I don't really like interview-me very much

Interview-me is:

polite
well-dressed
alert
kind
charming
grateful
articulate
appropriately self-deprecating
appropriately self-promoting
mildly witty
thoughtful
ready with all the answers
able to say what people want to hear
likely to give people inflated expectations

Interview-me is totally fake. She doesn't really exist.

Sometimes it would be nice to be hired as real-me, not interview-me.

ETA: This is not me saying that I actually AM any of the things above. But I'm pretty good at faking them for 20-30 minutes. I can make myself into what almost anyone wants for 30 minutes - and after it feels soooooo fake...

Comments

[Janice]

Real you is actually pretty awesome, remember!

[Citronella]

But don't we all have an interview personality, and don't all hiring people know we put it on specifically for the interview process and won't be exactly like that for real?

[Historiann]

Don't oversell your interview self by comparison to your real self. Recently, I've noticed that some of the people my dept. have hired are much more fun and interesting when they come to work for us than they seemed on their interviews, because they're no longer trying to be so controlled. You're a much more accomplished and interesting person than a 1L who's 23 years old and has never done anything--don't hide your light under a bushel! And, good luck.