April 1, 2025 • 18 mins
Have you ever faced an interview so awkward that it left you questioning everything? In this episode, I share a hilariously uncomfortable yet eye-opening moment from my mid-career transition—when I found myself in a final-round interview, staring at a superintendent’s exposed belly button.
What started as a bizarre wardrobe malfunction became a defining lesson about workplace culture, authenticity, and the power of being true to yourself.
Sometimes, the jobs we don’t get are the ones that save us from environments where we would never thrive.
Tune in as I reveal:
- The unexpected career transition from middle school math teacher to an administrative role.
- How a final-round interview in a sweltering New Jersey summer took a weird turn.
- Why I made the bold decision to address the superintendent’s wardrobe malfunction.
- The painfully awkward silence that followed—and what it revealed about workplace culture.
- How job rejections can actually be career blessings in disguise.
- Why staying true to yourself matters more than landing any position.
If you've ever had an interview moment that made you cringe, you’re not alone! Let’s explore what these moments teach us about career growth and finding the right professional fit.
Thank you for listening to The Mid-Career GPS Podcast.
Please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts here.
Visit https://johnneral.com/resources to get The Mid-Career Job Search Jumpstart and join The Mid-Career GPS Membership Community.
Visit https://johnneral.com to join The Mid-Career GPS Newsletter, a free, twice-weekly career and leadership resource for mid-career professionals.
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Subscribe to John's YouTube Channel here.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
John Neral (00:01):
For this April Fool's Day.
This is no joke.
In this episode, I'm going toshare with you one of the
funniest and most bizarre thingsthat has ever happened to me in
a job interview.
This happened when I waslooking to make a significant
pivot in my career and to thisday, it is one of my favorite
stories and it is also one ofthe things that I will tell you
(00:23):
about that.
At the time, I thought I playedperfectly.
I could not have been morewrong.
So sit back, enjoy this episode, and all I'm going to leave you
with right now is that this isthe story about the final round
(00:43):
and the belly button.
Let's get started.
Hello, my friends, this is theMid-Career GPS podcast, and I'm
your host, John Neral.
I help mid-career professionalslike you find a job they love,
or love the job they have, usingmy proven four-step formula.
(01:07):
I had a 25-year career ineducation and for the first 14
years of that I was a middleschool mathematics teacher.
I loved my job.
I taught in a district innorthern New Jersey.
It was a great district.
I have such fond memories ofbeing there, but after about 11
years I realized that somethingneeded to change For me and my
(01:29):
career development.
It was all about me having anopportunity to work more with
teachers, move into a moreadministrative type role, and so
, while I had been demonstratingsome leadership as a middle
school mathematics coordinatorand was recently moved into a
district level coordination role, I wanted to supervise.
(01:52):
I wanted to have that kind ofadministrative experience that I
wasn't able to get at mydistrict at the time.
So I started a job search.
Now you look at positions andyou realize that there's a
limited number of schooldistricts, there's a limited
number of supervisor positions.
So I realized that this wasgoing to probably take me some
(02:13):
time but nevertheless I was inand I had gone on several
interviews and, admittedly, hadsome great success.
I was moving through theprocess, I was getting to the
final round, but I was notgetting the job offer and,
understandably, there were a lotof reasons as to why.
Some had to do with lack ofexperience, some had to do with
(02:36):
internal candidates, all weregood and so I apply for this
position in a neighboring townand I am really, really excited
about this position because it'sa great school district, it's a
great reputation.
I thought this would be theplace where I could go and do
(02:59):
some great work and maybe, justmaybe, retire from.
So I go through all the rounds,right, I go through the initial
screen, the first roundinterview, and now they invite
me to the final round.
Now, this interview happened inJune, which, if you know
anything about New Jersey, inJune it's hot, humid and sticky.
(03:22):
And so I put the suit on, I putthe whole outfit together and
everything, and off to thisinterview.
I go where I know that in thisfinal round I'm going to be
meeting with the schoolsuperintendent and the assistant
superintendent.
So I arrive at the board office, nobody is there and I'm
(03:45):
thinking do I have the day wrong?
Is this something out of amovie where it's actually the
weekend and I've missed itcompletely?
I can't find anybody.
But I'm resourceful.
So I start walking around thebuilding trying to figure out if
I can see anybody and, lo andbehold, I learned that the
(04:08):
entire administrative team is ina training and I happen to
knock on the door and the dooropens and I say to the person
who opens the door goodafternoon, my name is John
Nerrell.
I'm here to meet withSuperintendent so-and-so about
the math department chairposition, and I hear this voice.
(04:31):
And this voice goes JohnNerrell, what are you doing here
?
You're not leaving your job.
And it turned out that theperson leading the training was
the parent of a former studentof mine.
At that point you just have toown it, right.
(04:52):
So strike one.
I'm thinking, oh boy, this isgoing to get back.
I was trying to do this veryquietly and of course, now it's
all exposed, I thought, allright, strike one, we're just
going to own this.
Let's say I get the job.
I thought, all right, strikeone, we're just going.
(05:24):
There's just not a lot of warmthto the room, but in the center
of the room is this hugeconference table and they sit me
in the middle of it.
So I'm on the long side in themiddle.
The table probably seats about14 people.
So I sit there.
The superintendent walks in.
He sits directly across from me, the assistant superintendent
(05:51):
sits at the end of the table.
So I'm calming my nerves andgetting myself all together and
everything.
Now, remember it's June in NewJersey.
It's hot, sticky and humid.
I'm sitting there in a suit,the superintendent is sitting
there in a short-sleeved shirtwith a tie, and I'm thinking
okay, not too formal, but alwaysbetter to dress up than dress
(06:14):
down in these kinds ofsituations.
And so the interview starts.
We go through the resume, we gothrough the tell me about
yourself question and, as theinterview is starting, as I'm
looking at this superintendent,I cannot help but notice his
belly button.
Now, to be perfectly clear,this gentleman was not wearing
(06:38):
an undershirt and he hadaccidentally had the button was
unbuttoned at his belly button.
So I'm staring at this becauseit's really hard to not notice
this.
And if you know anything aboutme, you know that if I get a
(06:59):
thought in my head, thelikelihood is it's going to come
out of my mouth and I'mthinking, oh boy, like how am I
going to play this?
Because I'm trying to focus onthe question and I'm trying to
answer as best as possible.
But what I can only bestdescribe as the teacher from
Peanuts is, as this gentleman istalking, it's like his belly
(07:23):
button is moving and it'stalking to me, right, and it's
going wah, wah, wah, wah, wah,wah.
And again, I'm having a reallyhard time staying focused.
So, to my left, okay.
So if the superintendent'ssitting at 12 o'clock, the
assistant sup is at nine o'clock, I'm looking at him and I'm
looking at the superintendentand I'm making this motion with
my head, like will you noticethis?
(07:44):
It doesn't dawn on me that atthe angle the assistant
superintendent is sitting at, heprobably can't say it.
So I answer a question, I'mtrying to stay focused and now
I'm starting to giggle becausethis is just bizarre.
This is like one of thosethings where you sit there and
(08:04):
you think to yourself this can'tbe happening, but it is, and do
I not say anything and appearaloof and disjointed, or do I
call this out?
So again I get asked anotherquestion and I answer it and I'm
trying not to laugh.
And then I'm waiting for thenext question to come and I'm
looking at the assistantsuperintendent and I'm like
(08:25):
nodding my head, trying to gethim to pay attention.
And so I get called out on itand the superintendent looks at
me and he goes is there aproblem?
Well, yeah, so at this point Ihave to show up and own where
I'm at, which is I'm just goingto call it out, because I think
this is the best way to handlethe situation.
(08:48):
So I said something like this.
I said in all due respect, I amtrying to stay focused on the
conversation, but admittedly,your shirt is unbuttoned at your
belly button and the way youare sitting.
It looks like your belly buttonis talking to me every time you
move and I find it verydistracting.
(09:10):
I'm not trying to embarrass,but would you kindly button your
shirt, to which I gave thatnervous laugh, crickets.
You could have heard cricketsin this room.
Okay, I could have dropped anuclear bomb and it would have
(09:30):
caused less damage than what Idid.
Because now there's thisawkward moment where this
gentleman has to button hisshirt and I look at the
assistant superintendent andhe's got his head in his hands,
okay.
And I look at thesuperintendent there is not a
(09:55):
laugh, a chuckle, a thank youfor telling me.
I'm so sorry, that wasdistracting for you.
There is nothing.
It is three guys in a room.
I called one of them out andthen I said something like this
Well, that was awkward, again,crickets.
(10:19):
So we go through the interviewas best as we can.
And again, this is somethingwhere I'm usually not the kind
of person who's going to cutcorners.
I'm pretty straightforward anddirect.
I'm in my late 30s at the timeand I'm thinking I got nothing
to lose, I got a great job, Iwill go back.
(10:41):
There is nothing wrong with mesaying, hey, this was a position
that wasn't offered here in thedistrict.
I decided to throw my hat inthe ring.
I'm, thankfully, going to staywhatever it was.
So we get to the end of theinterview and this is the
question I've asked Is thereanything you would like to ask
(11:03):
or say before we end theinterview?
And I'm thinking to myself do Icall it out again?
Do I say anything?
Do I just be like nope, we'regood, this is what I said.
I said I want to thank you bothfor your time today.
(11:25):
It was great getting to knowyou both a little bit more,
learn more about the district.
If there's one big takeaway fromthis interview, it's this I'm
not afraid to have theconversation and if you are
embarrassed unintentionally oryou are upset with me for
calling out your unbuttonedshirt and your belly button, and
(11:45):
that is not the kind of personyou want on your team, by all
means.
I understand not getting thejob, but that was something I
felt I needed to do in themoment.
There was no offense, pleaseunderstand that, but if that was
upsetting to you, I'm obviouslynot the right person for the
job, for the job.
(12:13):
And then there was this pauseand I thought, oh crap, I'm
either going to get chewed outor I'm going to get offered the
job on the spot.
And there was this pause and helooks at me and he goes thank
you, have a nice day.
I didn't bother with anyfollow-up at that point.
(12:33):
I left, I got in the car, Itook my jacket off, I took my
tie off, I called a dear, dearfriend of mine and I went.
You are not going to believewhat just happened.
And he says to me he goes John,you actually said that in the
interview.
I said yeah, because it wasdistracting and everything.
He goes.
You don't call that stuff out.
And I said, yeah, but wait aminute, like I had to make the
(12:54):
best decision I had to make atthe time.
It's not like at some pointlater on in the day he's going
to go.
Oh, I guess my belly button wasexposed for the entire day.
To which my friend says to methat was a risk you should have
been willing to take, becausesometimes your mouth gets you in
trouble.
I don't think you're gettingthe job.
(13:15):
To which I replied oh, I knowI'm not getting the job, it's
totally fine.
But I always look back on thatand I think, could I have played
it differently?
Of course, would I have playedit differently?
I got to tell you, absolutelynot.
These are the kind of thingsthat I am 100% certain this was
(13:35):
an unintentional mistake, fauxpas, error, mishap, whatever you
want to call it, but it isabout how we handle things and
you know for what it's worth.
It is a little bit of astereotype, but it's also pretty
true.
In New Jersey, we can be veryblunt, we can be very direct,
and I have told this story many,many times to people to give an
(13:57):
example of look, this wasreally about us getting past
this and moving forward.
I did it as kindly andrespectfully as possible, but
I'm also not responsible for histhoughts, and so if his
thoughts were this guy's anidiot, this guy's not somebody I
want on my team or why would hecall me out on that?
Whatever it was, I have nocontrol over that, but when you
(14:20):
hear me talk about fit, one ofthe things we often overlook is
is my personality, is the kindof leader and professional I am
going to fit within thatorganization.
I work with clients who we willexplore very in-depthly about
(14:44):
what it looks like and I willask them about humor and
oftentimes people will be alittle shy of it because they're
like well, you know, I am afunny person and I like to laugh
and I don't take myself tooseriously.
But I don't think I can playthat this way in this interview
and I'll say well, what if youcould?
(15:05):
What if there was a way for youto showcase your humor that
allowed you to assess their fitfor you and vice versa?
I mean, obviously I'm nottalking about laughing or making
fun of anything that isinappropriate or unprofessional.
We're not going to do that funof anything that is
inappropriate or unprofessional.
We're not going to do that.
(15:26):
But if building that kind ofrapport and having that kind of
sense of humor is important toyou in terms of fit, what would
you ask about that?
I walked away from thatinterview thinking, oh my gosh,
if this is something we couldn'tlaugh at or we couldn't
acknowledge, what's that goingto mean for my fit there?
(15:48):
How is that going to be lookedat in terms of being three, six,
12 months into the job wherewe're going to be so stuffy and
uptight we can't laugh atourselves a little bit.
Stuffy and uptight, we can'tlaugh at ourselves a little bit.
So again, it comes back to fitand what's the right fit for you
(16:08):
.
And so you know, to this day Ialways think about that
interview.
I always think about how crazyand bizarre it was and I am
grateful I had that experience.
I have never had a more bizarreor strange interview than that,
and so I'm thankful for that.
I'm thankful for that in thatregard.
(16:29):
But we move forward and youknow, I can honestly tell you
that, yeah, it's one of myfavorite experiences in that
regard.
I said I didn't get the job,but it absolutely was a great
experience.
So, my friends, hopefully thisgave you a little bit of a laugh
(16:50):
or a chuckle.
Maybe you're thinking aboutyour most bizarre or humorous
interview story.
If you've got one, do me afavor, reach out to me on
LinkedIn, send me a DM, let meknow about it.
Share that story with me.
I'd always love a good laugh.
And if you are looking forresources to help you in your
career, to build your mid-careerGPS, to whatever is next, I
(17:12):
invite you to go over to mywebsite at johnneral.
com J-O-H-N-N-E-R-R-A-Lcom.
There is a ton of freeresources and digital courses
there to not overwhelm you, butcertainly get you started in
building your mid-career GPS.
So until next time my friends,remember this you will build
(17:34):
your mid-career GPS one mile orone step at a time, and how you
show up matters, even if it isan awkward situation where you
got to call out somebody's bellybutton right, how you show up
matters.
Be true and authentic toyourself and I will be back with
you next week.
Take care.
(17:55):
Thank you for listening to theMid-Career GPS Podcast.
Make sure to follow on yourfavorite listening platform and,
if you have a moment, I'd loveto hear your comments on Apple
Podcasts.
Visit johnneral.
com for more information abouthow I can help you build your
mid-career GPS or how I can helpyou and your organization with
your next workshop or publicspeaking event.
(18:17):
Don't forget to connect with meon LinkedIn and follow me on
social at JohnNarrowCoaching.
I look forward to being backwith you next week.
Until then, take care andremember how we show up matters.
Thank you.
For this April Fool's Day.
This is no joke.
In this episode, I'm going toshare with you one of the
funniest and most bizarre thingsthat has ever happened to me in
a job interview.
This happened when I waslooking to make a significant
pivot in my career and to thisday, it is one of my favorite
stories and it is also one ofthe things that I will tell you
(00:23):
about that.
At the time, I thought I playedperfectly.
I could not have been morewrong.
So sit back, enjoy this episode, and all I'm going to leave you
with right now is that this isthe story about the final round
(00:43):
and the belly button.
Let's get started.
Hello, my friends, this is theMid-Career GPS podcast, and I'm
your host, John Neral.
I help mid-career professionalslike you find a job they love,
or love the job they have, usingmy proven four-step formula.
(01:07):
I had a 25-year career ineducation and for the first 14
years of that I was a middleschool mathematics teacher.
I loved my job.
I taught in a district innorthern New Jersey.
It was a great district.
I have such fond memories ofbeing there, but after about 11
years I realized that somethingneeded to change For me and my
(01:29):
career development.
It was all about me having anopportunity to work more with
teachers, move into a moreadministrative type role, and so
, while I had been demonstratingsome leadership as a middle
school mathematics coordinatorand was recently moved into a
district level coordination role, I wanted to supervise.
(01:52):
I wanted to have that kind ofadministrative experience that I
wasn't able to get at mydistrict at the time.
So I started a job search.
Now you look at positions andyou realize that there's a
limited number of schooldistricts, there's a limited
number of supervisor positions.
So I realized that this wasgoing to probably take me some
(02:13):
time but nevertheless I was inand I had gone on several
interviews and, admittedly, hadsome great success.
I was moving through theprocess, I was getting to the
final round, but I was notgetting the job offer and,
understandably, there were a lotof reasons as to why.
Some had to do with lack ofexperience, some had to do with
(02:36):
internal candidates, all weregood and so I apply for this
position in a neighboring townand I am really, really excited
about this position because it'sa great school district, it's a
great reputation.
I thought this would be theplace where I could go and do
(02:59):
some great work and maybe, justmaybe, retire from.
So I go through all the rounds,right, I go through the initial
screen, the first roundinterview, and now they invite
me to the final round.
Now, this interview happened inJune, which, if you know
anything about New Jersey, inJune it's hot, humid and sticky.
(03:22):
And so I put the suit on, I putthe whole outfit together and
everything, and off to thisinterview.
I go where I know that in thisfinal round I'm going to be
meeting with the schoolsuperintendent and the assistant
superintendent.
So I arrive at the board office, nobody is there and I'm
(03:45):
thinking do I have the day wrong?
Is this something out of amovie where it's actually the
weekend and I've missed itcompletely?
I can't find anybody.
But I'm resourceful.
So I start walking around thebuilding trying to figure out if
I can see anybody and, lo andbehold, I learned that the
(04:08):
entire administrative team is ina training and I happen to
knock on the door and the dooropens and I say to the person
who opens the door goodafternoon, my name is John
Nerrell.
I'm here to meet withSuperintendent so-and-so about
the math department chairposition, and I hear this voice.
(04:31):
And this voice goes JohnNerrell, what are you doing here
?
You're not leaving your job.
And it turned out that theperson leading the training was
the parent of a former studentof mine.
At that point you just have toown it, right.
(04:52):
So strike one.
I'm thinking, oh boy, this isgoing to get back.
I was trying to do this veryquietly and of course, now it's
all exposed, I thought, allright, strike one, we're just
going to own this.
Let's say I get the job.
I thought, all right, strikeone, we're just going.
(05:24):
There's just not a lot of warmthto the room, but in the center
of the room is this hugeconference table and they sit me
in the middle of it.
So I'm on the long side in themiddle.
The table probably seats about14 people.
So I sit there.
The superintendent walks in.
He sits directly across from me, the assistant superintendent
(05:51):
sits at the end of the table.
So I'm calming my nerves andgetting myself all together and
everything.
Now, remember it's June in NewJersey.
It's hot, sticky and humid.
I'm sitting there in a suit,the superintendent is sitting
there in a short-sleeved shirtwith a tie, and I'm thinking
okay, not too formal, but alwaysbetter to dress up than dress
(06:14):
down in these kinds ofsituations.
And so the interview starts.
We go through the resume, we gothrough the tell me about
yourself question and, as theinterview is starting, as I'm
looking at this superintendent,I cannot help but notice his
belly button.
Now, to be perfectly clear,this gentleman was not wearing
(06:38):
an undershirt and he hadaccidentally had the button was
unbuttoned at his belly button.
So I'm staring at this becauseit's really hard to not notice
this.
And if you know anything aboutme, you know that if I get a
(06:59):
thought in my head, thelikelihood is it's going to come
out of my mouth and I'mthinking, oh boy, like how am I
going to play this?
Because I'm trying to focus onthe question and I'm trying to
answer as best as possible.
But what I can only bestdescribe as the teacher from
Peanuts is, as this gentleman istalking, it's like his belly
(07:23):
button is moving and it'stalking to me, right, and it's
going wah, wah, wah, wah, wah,wah.
And again, I'm having a reallyhard time staying focused.
So, to my left, okay.
So if the superintendent'ssitting at 12 o'clock, the
assistant sup is at nine o'clock, I'm looking at him and I'm
looking at the superintendentand I'm making this motion with
my head, like will you noticethis?
(07:44):
It doesn't dawn on me that atthe angle the assistant
superintendent is sitting at, heprobably can't say it.
So I answer a question, I'mtrying to stay focused and now
I'm starting to giggle becausethis is just bizarre.
This is like one of thosethings where you sit there and
(08:04):
you think to yourself this can'tbe happening, but it is, and do
I not say anything and appearaloof and disjointed, or do I
call this out?
So again I get asked anotherquestion and I answer it and I'm
trying not to laugh.
And then I'm waiting for thenext question to come and I'm
looking at the assistantsuperintendent and I'm like
(08:25):
nodding my head, trying to gethim to pay attention.
And so I get called out on itand the superintendent looks at
me and he goes is there aproblem?
Well, yeah, so at this point Ihave to show up and own where
I'm at, which is I'm just goingto call it out, because I think
this is the best way to handlethe situation.
(08:48):
So I said something like this.
I said in all due respect, I amtrying to stay focused on the
conversation, but admittedly,your shirt is unbuttoned at your
belly button and the way youare sitting.
It looks like your belly buttonis talking to me every time you
move and I find it verydistracting.
(09:10):
I'm not trying to embarrass,but would you kindly button your
shirt, to which I gave thatnervous laugh, crickets.
You could have heard cricketsin this room.
Okay, I could have dropped anuclear bomb and it would have
(09:30):
caused less damage than what Idid.
Because now there's thisawkward moment where this
gentleman has to button hisshirt and I look at the
assistant superintendent andhe's got his head in his hands,
okay.
And I look at thesuperintendent there is not a
(09:55):
laugh, a chuckle, a thank youfor telling me.
I'm so sorry, that wasdistracting for you.
There is nothing.
It is three guys in a room.
I called one of them out andthen I said something like this
Well, that was awkward, again,crickets.
(10:19):
So we go through the interviewas best as we can.
And again, this is somethingwhere I'm usually not the kind
of person who's going to cutcorners.
I'm pretty straightforward anddirect.
I'm in my late 30s at the timeand I'm thinking I got nothing
to lose, I got a great job, Iwill go back.
(10:41):
There is nothing wrong with mesaying, hey, this was a position
that wasn't offered here in thedistrict.
I decided to throw my hat inthe ring.
I'm, thankfully, going to staywhatever it was.
So we get to the end of theinterview and this is the
question I've asked Is thereanything you would like to ask
(11:03):
or say before we end theinterview?
And I'm thinking to myself do Icall it out again?
Do I say anything?
Do I just be like nope, we'regood, this is what I said.
I said I want to thank you bothfor your time today.
(11:25):
It was great getting to knowyou both a little bit more,
learn more about the district.
If there's one big takeaway fromthis interview, it's this I'm
not afraid to have theconversation and if you are
embarrassed unintentionally oryou are upset with me for
calling out your unbuttonedshirt and your belly button, and
(11:45):
that is not the kind of personyou want on your team, by all
means.
I understand not getting thejob, but that was something I
felt I needed to do in themoment.
There was no offense, pleaseunderstand that, but if that was
upsetting to you, I'm obviouslynot the right person for the
job, for the job.
(12:13):
And then there was this pauseand I thought, oh crap, I'm
either going to get chewed outor I'm going to get offered the
job on the spot.
And there was this pause and helooks at me and he goes thank
you, have a nice day.
I didn't bother with anyfollow-up at that point.
(12:33):
I left, I got in the car, Itook my jacket off, I took my
tie off, I called a dear, dearfriend of mine and I went.
You are not going to believewhat just happened.
And he says to me he goes John,you actually said that in the
interview.
I said yeah, because it wasdistracting and everything.
He goes.
You don't call that stuff out.
And I said, yeah, but wait aminute, like I had to make the
(12:54):
best decision I had to make atthe time.
It's not like at some pointlater on in the day he's going
to go.
Oh, I guess my belly button wasexposed for the entire day.
To which my friend says to methat was a risk you should have
been willing to take, becausesometimes your mouth gets you in
trouble.
I don't think you're gettingthe job.
(13:15):
To which I replied oh, I knowI'm not getting the job, it's
totally fine.
But I always look back on thatand I think, could I have played
it differently?
Of course, would I have playedit differently?
I got to tell you, absolutelynot.
These are the kind of thingsthat I am 100% certain this was
(13:35):
an unintentional mistake, fauxpas, error, mishap, whatever you
want to call it, but it isabout how we handle things and
you know for what it's worth.
It is a little bit of astereotype, but it's also pretty
true.
In New Jersey, we can be veryblunt, we can be very direct,
and I have told this story many,many times to people to give an
(13:57):
example of look, this wasreally about us getting past
this and moving forward.
I did it as kindly andrespectfully as possible, but
I'm also not responsible for histhoughts, and so if his
thoughts were this guy's anidiot, this guy's not somebody I
want on my team or why would hecall me out on that?
Whatever it was, I have nocontrol over that, but when you
(14:20):
hear me talk about fit, one ofthe things we often overlook is
is my personality, is the kindof leader and professional I am
going to fit within thatorganization.
I work with clients who we willexplore very in-depthly about
(14:44):
what it looks like and I willask them about humor and
oftentimes people will be alittle shy of it because they're
like well, you know, I am afunny person and I like to laugh
and I don't take myself tooseriously.
But I don't think I can playthat this way in this interview
and I'll say well, what if youcould?
(15:05):
What if there was a way for youto showcase your humor that
allowed you to assess their fitfor you and vice versa?
I mean, obviously I'm nottalking about laughing or making
fun of anything that isinappropriate or unprofessional.
We're not going to do that funof anything that is
inappropriate or unprofessional.
We're not going to do that.
(15:26):
But if building that kind ofrapport and having that kind of
sense of humor is important toyou in terms of fit, what would
you ask about that?
I walked away from thatinterview thinking, oh my gosh,
if this is something we couldn'tlaugh at or we couldn't
acknowledge, what's that goingto mean for my fit there?
(15:48):
How is that going to be lookedat in terms of being three, six,
12 months into the job wherewe're going to be so stuffy and
uptight we can't laugh atourselves a little bit.
Stuffy and uptight, we can'tlaugh at ourselves a little bit.
So again, it comes back to fitand what's the right fit for you
(16:08):
.
And so you know, to this day Ialways think about that
interview.
I always think about how crazyand bizarre it was and I am
grateful I had that experience.
I have never had a more bizarreor strange interview than that,
and so I'm thankful for that.
I'm thankful for that in thatregard.
(16:29):
But we move forward and youknow, I can honestly tell you
that, yeah, it's one of myfavorite experiences in that
regard.
I said I didn't get the job,but it absolutely was a great
experience.
So, my friends, hopefully thisgave you a little bit of a laugh
(16:50):
or a chuckle.
Maybe you're thinking aboutyour most bizarre or humorous
interview story.
If you've got one, do me afavor, reach out to me on
LinkedIn, send me a DM, let meknow about it.
Share that story with me.
I'd always love a good laugh.
And if you are looking forresources to help you in your
career, to build your mid-careerGPS, to whatever is next, I
(17:12):
invite you to go over to mywebsite at johnneral.
com J-O-H-N-N-E-R-R-A-Lcom.
There is a ton of freeresources and digital courses
there to not overwhelm you, butcertainly get you started in
building your mid-career GPS.
So until next time my friends,remember this you will build
(17:34):
your mid-career GPS one mile orone step at a time, and how you
show up matters, even if it isan awkward situation where you
got to call out somebody's bellybutton right, how you show up
matters.
Be true and authentic toyourself and I will be back with
you next week.
Take care.
(17:55):
Thank you for listening to theMid-Career GPS Podcast.
Make sure to follow on yourfavorite listening platform and,
if you have a moment, I'd loveto hear your comments on Apple
Podcasts.
Visit johnneral.
com for more information abouthow I can help you build your
mid-career GPS or how I can helpyou and your organization with
your next workshop or publicspeaking event.
(18:17):
Don't forget to connect with meon LinkedIn and follow me on
social at JohnNarrowCoaching.
I look forward to being backwith you next week.
Until then, take care andremember how we show up matters.
Thank you.
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