A FB friend posted a link to this article on Forbes.com. The author is an HR professional, and sang opera on the side. She compares the two types of job search – the audition and the traditional interview – and recommends trying the singer strategy of preparing for the audition/interview, and then letting it go once you’re done. She quotes her teacher :
“You have no idea what they want.
They may have a conception of the role already. If they want Corn Flakes and you’re Raisin Bran, you’re not going to get the role, but that’s okay. Your job is not to try to figure out what they want. Go sing the best version of you that there is at this minute, and forget about everyone else.”
It’s a difficult lesson for singers to learn, but arguably even more difficult for the average job-seeker, who isn’t used to trying to cram three interviews into each day for a week while couch-surfing in NYC.
And it made me think: if we are better at framing this process in a positive way, what other ways might the singer/musician/artist mindset be beneficial to those seeking employment or hiring managers? More on that thread to come.
I am off to Glimmerglass today, for a few days of auditions and opera performances. It’s embarrassing that I’ve not yet been, but I’m very much looking forward to remedying that by day’s end!
Indirect Routes 