Who Else Wants a Piece of Me?

The following story happened to me a few years ago, now. It was the kind of thing that could only happen to me.

~ ~ ~

The email came in first thing in the morning: I was pretty excited to get an interview with such a prestigious company, and I was eager to move onto the next stage in my career. I wasn't unhappy with my current company- I just wanted to move up in the world. I booked a day off from work for the following day, handing the holiday form to my manager.

"Tomorrow's fine, Tash," she said, signing the form. "By the way, could I have a quick chat with you just before lunch in the meeting room? It's nothing to worry about."

I smiled said sure, but- of course- instantly started to worry. Had I done something wrong? Were they onto me?? My brain came up with a list of worst-case scenarios.

Ten minutes to lunchtime I was sat opposite my manager at the table in the small meeting room, door closed. My manager smiled.

"I wanted to tell you how impressed we are with your work attitude and how you've been performing. Since C---- is leaving we think you'd be perfect for the position. I'm really pleased to tell you that we'd like to offer you a promotion."

"... Oh. Oh! Thank you, that's great news!" I beamed.

I also felt like a humongous traitor to all sides. Now that I'd accepted a promotion, it was unlikely that the role at new company I was due to be interviewed at would match my new level (either in terms of responsibility or monetarily). Should I still continue with the interview?

I came out of the meeting room, head spinning. What should I do? Lunch would set me straight, surely. I retrieved my bento box from the fridge, sat down cracked it open. No sooner had I taken my first bite did my phone start buzzing away in my bag. I took it out: one new email. I opened the email.

"Thank you for your interest in our role at X. We'd like to invite you for an interview some time in the next few days."

I nearly dropped my phone (and my chopsticks): another interview with another very prestigious company! What was the universe trying to do to me? I faced the same problem as with the first company, considering my newly promoted status. Would I be wasting their time, and my own, to interview with them anyway? Would I be stupid not to go out there and see what was on offer regardless? Who would benefit the most and the least out of my decision either to go or not go?

How would I benefit from each decision?

~ ~ ~

I decided to go to both, in the end- for all I knew there would be more to lose by not going. In the end I needn't have worried, though: both companies had greatly exaggerated the amount of the sort of work I wanted to do in their initial briefs, and after some amiable interrogation on my part, I discovered that neither place was the place for me anyway. I'm glad I decided to go in the end- both experiences gave me a clearer insight into exactly what I wanted to do with myself.


The reason why I'm only writing about this now, years later, is because I'm moving on from my current job and beginning with a new one very soon. Of course it had to happen in a weird way like the last time, because this is me we're talking about: I was headhunted by a recruiter, and on the same day I got called for a second interview I was also suddenly offered a first interview with a second, very different company: and of course, both interviews would happen on the same day, one after another.

Again I had already made up my mind- this time about going for the first company to contact me- and again I decided to take the interview with the second company that I wasn't so sure about. Needless to say I was a little relieved to not fall in love with the second company, and pretty darn stoked to be offered a job with the first shortly after my second interview. I'm also glad I went to the interview that I wasn't so sure about- it was an area of my profession I'd often been curious about, and sometimes wondered if I'd enjoy. Now I know for sure that I wouldn't, and won't be forever wondering what it would have been like.

So here I am, preparing to leave a job that I've been happy enough in for the past few years, and to say goodbye to my awesome colleagues. Still, you know in your heart when it's time to move on. It's easy to stay in one place simply because it feels familiar and safe, and it takes courage to step into the unfamiliar, but life is nothing if you're unable to challenge yourself to do better.