The Interview Debackle

Yesterday I had a quick 15 minute interview with Steve, I assume just to make sure I made a decent impression. Apparently, I succeeded, because he scheduled a six-person panel interview for today.

So today I get ready. Do my hair and makeup, put on pants and a jacket even though I'm home. I prep my kids. My older kids kind of know, but my five year old has no clue what an interview is, so I told him it was a really important meeting that may make it to where I can buy him more snacks. He seemed down for that.

The kids knew not to interrupt me. They knew to go to Dad who happened to be home sick, but available.

About 15 minutes into the interview I hear the office door jiggling. I had locked the door as another precaution against intruding children. Then I hear a click. The door had unlocked. In the midst of giving one of the panelists an answer, I quietly say a prayer that my five year old, the only one who would've had the gumption to unlock that door, does not show up in the background of the camera, that is on my face. He didn't, at least as far as I knew. He ran back out at some point, leaving the door wide open.

Then my 8 year old comes in, in his underwear, Nintendo Switch in hand, and walks up right behind my chair.

I was mortified. I had taken all of the appropriate steps, other than possibly leaving the house, to keep my children out of my hair for less than an hour during this interview. I FAILED.

I apologized to the panel, mentioned that my husband and a child were sick, turned around and sternly, but hopefully professionally, asked him to leave, and went back to the interview with a smile. Somewhere in there, I mentioned that he was in his underwear - what made me say that? It was true, but I didn't need to point it out.

Next thing I knew, I felt tugging on my pant legs, and I saw the switch being levitated onto my desk by an invisible hand. I knew what that meant, parental controls were locked and he wanted them unlocked. I shoved it back at him, hopefully invisibly as far as the zoom meeting was concerned. More rustling happened around my pant legs, and the switch shows up, levitated again, on the other side of my desk. I gave the child in question a firm shove, concentrating as hard as I could on the interviewer's question. Thankfully the kid left the room and hopefully I answered the question correctly.

The interview continued with me speaking my mind about how important relationships were when you're working with a team that does not directly report to you. They really are, but I probably harped on that too much. In the end, once we'd spoken a bit more about the position, I gave a couple of examples of relevant work that I had done in the area. The position would be chaotic, that I knew, but I thrive on chaos.

Then I admitted the Un-admittable in the interview. I said, "look, I know this is chaotic, I've done enough around this to understand the chaos. I get bored easily, but I thrive in chaos. I have six kids. Every day of my life is chaos, and I make it work."

Well, a couple of the ladies smiled. Maybe they didn't write me off immediately, maybe they did. Time will tell, but hopefully if they write me off, it's for something other than my six kids.

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Kristian is a mom of six, Program Manager by day, active Professional Photographer by trade, and a big believer in finding beauty in the everyday chaos.

Life in our house is loud, messy and full of literally everything. Love, noise, laundry, laughter, and definitely could use a bit more grace. I'm happily married to my best friend, grounded in my Catholic faith, and fueled by five to six hours of sleep per night and adrenaline.

I try to find joy in the everyday — even when it's wild, because without the little bit of joy, this life would be unbearable. This space is for the moms in the middle of it all: the ones juggling family, faith, work, and wonder. The ones that need someone else's messy life to make their own seem better or somewhat normal. You're not alone, and you're doing better than you think.

Welcome to Six Sweet Smiles — where we celebrate the mess, the miracles, and everything in between.