by Johanna Fredericks, Bachelor of Education, Perth WA
In preparation for next year, I have recently been going through the interview process to apply for teaching positions and am being interviewed for the advertised appointment pools. In the last couple of weeks I have experienced how powerful my everyday living, and the quality that I bring to the classroom consistently each day, actually is.
I have not only learnt about the power of my everyday living but I have been able to claim another level of love for myself, and the future class that I will work in. I have been completely trusting during this process and open to where I could potentially be employed. During the whole interview process I have had a strong understanding of what I bring to the school environment, teaching and the classroom in general, knowing without a doubt that any school would be lucky to have my presence in their environment. I also have a deep knowing and understanding of who I am – that I am Me – and I can bring Me to any class, to any school, in any suburb.
In the past when writing a letter for a job, I would tailor that letter to completely meet what I could see the position was asking of me. Now my cover letter not only outlines the desired criteria that the job is asking for, but it is filled with relevant examples that are all based on…
- The quality that I bring to the classroom,
- How love, people and relationships are my foundation, and
- The importance of the children feeling supported by how the space in the classroom feels.
It has been during the actual face-to-face interviews with a panel of ‘head’ people that I have felt the greatest power of my everyday living. Commonly, in the past, the interview process has been nerve-wracking for me, as I am sure they are for a lot of people. In the past I have bought into the ‘what ifs’.
What if…
- I don’t get offered a job
- I can’t remember all the notes I revised over and over
- I don’t say everything they need me to say
- I stumble on my words, my hands shake or I get a dry mouth
- They don’t like me
- I don’t have a clue what they are asking me
- I look like an idiot
- I am not experienced enough or don’t know enough, especially ‘teacher talk’, etc, etc, etc?
…and the list could go on, but you get the picture!
BUT NOW!
I have found that because I go into the interview process with All of Me:
- I feel completely relaxed, calm, confident and with my body,
- I go in knowing the beautiful effect that I have on those I interact with and teach,
- I know that my ‘everyday living’ and the way that I am in the classroom considers all of the students – their whole being,
- I know that I have the solidness of my ‘everyday living’, the way I am and how I educate in the classroom, behind me.
So this is what I have been able to speak from… which is awesome because there is no preparation needed, except a quick review of the advertisement and what their school is about.
So not only do I have this amazing support behind me, but I have found that I have also been going in completely detached from what those on the panel think of me, and detached as to whether I get offered a job or not. This has been quite refreshing to feel because I have been able to approach the interview process not only knowing what I bring, but I am also able to say what conditions I would prefer in an employment contract. I am willing to go wherever I am needed and I am even willing to move to a new area, should I get a position with permanency.
The beautiful thing is, I have been completely enjoying the interview process. I have enjoyed sharing my everyday living, that I know to be true in my classroom, with others. I have been able to express this joyfully and clearly without any inhibitions because I have had no attachment to the outcome.
Whether I get offered a job or not, the people on the panel get to experience a joyful interaction with someone who has a passion for people, children, relationships and teaching. A blessing for them if you ask me! My interviews have been so great that I have walked out saying;
- I would hire me.
- If they don’t hire me, then that’s crazy!
So let’s just wait and see what happens…
Inspired by the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
‘I have also been going in completely detached from what those on the panel think of me, and detached as to whether I get offered a job or not’, is an understatement. I totally relate to this when I attended an interview last year. It was the best interview I’ve ever had in that I let go of many expectations I had from all angles. And yet all my life I had the exact feelings you had described in your sharing and the main one, I often consumed by, is I’m not good enough.
Being yourself represents you and ideally that is what interviews should be about, not this ra ra-ing of something we are not.
Time will tell how I’m going to be in the next interview, but I will go in with no attachment as to how it goes afterwards. Life ought to be about this more and more, then we wouldn’t be walking around hurt majority of the time, and when we are in that, then no one gets to meet who we truly are then – what a shame!…
Johanna I love your spunk and joy in writing this blog – you really have allowed yourself to embrace the situation of job application and realising what an opportunity it presents to feel all your qualities to share with others.
When we focus on things we don’t know or can’t do then we can feel like we are a failure. But if we focus on what we do know and can do and then draw upon those as strengths to bring ourselves up to speed in areas we may not have been so strong in then it is a win win situation.
Henrietta, this is amazing sharing not only for interviews, but also generally in our every day life. Focus on what we do know and draw upon those as our strengths. This will pull that other side that we annoyingly been asked to focus on instead which keeps us exactly where we do not need to be in continually. Much to ponder over with this revelations.
When we appreciate ourselves and value ourselves deeply, we know what we bring to all those around us. When we live every day with this depth of appreciation then we are more open to expanding and growing and inspiring ourselves and others even more so.
I love the power and strength in your confirmation, ‘I have had a strong understanding of what I bring to the school environment, teaching and the classroom in general, knowing without a doubt that any school would be lucky to have my presence in their environment. I also have a deep knowing and understanding of who I am – that I am Me – and I can bring Me to any class, to any school, in any suburb.’
Such a beautiful, joyful piece of appreciation. When life is no longer about me and my security and survival in the world, what we can bring and offer to the world is just endless expansion of possibility. Not being attached to the outcome, which usually is based on what we have been conditioned to judge as either good or bad, something true can be expressed and shared with everyone.
“Knowing without a doubt that any school would be lucky to have my presence in their environment”. This is how we all should go into interviews, knowing our strengths and what we have to offer an organisation. They then get to see that and can match the right person and qualities to the job and the existing team.
To live free from pictures and being detached is an empowering way to be, you can then respond to life and all that is offered rather than being disappointed or upset when things don’t go your way.
This is a beautiful blog. What happened next?
Our movements determine what part of ourselves and how much of ourselves is up to be inter-viewed.
It was gorgeous to read your blog and feel how reclamation of yourself within the interview process. Being able to claim that it is crazy if they don’t hire you simply because of how awesome you are for being you, is more of a reflection of your immense love of yourself than it ever is about the job and what you can do in it.
Not only is this a template for how to approach an interview, it is a template to approach everyday.
Claiming and knowing what we bring to humanity, very beautiful.
Certainly setting the standard jstewart51!
Letting go of attachment to the outcome and living from the foundation of presenting all of oneself, then life flows so much more harmoniously and simply. To live this way consistently for me is an ever-deepening journey of development.
Definitely worth appreciating that solidness and the quality of how you live. I too feel the same in that I go into an interview with me and what a bring rather than trying to fit myself into the criteria.
When we make the quality of our livingness true to ourselves in our every day then what we have seen as challenges in the past are no longer challenges. They are events and situations enjoyed and confirmed through the connection to ourselves, our foundation supported by our livingness.
Hi Johanna, what you describe here is like going to a test and knowing/having all the answers, which is exactly how it is when you go to a job interview and speak from how you live.
Johanna your blog is a great support for anyone going through the interview process, it is very inspiring the way you held yourself and the value you place on all the qualities you bring, there is so much we offer others when we share our lived ways.
I so agree there should be no preparation needed for a job interview. It’s actually quite insane how there is an industry that specializes in that in order to appeal and be accepted in a job – it’s like we already have this agreement that says simply being ourselves and presenting what we live in our every day won’t be good enough.
I wonder if it depends on the job. There are quite a few jobs where it is a good idea to prepare for an interview and even if it is only researching the organisation that is interviewing us. However, you are completely correct that worrying and fretting beforehand will have the opposite effect.
We can get so caught up in the what ifs of life that it can undermine the true joy and opportunity to learn in any given moment or experience we have.
When you bring your livingness with you and express from it, there is a solidness that cannot but be felt. Yet, there is more than that. There is a way that flows naturally without any imposition that people align to.
This is a great thing to be writing about… You know, public speaking, public performing, it’s all the same… It’s our livingness that counts. If we are settled within ourselves, connected within, we can actually stand up on stage singing, speaking, do what is needed, without disturbing that connection within. And the thing is… when one is this connected it is so easy to listen to.
Having been on the other side of the table at interviews it is very refreshing when someone just presents themselves as who they are and one of the most important attributes you are looking for is whether the interviewee will work well with others.
It is beautiful that if we stay ourselves in the application for a job, when we don’t get the job we don’t feel double rejected. The double rejection we otherwise feel because we did not get the job and in the process we also abandoned ourselves. I found the latter the most crushing to feel, to go away from my natural expression to get a job and then not to be accepted even though I did ‘all that effort’! Really a great thing to recognise and realise there is nothing better than being true to ourselves in life.
When we let go of needing an outcome and allow ourselves to express who we truly are, life flows and all is complete no matter what happens. Hence whether we get a job or not is not the end goal, even though it may happen, rather it is our quality of presence we are responsible for bringing to an interview and every part of life.
It is empowering to feel that in being ourselves, living in connection to who we are through our every day, we do not need to try being anyone else or practice fitting into a role or feel like we need to perform. As when we live who we are in essence, we know all that we are, and we know we bring this quality of presence to all we do.
A job interview should not be a place to go to to find out if you are “good enough”, but a place you go to to openly share who you are, what you would bring of you to a role, and to hear what the employer would like to see. It is a 2 way street and in that way all the nerves and worry about being accepted can disappear.
Beautifully said Heather – I am certainly one of those who has gone into an interview feeling like it was an inquisition, where as it was for me to claim my qualities and appreciate myself in order to back myself and walk in sharing all of me instead. Funny how we can be set up, but also how we can set ourselves up too when it is not needed!
I love what you are presenting here Johanna, a full on appreciation of all that you bring. It makes it so clear how insidiously suppressing we have made life to be where we always have to prove ourselves and where criticism is highly regarded. We still yet have to discover how powerful true appreciation is.
I feel your joy in just being you, sharing how you live Johanna, and how it’s simply just another forum to do so, no pressure; and it must be equally lovely for those who meet you in this to feel your solidness, your ease and how there is no expectation coming their way, just someone being themselves and exploring each step as they do.
I love what you are saying here Monica and what Johanna shows us is how simple life can be.
I can relate to what you share. Invited to design a course for a client, I knew instantly how to approach it and what I would bring to the subject. This made it easy to write the proposal and ideas flowed. It didn’t matter if it was accepted or rejected, only that I had stayed true to myself and presented the subject in a way that was true and supportive of participants
How beautiful it is to feel your true worth from inside out, be unaffected by outcomes and simply enter an interview or process with a view to share with others your true qualities and what you bring.
I agree Kehinde – when we live in this way it is a blessing for all, offering the opportunity for real connection.
Powerful and so true – that is exactly how it should be. In full honoring and appreciation of knowing who we are – we can then truly go into an interview and know what we offer. And indeed – if they don’t take that, it is absolutely crazy and their loss.
Lovely to hear how you claim yourself and what you bring to the classroom, your quality, your love of people and relationships, and how important, ‘the children feeling supported by how the space in the classroom feels.’
Beautiful Johanna. I have been experiencing interviews of late with the same intention as you — Present all of me.
One interview, I initially became blank to an easy question. This made me nervous compared to how confident I was before that. The interviewers picked up on that and asked me if I was nervous. I honestly replied how I should of answered that question .. I did later on too. What I claimed more than ever before was that I was all of me in that moment – real, open, nervous, sensitive .. I stayed with my body. They increased the intensity then and I did not get the job however, I felt the power within me expand as I left the interview. To me I left a massive imprint in that organisation and building how to be yourself – it was a huge success to me.
Beautiful Johanna, to be open enough to go wherever you are needed and not to have any attachment to an outcome from an interview really does free you up to just be all of who you are during an interview.
Johanna, what you bring to the classroom and the children is so needed in today’s society, and will benefit the children for the rest of their lives, ‘In the last couple of weeks I have experienced how powerful my everyday living, and the quality that I bring to the classroom consistently each day, actually is.’ Absolutely gorgeous.
That is true confidence Johanna, knowing your true worth and value and the fact that you are an asset to any workplace that chooses to employ you.
Appreciation of what we bring to every situation is what allows our Livingness to be continually expanding, and this energy is felt by others, whether they are aware of this undeniable truth or not. So the energy that we live in, even for those who are living in a way that completely numb the energy, is felt and can only be denied but the truth is we are always feeling energy.
I recently had an interview and didn’t get the job. A lot of what you have written about in this blog is very relevant to me. I can see that I was not able to speak with all of me, because that was not how I’d been living up to that point. A great lesson.
I can relate to what you share Debra. Every job interview process begins with us, how we are with ourselves, how we’ve lived, what we bring, not the job description and spec. If we walk into an interview head first, full of what we want we want to say, yet have left ourselves outside the room, it’s usually all downhill from there.
There is such a difference in the way we chose to go into situations when we start living a life that is about bringing all of us to it. We lose all worry, expectations and pictures we may have about an outcome, it becomes about what we bring, and that it is all that is needed in any situation regardless of the outcome.
This is brilliant Johanna – I love the quality and the value you bring to yourself here – I agree with you, anyone would be crazy not to hire you with so much love to offer to all.
“My interviews have been so great that I have walked out saying;
I would hire me.
If they don’t hire me, then that’s crazy!”
The most astonishing thing here is the fact you had to go to more than one interview – anyone with a sense for an absolute powerhouse of an employee you are would surely hire you on the spot! I guess they all needed an opportunity to be graced by your joyful approach and it’s clear you enjoyed the process too. An amazing blog to read on my way to an interview.
Brilliant Johanna – love all that you’ve shared here. When we are claimed in ourselves and know to the bone what it is that we bring, why diminish it? What you’ve expressed here is true confidence – something rarely experienced in this world, and a quality that holds the power to truly inspire others.
You’ve summed it up beautifully here: “Whether I get offered a job or not, the people on the panel get to experience a joyful interaction with someone who has a passion for people, children, relationships and teaching.”
Need our every experience be based purely upon a desired outcome? Or does our every experience with others offer a grand opportunity to connect – to truly connect and not hide nor apologise for our own brilliance.
Love this – our every experience with others as an offering for deeper, true connection, based on all of who we are, and nothing less.
So beautiful to read Johanna of the deep appreciation and value you hold for yourself, to carry yourself through life in this way is key to deepening all relationships especially the one with self first, making it easier to not be attached to getting the job but in being who you truly are.
I love this Johanna. I am applying for jobs at the moment and your post reminds me that this process provides a great opportunity to appreciate myself and everything I bring to the workplace. It also reminds me that any attachment to outcome will create stress and strain.
I am inspired. I have been preparing for an interview this week and what started as me feeling for the first time ever, uninvested in the outcome, I have felt the anxiety come in over the past couple of days – the list of internal judgements is one I’m familiar with. It’s awesome to reconnect to the purpose – that of being me and simply meeting people and having fun. No reason I can’t do this within the presentation I have been asked to do either. If I focus on connection, the rest will flow.
Such a beautiful shift from making work about what we do to making it about who we are.
True – this quality of being and movement can apply to every aspect of our lives, how we present, how we hold others, how we treat ourselves, every moment of the day, even when asleep. This is the quality of each and every one of us, and this is what creates the world in which we live.
it really does turn everything on its head when you go to an interview not in the mindset of proving yourself the one for the wished for job but instead just another opportunity to connect with others and be all of you in that moment, and whatever happens there is not a single investment in the outcome- most freeing.
What you have shared is so relevant to living life in general. For the greatest preparation for life itself comes through developing our connection to who we are, through which we appreciate the greatness we bring knowing that when we are with ourselves, our Soul, we are connected to all and as such are guided in honor of all, to know what is needed as we share the quality of our essence with whatever we are doing or whoever we are with.
Bringing all of us everywhere in life is the greatest healing for ourselves and the world.
So many people struggle to mold themselves into what any position or interview is asking of them out of a need to get the job… so it is so refreshing to read of you not being prepared to do this but rather offering all they could want plus more… and the more being of such fundamental importance when it comes to truly connecting to and supporting children in a much needed quality the education system appears to have lost in its drive for results above all else. Amazing.
I would have snapped you up on the spot Johanna!
when we did connect with ourselves, and stay connected, we have the possibility to enjoy it so much more of life… Staying conscious and present enables us to experience was truly happening… And this can be sometimes quite magical
Beautiful Johanna, knowing what you bring to a workplace and expressing yourself from the confidence of what you live every day is all that’s needed. So simple, and allows the potential employer to know more clearly whether you are in fact the person they are looking for. So much harder to discern this if you’re twisting yourself in knots trying to be everything you think they want you to be.
Wow Johanna – in this blog – you share how you have made work about the service you bring to others, and not about self. That is huge and how powerful is this! When we get self out the way we have to ask; how can I not get this job if this job isn’t actually for me but part of a much bigger picture’ – that is very cool indeed.
Thank you Johanna, this is great to read, confirming the true value that we have by simply bringing ourselves in in full.
Wonderful Johanna I would hire you immediately – how could I not as you are the best role model ever for showing everybody that loving oneself is the best thing to do in life.
I know from experience that it is self-detrimental to cater your application and interview persona to what you think the interviewers want to hear… I’m learning that just myself alone is all and everything I need to bring 🙂
Beautiful to read how much you appreciate what you bring into the classroom Johanna. Becoming detached from outcomes brings a whole new experience to interviews – and to life. We can just be our natural gorgeous selves without resorting to come over in a certain way in order to please others or to get recognition.
I’ve been finding the same with interviews over the past few years. The greater my connection to myself, the less I am invested in the outcome of the interview, so feel no need to be anything other than me. I’d even go so far as to say I really enjoy interviews as now they are just a great opportunity to go and meet some new people.
Great blog Johanna, our interview and work is a direct reflection of how we live everyday, and every choice we make also determines how our interview will be.
My last job application required me to attend 6 interviews with the one company, and in the beginning I thought it was very stressful, but by the last 2 I was enjoying the fact that I got to have an hour of quality time with some great managers at the company. They got to know me a little, and I got to know them. Its completely changed how I now look at interviews.
The livingness you take to the interview is the livingness offered to the whole school and every child and teacher. In letting go of the ‘I’ and just being ‘the all that I am’ you will know which interview will answer the call of where you will serve for the benefit of all.
I get this same feeling when it comes time to talk in front of a group of people. In the past it used to terrify me.. all I could hear was my heart pounding in my head while I furiously tried to remember the key points I was going to get across. These days my focus is on just being present so I know what is going on around me, and just being myself. What that means is that it is less a performance, but me simply expressing what I can access at that given moment – and that all depends on my livingness.
Johanna, what you have presented is truly amazing. The appreciation of who you are as a person and what you bring as a teacher. If the school has the same priority for the children, as you the teacher, then the two will meet.
Thank you Johanna, it is truly beautiful to read your appreciation of yourself, your everyday livingness and the quality you bring to the classroom everyday – how powerful when we live and claim this truth everyday.
It’s a very beautiful thing when we know exactly what we bring to the work that we do, so much so that we do not seek identification or recognition from what we do and that if we don’t get the job it doesn’t effect our sense of who we are. That is huge. Getting the job is just the bonus.
An interview is like life really… on a really big scale our life could be said to be the same length as your average interview, and as Johanna says, if we bring all of who we truly are to life, the outcome is clear and defined.
Sounds like a very sucessful way to approach the interview process, no matter what the position
I love what you are describing here Johanna, it shows how much true confidence serves everybody.
I would employ you also Johanna! Imagine a workplace filled with people who came to work each day with the sheer joy of what they could feel inside of themselves and the knowing of what they brought to their work environment. The productivity levels and inspiration each person would gain from others that would subsequently support everyone in contact with that organisation would be simply awesome.
I just loved your blog Johanna, there is so much freedom when we are not attached to the outcome, your joy and consistency in your everyday livingness brings all of you to the classroom and everyone you meet. Who wouldn’t want to hire you?
It’s a killer when we choose to invest in an outcome. Interviews are prime opportunities for us to give our power away when we have set our sights on getting the job and when we’re holding an image of what it means to us to get it. Your detachment, openness and confidence in the process are truly inspiring and show what’s possible when we choose to live in a way that brings a consistency of quality and a deep knowing and understanding of who we are to all that we do. As you say, who wouldn’t want to hire that?!
In some cultures interviews are so important that there are day long workshops on the process and how to ‘optimise’ yourself …. And yet here we have a whole treasure-house of information about this journey.
Johanna, I love how you have been able to be open about what you bring to a job, rather than coming from any need to get the job. It changes the whole process and your confidence comes from a completely different level of knowing who you are and what you bring.
I love how your every day livingness informes your confidence when going for a job, and your confidence in the classroom. Go Johanna!
This is so much more empowering than only seeing searching for a job from the bosses point of view. To have a successful time once you have a job, the contract and conditions have to be mutually acceptable so we may as well embrace the connection we can have with all these people from the start.
Thank you Johanna for this blog. It allowed me to feel how I have not chosen to feel and appreciate that how I live does reflect in how I work and now how I go to interviews. Going to an interview with little attachment (never perfect but thats not the goal) – what does that reflect to those before us? Someone who is not anxious or nervous, placing pressure on themselves or the interviewer to like and accept them – that’s HUGE! They get more of a real and steady picture of who you are rather than the first impressions that often don’t match the actual person if they do get hired. And then there is less pressure to keep up appearances if we do get the job, to meet everything we said about ourselves that was untrue in those 5, 10 or 30 minutes in the interview. How we live with ourselves makes a huge difference to then how we are with others.
Your approach to the interview process eliminates so much stress and is a blessing for the interviewer
Interesting Jane to reflect that current interview processes can feel like a barrier to truly connecting and getting to know the person being interviewed which is surely the whole point of the process? When we get lost in systems the true purpose becomes obscured and it is often about a performance which can lead to the wrong person being hired with financial and other consequences far down the line.
The beauty of bringing ‘All of Me’ to whatever I am doing means that no preparation is needed and we can focus on the present moment rather than trying to remember learnt notes or predicting what might be asked next. Truly inspirational Johanna and applicable to any situation where we get caught up in ‘performance anxiety’ and lose ourselves.
Very refreshing to read, power back to the joy of showing your true colours in an interview as opposed to squashing ourselves to fit the perceived mould.
I could really relate to this Johanna, and not from the direct current experience of job interviews, but in relation to online dating! I am experiencing that I am just being me and with no expectation of any particular outcome, simply knowing who I am and what I bring, regardless of what another may be expecting or needing from the same process. It’s such a lighter, less exhausting and less stressful and much more enjoyable process as a result!
Dating is really a life interview if you think about where a first date could lead to down the track. I totally relate Angela. I was fully me 2 years ago when I met a man who today is now my darling husband. I remember on that first date feeling glorious in myself and thinking ‘I am going to be all of me during this date today so he knows what he’s potentially signing up for’ no hiding or holding back my glory or fullness. We both felt that day as we walked toward each other that we would get married and as I walked toward him I could feel his willingness to be in a true relationship, something I also had a will for. Being less would have been pretending and then compromising all I am – who needs that? Not me!