Shauna Moerke is…

Easily the most intimidating aspect of job hunting, there are a lot of rational and irrational things to be afraid of when it comes to interviews. There you are, about to meet with people whose opinion of you directly impacts your future and financial stability. Is it any big surprise that interviews make you feel tense, stressed, worried, and fearful? I mean, think of all the things that can go wrong?

- You get lost.
- You are late.
- You forget the name of the person you are meeting with (Happened to me).
- You forget your resume/documents/portfolio.
- It’s raining and you trip and fall into a puddle (Also happened to me, luckily after the interview though).
- You completely blank on an easy question.
- Zombies break into the room and there isn’t a shotgun or cricket bat in sight (Well, maybe not this one but you never know).
- You say something stupid or they don’t laugh at your jokes.
- You get sick.
- You forget to turn your cell phone off.
- You have a “wardrobe malfunction”.

And so on and so forth. Are you hyperventilating yet? Deep breaths. Deep. Breaths. It’s okay. Interviews may be fear inducing but there is a lot you can learn from your fears. If your fears are rational, such as you are afraid you’ll get lost, you can easily overcome them through preparation and planning. Practice your interview skills with someone, do a practice drive to the company to make sure you know the way, pick out your outfit the night before, etc. Feel better? Of course you do. The important thing is to not let your fears overcome or paralyze you. Use those twinges of fear as the push behind taking the steps needed to ensure your success instead of letting fear hold you back. Soon, you won’t face interviews with fear, you’ll face them with confidence. And that will make all the difference.

But what about the zombies? All I can say is, you better be vigilant. Zombie attacks can and do happen unexpectedly. Personally, I recommend reading The Zombie Survival Guide. You will never enter a building or room again without first assessing it’s defensibility against a zombie horde. Like I said, preparation is everything.

One of my favorite movies is Groundhog Day with Bill Murray.

It struck me the other day that being unemployed can feel a lot like being stuck repeating the same day over and over again. You wake up, putz around the house, do chores or exercise if you are particularly motivated, look for work, take a nap, network, make dinner, veg out in front of the TV. Rinse and repeat the next day. And the next. Sound familiar? When you are unemployed it’s hard not to feel your days blur together and it’s easy to give into self-destructive patterns of behavior. Who isn’t tempted to just curl up under the covers and never get out of your pajamas?

However, just like in the movie, you can go another way. You can take the time to improve yourself by learning new skills; maybe something you’ve always wanted to try but never thought you would have the time. Or you can volunteer and help give back to your community. Sometimes when you feel the most helpless, helping others is the best thing for you. Get creative and do something to change yourself. The most important thing is to not shut yourself off from others. Stay social, get out of your house, and meet new people. After all, Bill Murray’s character wasn’t able to break free of the endless cycle until he fully embraced his situation and effected real change for himself. It’s hard, trust me, I’m right there with you on this, but it is necessary. So let’s all work towards a new and better tomorrow.

Here’s one of my favorite scenes from the movie, the impetus for Bill Murray’s character to start making a change in his life.

I can’t understand how spring and summer can pass by in a haze of laziness only for fall and winter to smack me around with busyness. Is busyness even a word? Anyway, I’m going to be bouncing around the US over the coming months, though not as much as I had wanted to originally. And who knows, things will probably change. If there is one constant this year, it’s that my plans rarely survive a few months.

Nevertheless, here’s where I’m going to be:

Talent Camp, Oct. 18th through 21st: The totally awesome Susan Burns is bringing together a lot of really cool people to talk about some big ‘What if’ questions about talent. I hear there will be a beach house, wine, and a lot of deep conversations. I expect to learn a lot and don’t think I won’t be sharing the learning with all of you.

HRevolution, Nov. 6th through 7th: HR Bloggers Unite! Finally an “un-conference” dedicated just to us. What started out as a simple thought on Twitter has blossomed into something that is going to be fun, casual, and a great opportunity to meet some of the coolest bloggers out there. I expect geeking out, maybe a live HR Happy Hour, and no small amount of laughter.

Washington, DC, Jan. 26th through 28th. I will be in DC on a secret mission and I’m going to want to tweetup with you, yes you! I will either be really happy and in a mood to celebrate, or I’m going to be sad and need some cheering up. Either way, we’re going to have some fun so keep your calendar free!

Here’s where I wish I was going to be:

Talent Management Summit, Oct. 26th through 28th: Originally, I was planning on attending and I’m very sad I can’t go now. If you are attending, you lucky person you, please be sure to give Lisa and Sharlyn hugs for me and call Jason a punk monkey (and then give him a hug) for me.

Fail Spectacularly Party, Nov. 4th: Jason and Laurie are throwing a party and we’re all invited! It will be a night of schmoozing, fun, and you better bring your story to share.

Dudes, what is with me and not making it to Chicago for stuff? I live well within road trip distance. Dammit, I will make it out to Chicago this year! That’s all for me, for now, so my question is this: Where are you going to be?