[Plus something more on parents and adulting…]
This week has brought yet another article about my quarter-life crisis. Something unusual happened, something I haven’t experienced in a long time. This feeling came along when I got into it with my parents, and I found myself at a crossroads. A crossroads of honoring my parents and still viewing them as people outside of being my parents. I think this is a stage a lot of young adults experience, and it is at this point that your relationship with your parents takes a different trajectory. Due to the personal nature of the interaction, I will not write about it here, but I thought the little I’ve said might be a relatable experience for a lot of us…I think.
A few months ago I wrote an article expressing my frustrations about job hunting and application fatigue. It was more of a rant, actually. It was as a result of doing multiple online job applications, endless online assessments, and consistent automated rejection emails. It was a really dark time for me and anyone else who was doing job applications. During that period I also managed to do two planned physical interviews and an impromptu online interview. Suffice it to say, I did not secure any of the jobs. The crazy part is, I did not receive any feedback from any of the interviews I did as well.
I have many stories from this period of my life, but in this week’s article I’m only writing one. It’s about one of the interviews I attended and the questions they asked me. If you read this article and feel the need to judge me, please do it silently. If you can relate, you are in the right place—this is a safe space for both my readers and me.
This interview was for a marketing intern position at an insurance firm. When I prepared for the interview, I was hopeful that I would get it because it’s an internship role. I did not get it, and they did not tell me why. A few weekends later I interestingly met someone who happened to know the people who interviewed me. Naturally, I got him to find out why I did not get the role, and the response was shocking. It turns out that I did not have enough experience. This response was shocking to me because during the application process, it was not listed as a requirement.
That was a mini rant. It is more of a subplot of this story. The main plot is about the questions they asked and how I answered them. Would you believe me if I told you when I was asked what I know about insurance, I had absolutely no idea what to say in the moment? I was also asked, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” and I gave such a rehearsed response. The right response would have been, “I have no idea, and since your whole marketing concept is based on the uncertainty of the future, that’s a strange question to ask anyone.”
As a person, I genuinely think that this question is wrongly phrased. Anything can happen; there is no certainty that where you hope to be in five years is where you will be. Before you start to think that this is another rant, this was my thought process during the aftermath. I was essentially beating myself up for spacing out like that. This experience did teach me something about myself: that I do not work well under pressure. This is one question I always assumed would disqualify me because I would say no.
That’s all for today.
With love,
Mulai Kibaara.
