Winging It: Notes From an Interview I Had No Business Being In

Zero experience. That's what I brought to the table.

Not limited experience. Not adjacent experience. 😬

Not the kind of experience you can add bells and whistles to and pass off as relevant if you squint at it right.

Despite my lack of experience, I'd applied on Seek. Socials. Most of them said nothing... Silence did NOT mean a favourable result.

But a Perth-based company called. They operate across WA, Vic, and NSW. The interview was for their NSW operations. After a brief chat on the phone, they scheduled a 12-noon virtual meeting. For today.

The thing about winging it

There's a particular kind of fear that comes with sitting in front of people who're evaluating exactly how much you don't know. It's not panic. Panic is loud. This is quieter... a low hum behind every answer you give, a voice that screams

They can see through your bullsh*t, they can absolutely see it.

They started with situational questions. The classic "What would you do if..." format. Questions designed to reveal whether you've got real instincts or just rehearsed lines.

I had no rehearsed lines. What I had were a range of experiences with my kids.

So I did what anyone does when they're out of their depth... I borrowed from the one area of my life where I'd actually been tested.

I ran every answer through the parenting filter.

Of being responsible for someone who couldn't fully advocate for themselves.

Of reading a situation and making a call without a manual.

Was it a perfect fit? No.

Did it work? I hope so.

The line

They told me I had a great attitude.

And then they said the thing I want you to stop and absorb:

Attitude is what's key. Skills, we can always teach.

Read it again. Slowly this time.

Because that's not HR filler. That is a radical idea dressed up in plain language. The type of thing platitude LinkedIn posts are made of.

That who you are matters more than what you know. That a person who shows up and gives a sh*t can do great work.

That knowledge is transferable but character isn't.

I've spent enough time in the corporate world to know no one really believes that. They say it. They put it in mission statements and engrave it on the walls of open-plan offices between the ping pong table and the cold brew tap. But when it comes down to hiring, they pick the resume (and that too filtered through their AI systems).

These people seemed to mean it.

What's next

I wait.

They'll let me know by Friday if I'm through to the next round.

Until then, I'm doing the only two things I can: upskilling and applying. Which sounds modest, maybe even a little defeatist. It isn't.

It's the whole game. Identifying the variables you can move and not worrying about anything else. Let the chips fall where they may.

But today, I had zero experience walking in. Possibly a second interview walking out.

I've been in worse positions. 😏