This morning I spent three hours downtown at a non-profit conducting mock interviews for women trying to get back into the workforce. It was awesome. The program participants were ordinary women trying to make a come-back from oppressive, abusive situations. They were referred to the program by counselors, attorneys, probation officers, and judges. Four weeks of classes and a three-week unpaid internship. There was so much courage in the room, I could hardly breathe.
In the middle of one of my last interviews, I asked the classic, "Where do you see yourself in five years?" The interviewee instantly made the "time out" symbol by putting her hands into a "T" and looked over to the program supervisors who were lined up in chairs in the back of the room. She got teary and looked totally confused and said, "I don't know what I'm doing tomorrow. How would I know what I'm doing in five years?"
No kidding. When was the last time you were that honest? And humble? And dependent. She looked back at me and I said, "You're doing great. Let's keep going and we'll talk about it at the end." We did and we did. It was such a good day.
I had a similar experience when I was helping high school kids with no college plans to hone their interview skills so that they could get work. There was a worksheet of 30 or so possible interview questions with, of course, the obligatory "where do you see yourself in the future" type query. Some of the answers were surprising, but none as surprising as the kid who answered "dead."
ReplyDeleteThat one still haunts me.
Good on you LSL for acknowledging her with such a simple yet generous sentence, "You're doing great". I bet she hasn't had someone say that to her too often.
ReplyDeletedave2 - I wonder if that kid's prophecy was fulfilled. I'd like to believe that a little ray of hope came into his life. I understand about holding onto hope. It's sad to think that so many other kids out there don't get that opportunity.
Reminds me of my sister. These sorts of situations always do. And, you're right, it's the blatent, hard-core truth. I'd have bawled like a baby. Our church holds "graduation" ceremony for a women's prison, when they are all released from this lifestyle skills deal....they all come to our church, and meet their families for the first time since they went in. We have the ceremony, a dinner, and a good time with them and their families. It's always an amazing (tearful) time.
ReplyDeletethat sounds like a very good use of a day. :)
ReplyDeleteAwesome!
ReplyDeleteWow. This moves me. I think it's pretty safe to say that you are awesome.
ReplyDeleteI hope in five years, she is prepping someone for an interview and telling them they're doing great.
A friend gave me a great answer for that question and I'm sure you could pass it along to those women: "In your job."
ReplyDeleteIt's such a simple and confident answer. I'm sure it would blow a lot of people away.
OK you have the BEST stories ....I wanna be you. Except that you are a girl and I don't think I wanna be one of those ..no offense I love ya ( and most girls) but I just don'r think I would make a good girl. As a matter of fact I think I would be a wanton floozy if I was a girl. Any way just know I love your stories.
ReplyDeleteWow. How do you do these things? I'm in awe.
ReplyDeletehey! right up your alley, too . . . i've been away too long, so don't know. did you change jobs? is this part of the job you had? i must read on . . .
ReplyDeleteHey. So maybe this isn't such a bad place to live.
ReplyDeleteOh, I was right there with you as I read. I love this post.
ReplyDeleteFor the past week I've been listening to "She's Not Just A Pretty Face" by Shania Twain. I seriously tear up EVERY TIME I listen to it. It is empowering to me.
I feel like you've empowered these women in more ways than you'll ever know....
That made me teary eyed.
ReplyDeleteYou're awesome!
Yeah, a tear was my reaction.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post!