Lo and behold, during the final stages of planning our mini-vacation to Chicago, I received a call to a much-desired interview with a local subsidiary of a multinational firm. The position is aligned with my marketing skills and, at the outset, looks like a good fit. The resume did its job and opened up the door for this first conversation with this firm. Now I’ll have to dust off my interview savvy from 9-plus years ago and weave in some of the new learnings to insure the next steps happen with this firm.

You may have heard the old joke: “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?”

“Practice, practice, practice!”

And the same applies with interviewing. I’ve decided I need the practice in order to be comfortable answering new, challenging types of questions I hadn’t encountered years ago. Fortunately, one of my running buddies knows an actively employed HR person who is doing some volunteering at a local community center. So he’ll connect me with her, and I’ll see if she is willing to spend a half hour conducting a mock interview. Of course, I’ll read up on potential questions and practice in front of a mirror, but having this HR person’s perspective shall be immensely helpful. As they say, you never know who knows who, and I openly talk about my job search steps every time I meet with my running buddies.

Preparing for the interview is part of getting my groove back. Part of that preparation includes researching the firm -- beyond what is posted on the company Web site. Often the local library has a business section or even a business librarian who can cull out relevant articles in the papers and other media. I’ve also been told that the local unemployment office has resources either on site or at the state level to do this type of research on your behalf.

Once I’ve done my homework about the firm, I need to draw up my list of questions. It is critical to learn more about a firm that might be your next potential employer for many many years. The first interview is all about the fit; after all, since you’ve got the interview, it most likely has been determined that you have either all or most of the skills to do the job. HR or the hiring manager has chosen you based on your resume to be one of the top candidates, given how time-consuming interviewing can be for everyone involved. So the fit check, both by the people interviewing you as well as you them, is critical for moving on to the next steps, whether it be a second interview or an offer. Having prepared questions on my end indicates a desire to be part of the corporate fit.

Lastly, I need to do an inventory of how I will present myself in person with respect to attire, accessories and being pulled together. At the initial interview, nobody needs to see that I am a mother of two very active, small boys. I’ll need to be sure my interview bag is clean of any children’s toys or papers. While it is very sweet and endearing to find a surprise toy or love note drawing from my boys in my bag (on most days, the little boy wonders do sneak something in), it would be an awkward pause in the beginning steps of an interview conversation to pull out a scribbled drawing rather than a clean notebook. Maybe this would be a funny scene in a sitcom, but not in real life. Just like getting back in the dating scene after a divorce, you don’t wish to scare away a potential love of your life -- or the right employer.

How have you geared up for interviewing again? Any funny, yet important lessons learned to share with your unemployed compatriots?

Lo and behold, during the final stages of planning our mini-vacation to Chicago, I received a call to a much-desired interview with a local subsidiary of a multinational firm. The position is aligned with my marketing skills and, at the outset, looks like a good fit. The resume did its job and opened up the door for this first conversation with this firm. Now I’ll have to dust off my interview savvy from 9-plus years ago and weave in some of the new learnings to insure the next steps happen with this firm.

You may have heard the old joke: “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?”

“Practice, practice, practice!”

And the same applies with interviewing. I’ve decided I need the practice in order to be comfortable answering new, challenging types of questions I hadn’t encountered years ago. Fortunately, one of my running buddies knows an actively employed HR person who is doing some volunteering at a local community center. So he’ll connect me with her, and I’ll see if she is willing to spend a half hour conducting a mock interview. Of course, I’ll read up on potential questions and practice in front of a mirror, but having this HR person’s perspective shall be immensely helpful. As they say, you never know who knows who, and I openly talk about my job search steps every time I meet with my running buddies.

Preparing for the interview is part of getting my groove back. Part of that preparation includes researching the firm -- beyond what is posted on the company Web site. Often the local library has a business section or even a business librarian who can cull out relevant articles in the papers and other media. I’ve also been told that the local unemployment office has resources either on site or at the state level to do this type of research on your behalf.

Once I’ve done my homework about the firm, I need to draw up my list of questions. It is critical to learn more about a firm that might be your next potential employer for many many years. The first interview is all about the fit; after all, since you’ve got the interview, it most likely has been determined that you have either all or most of the skills to do the job. HR or the hiring manager has chosen you based on your resume to be one of the top candidates, given how time-consuming interviewing can be for everyone involved. So the fit check, both by the people interviewing you as well as you them, is critical for moving on to the next steps, whether it be a second interview or an offer. Having prepared questions on my end indicates a desire to be part of the corporate fit.

Lastly, I need to do an inventory of how I will present myself in person with respect to attire, accessories and being pulled together. At the initial interview, nobody needs to see that I am a mother of two very active, small boys. I’ll need to be sure my interview bag is clean of any children’s toys or papers. While it is very sweet and endearing to find a surprise toy or love note drawing from my boys in my bag (on most days, the little boy wonders do sneak something in), it would be an awkward pause in the beginning steps of an interview conversation to pull out a scribbled drawing rather than a clean notebook. Maybe this would be a funny scene in a sitcom, but not in real life. Just like getting back in the dating scene after a divorce, you don’t wish to scare away a potential love of your life -- or the right employer.

How have you geared up for interviewing again? Any funny, yet important lessons learned to share with your unemployed compatriots?

Ahhhh, the longest day just passed and we are officially in the summer season. So that means it is time for the beach and trips to the parks, mountains, aquariums and other fun spots! Oops, wait a minute. Can I really have fun while the prospect of continued unemployment is looming?

With Owen and Evan’s preschool almost over for the academic year, I have to figure out how to balance their vacation and educational needs in the next 2½ months with my job search. For them, mommy still has to work very hard even though she goes to a different office (library, unemployment services room -- see #7 in this blog post). But from a preschooler's view, summertime means more fun with mommy and friends.

Since having a routine is reassuring to little ones, I'm holding a junior version of a planning meeting with my boys. This way, they can have input in their priorities for the summer and we can figure out together what makes fun and sense for everyone.

This will be a unique summer for all of us, so I wish to maximize the amount of time I can spend with them without neglecting the job search. With vacation time at the doorstep, the boys are finding it appealing that they can sleep-in late most mornings. That would give me an extra hour of early morning job search/networking time. Another idea is to be sure they have at least a half hour of swimming/beach time midafternoon; that way they expend lots of energy and feel more inclined to go to bed on or before time, and it leaves me another 4-plus hours of evening job-seeking time.

Maybe the boys and I will even do a little fun project together to help me with the position quest. One idea is to do the traditional lemonade stand (we live near a busy foot/bicycle path to the beach) and offer up free lemonade in exchange for career insights, advice, leads, tips, etc. For all others, it would be 25 or 50 cents depending on the size of drink. Of course, the lemonade profits would be theirs for their summer fun expenditures or to bank for a rainy day (a learning concept already in active place for them).

Around Fourth of July weekend, I'll even plan in a few mental days off for myself and take the boys on an educational adventure. We will do a road trip out to Chicago to visit my sister and her boys (about the same ages as Owen and Evan) and stop at a few museums on the way. They love dinosaurs, so we'll stop at a site where you can excavate for fossils with special tools. Part of the educational adventure will also be planning with free maps and books from the local library. Although, in the back of my mind, I will keep the networking approach skills I've learned active and strategically engage in conversations before, during and after the trip. I'll just leave the computer at home, but I’ll take the cell phone along for perhaps sudden interview calls as well as for road safety.

How do you plan to combine your job search with your other life needs this summer?

Need to kick-start your own summer job hunt? Check out our “Sizzling Summer Job Search Tips.”