Diary of a Shop Girl: What Exactly is Your Job?

It must be in the nature of being human, particularly a human willing to take risks, to sign up for something without really knowing what you are signing up for. It’s leaping before you look, taking a calculated, but reckless, risk. Stepping to the beat of your own drum when the written melody is so clearly different from the one that you are jamming to.

Nothing embodies this gambler’s mindset more eloquently than the entire job search process. So tragically human, players on both sides take a big risk in applying, interviewing, and finally selecting whether or not a prospective candidate will be a good fit for a position. Lofty job titles with keywords that mean different things to different people are used to dazzle and excite crowds of unsuspecting applicants. Decisions are made entirely subjectively. (If you wear a headband, you could not only be out, but also a point of contention at the water cooler for months after you’ve interviewed). Dramatically, the “biggest test of your life”, you might spend hours, days, even weeks preparing for an interview that may only last 30 minutes to 1 hour. You may be past along because you didn’t pass a level on an interview process video game.

When finally selected, you may be thrown into a position, you’re not entirely sure you ever agreed to based on the interview and job description. Even worse, you may find yourself in a position that you duplicitously talked your way into that you are a) way under-skilled to perform in, let alone thrive at, and b) then not able to accomplish what you’d hoped you could.

30, 60, 90, S.M.A.R.T Goals, pool tables, and summer Fridays might function to distract you as you hustle to fake it till you make it, but when the dust settles and your 90 days are up — now that you are able to really see what exactly it is that you are being asked to do — a few things happen.

You can now:

1. Articulate what your job actually is, and most importantly
2. Assess whether or not you actually like the situation you now find yourself in.

And where is that exactly? Did the twang of the interview not sit quite right? In desperation, did you scramble for anyone and any place that would have you and now that they have you seems like the devil? Is the devil you know truly better than the devil you don’t? And is anyone truly happy and fulfilled in their job, or is that more faking it till you make it?

If you find yourself answering the questions above with frustration, an exasperated sigh, and an eye roll, it might be time to dump your losing hand and roll again.