I took Little Miss Mau to an arcade close to us the other day.
There was a Stitch, a red one, from Lilo and Stitch movie — sitting in one of those claw machines. Tantalizing.
She wanted me to win it.
Okay.
How hard could this be?
I took out ten bucks. Ten tries. Confident I could easily get it in a few.
3 minutes later…
The ten bucks was gone.
And I was sitting there contemplating my life choices and what lessons I want to teach my 3-year-old as I debated taking out a $20 and giving it another crack.
Multiple times, I had the thing IN THE CLAW.
And…it slipped out.
Now, I understand how people lose money in casinos.
Because every time it happened, I was standing there thinking:
“One more. I nearly had it that time.”
We eventually had to leave without Stitch. Though Little Miss Mau was pretty upset. I bribed her with ice cream. As you can see, I am Father of the Year. Working on it. And, I could tell you that the lesson that Stitch taught me is to keep trying. To never give up. Keep gambling, kids. Daddy believes in you. So does Vegas.
Anyway.
It did get me thinking about how frustrating it is to get close to something and then lose it.
Especially a job.
You get through the first interview. Then the second. They introduce you to someone else on the team, and that conversation goes well too.
You like them. They seem to like you.
Now you’re thinking about the salary. How you’d hand in your notice. What it would feel like to finally be done searching.
You haven’t received an offer, but you’re already making plans around it.
Then they choose someone else.
That one hurts.
You were right there. You could practically feel the thing in your hands. And it slipped out. Just like Stitch. That damn claw.
And if you’ve stopped applying elsewhere because you thought this one was going to happen, you now have to get everything moving again while feeling thoroughly fed up.
That’s what I’d tell you to avoid.
Be excited about a role. Prepare properly. Give yourself the best chance you can.
But keep the other conversations going while you wait.
Send the next application. Take the other interview. Follow up with the company you spoke to last week.
You don’t know what this employer is going to decide, even if every conversation so far has been positive.
And you’ll be in a much better position to handle a rejection if you have another interview on Thursday.
Getting close is encouraging. It’s also frustrating. Both can be true.
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