The last week or so has been rather crazy. While I have not landed a formal offer yet, I have had a 'can you hold on for another month or two' and some confirmations of the byzantine processes for decision making, with 'you're a strong candidate, hang in there' and a third interview coming up in the next week.

So what made this play out?  Not Caring.

There is a paradox that job seekers have trouble grasping, especially ones like me, who aren't all that comfortable in selling themselves and their skill sets, especially when approaching strangers.  It's absolutely vital to be passionate about what you want to do.  It has to really matter to you.  However, when you're pursuing it, you can't really care about failing, of getting blocked by obstacles.

In the last couple of weeks, I've stopped caring.  I've responded to leads, not caring if I get rejected, and not caring if I don't match 100% if it's something that looks like it matches my interests and skill sets.  I've assertively followed up on pending leads.  An interview earlier this week had that standard questions, "Do you have any questions for me" and I grinned and said yes, and started in on my list of questions, ending up asking them more than they asked me, demonstrating I'd done my research. 

I got answers to the generic and the specific.  And, like a good interviewer, I heard the answers to the specific questions and the implied ones.  And I liked what I heard.

What made the difference is, I accepted the possibility of failure without being caught up in the gut-wrenching "Am I saying the right thing" and "oh, that didn't come out right" that makes interviewees nervous and trip up.

Was it a perfect interview? Hardly.  But did I leave a positive impression? Must have, because I got the call for the third interview earlier than estimated.  Will I get this job? I don't know, but I guarantee you I'm going to go in there like it's mine to lose, be myself, and analyze them as much as they analyze me.