After my “Independence Day”, I was flown in for an interview with a company seeking a manager with experience. I had found out about the job through a recruiting company and had high expectations. My thoughts were that “if they were flying me in, then they must be interested in me.”
I spent an entire day interviewing, and when I flew home I was confident that the position was mine. Weeks went by, and I finally put a call out to the recruiting company. They asked me if I had heard anything directly from the company, and I replied no. The recruiting company got back to me and said that the company thought I was more interested in moving to Boston than I was in working for their company.
Lesson learned – just because someone seems excited to hire you doesn’t mean you shouldn’t show equal or more excitement in return.
In the end, this worked out for the best, because my next experiences in Boston set up the framework for beginning my consulting career years later.