Like Zoë, I rather dislike flying.  Most people are fearful of the take-off and landing, but I really hate those horrible bumps you encounter at 36,000 feet.  Hey, at least, I’m relatively close to the ground (and an airport) during ascent and decent.  Who knows where the heck I am 2 hours into a flight!

We’ve both recently talked about flying because we just returned from a business trip together.  It’s fresh on our minds.  Lots of white knuckles, even though we both travel quite a bit.  Put us together, and we’re just a bowl full of nerves.

This time our legs in and out of Seattle were mostly bump free … but we did encounter delays.  In fact, last night, we sat on the plane at our gate for 2 hours.  The first hour, our plane waited on connecting passengers to make the flight.  (Ah, how nice.)  The second hour, we were grounded due to weather.  We finally got on our way, but we didn’t get back home until really late.  Needless to say, I’m tired and a little loopy today.  But it's a nice nervous energy.

The wishywashy nature of air travel got me thinking about candidates who travel for important interviews.  Especially coming out to a geographically isolated city like Seattle, you can bet on some connections … which means even more room for error.

So my tidbit of advice today is to consider the importance of your interview when planning your trip.  Sure, you can schedule an itinerary that arrives in the evening before your interview and departs soon after your final meeting concludes – but before you book, consider your options should a flight run late … or your interviews run late.  I don’t know how many candidates I’ve seen who got little or no sleep the night prior to their big day due to travel mishaps.  And I’ve even seen some who have had to cut interviews short so they could hop a plane back home.

Give yourself a buffer.  Just take those couple extra days off work or school, or schedule your interviews adjacent to a weekend.   Plan to arrive in the mid-afternoon on the day before your interview, and schedule your departing flight for the day after your interview.  This plan should build in the buffer you need to ensure crazy air travel doesn’t poo-poo on your ability to demonstrate the best you have to offer.

gretchen

today’s emotion:   silly, a little tired, and so happy to be home