Settle for Less

I didn't get the job. Oh, I thought the interviews went well enough when it came to the questions about my qualifications (the square pegs of past positions could be easily whittled to fit the round pegs of the job description). Still, the issues of "fit" came down to intangibles such as the unspoken expectations of reading between the lines of the questions that the interviewers asked:

"Could you tell me something about yourself?" could be interpreted as "Are you the kind of person I already have in mind for the position?"

"What do you really want to do?" could be interpreted as "Are you after my job?"

"How would you handle this situation?" could be interpreted as "Tell me how to handle this situation because nothing I did seemed to work."

You see, I had been there before, out of work and trying to second guess the interviewers so that I could convince them (and perhaps myself as well) that I was the perfect candidate for the position. I ended up settling for less money than I was making at my last job, then had an additional 10% reduction that was imposed on all employees as a cost-cutting measure. To make matters worse, on my first day on the job, I discovered that they laid off five writers (and their manager), then decided to replace them with just me (because apparently most of the development work was off-shored to Russia).

So, over six years later, I find myself (again) staring at rows of empty cubicles as the recruiter and I made our way to the conference room where the interviews were to be held, and I had a very bad feeling that my past was about to become my present. But this time, as I read between the lines of the questions that the interviewers asked, I began to ask myself if I was willing to settle for less one more time to quiet those self-centered fears of losing what I have (Doom) or not getting what I want (Gloom).

I prayed about it overnight, and the answer came in an e-mail the following evening with the recruiter telling me that another candidate was considered more suitable. I found myself mildly surprised that I was not disappointed with the outcome, knowing that my fortunes were indeed changing as God did for me what I could not do for myself.