🌧️ The Day I Heard Bad News – A Reflection on My Job Interview and Growth
– Resilience is closer than you think
The day I heard the result of my job interview, I honestly felt like I couldn’t do anything. From the first question, I could tell something felt off, and it was clear that the direction of the interview wasn’t what I had expected. After nearly 30 minutes of the interview, I was completely drained. When I finally heard the result, it felt like being hit hard in the gut.
o be honest, I had expected it to some extent, but hearing it for real still hurt. That day, I couldn’t do anything. I felt completely unproductive. I really didn’t want to do anything. Fortunately, it was a work-from-home day, so after lunch, I went for a walk around my neighborhood. The weather was amazing, and before I knew it, the trees were covered with autumn leaves. It made me realize once again how life goes on, regardless of everything. Life is a series of moments... and this setback, too, is just one moment in my life.
The silver lining is that I’m currently doing a high duty acting role. The merit list from my previous interview is still valid, and if a permanent position opens up by September, there’s a good chance that my current acting role will transition into a permanent one. This might be a bit difficult to understand without knowing the Australian public service system, but I’ll explain it more in detail later.
That day was tough, but the next morning, I started thinking about things in a different way. "What went wrong?" "What did I miss?" Those questions started coming up, and many things became clearer. I realized that lack of preparation played a big part. And while I’ve been doing this acting role, I’ve been juggling so much that I started questioning, “Is this really what I want?” I realized that the reason I was feeling this way was that the start wasn’t clear, and because of that, the result wasn’t what I had hoped for.
Right now, I’m handling a lot in my acting role, but my original role is permanent, and I’ve been doing a higher-level role for the past few months. It wasn’t something that came easily, but looking back, I feel lucky. Many others took 2-3 years of applying to land a permanent role, but I got it right away, and now I’m acting in a higher-level position, which is a huge step forward for me.
At first, it was overwhelming, and even though I was doing well, I constantly doubted myself. But now, looking back, I can see that I’ve grown a lot. The experiences and lessons I’ve learned have given me confidence. I can truly feel the growth now.
At one point, I was confused, wondering if it was the increased responsibility or the amount of work that was making things difficult. Over time, I realized that the sheer volume of work was the biggest factor. Just a few months ago, our team was seriously understaffed. Whew... Some colleagues who couldn’t handle it ended up transferring to other departments.
Looking back on this experience, I realize I’m a person with strong resilience. There are times when I feel exhausted and overwhelmed, but the fact that I don’t stay down and find the strength to get back up is what resilience is, isn’t it?
📝 Next Post Preview
What is ‘High Duty Acting’ and the ‘Merit List’ in the Australian Public Service?
I’ll be explaining the process, timeline, and how promotions work in a future post.