality standards. He could see on paper that his colleagues respected him.

As Jim considered his career at the pharmaceutical company, he began to gain an appreciation for his experience and contribution there. In addition to helping him feel better, the process refined his goals. Jim saw more clearly what kind of position enabled him to flourish. With a renewed sense of confidence in his objective achievements and value, Jim launched himself into the search.

Prolonged job search:

Jim searched for an extended period. His layoff had occurred during an economic downturn that dampened the entire industry, and now he found himself networking, searching job databases, and dragging himself to job fairs. Discouragement began to seep into his psyche, and his enthusiasm for his skills and achievements began to dissolve. Knowing that he had previously overcome sapped confidence, Jim pulled back from his immediate emotions to reflect on his overall situation.