25 Jul 3 Embarrassing Career Mistakes I’ll Never Make Again.

I was sitting in the aisle seat on a plane en route to California for a client project.

The person next to me had to go to the bathroom quite a bit. So this meant that every time he had to go, I had to get out of my seat. It was annoying. The 4th time this happened I gave him this blatantly obvious and rude ‘are you kidding me?’ look.

Right before the flight landed, I opened instructions on how to get the client office. He immediately recognized what I opened and said to me, “Robbie?” I was shocked. I said, “Yes! How do you know my name?” Then he told me something I’ll never forget.

“I’m your manager, pleasure to meet you.”

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I had a phone interview for a new job that was scheduled for 2pm. I left work early so I can take the call from home. 2pm came and went and the interviewer never called me. I took a nap at 3pm since I was confident the interview wouldn’t be happening.

At 3:30pm I get a phone call that woke me up from my nap. This is where I made a huge mistake: I answered it. I was naïve enough to believe that the interviewer wouldn’t have an idea that I was taking a nap in the middle of the day.

It was the worst interview I’ve ever done in my life.

I didn’t get the job.

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Me: “Hi, I’m here to see Susan. I have an interview with her at 10am. My name is Robbie Abed”

Admin: “Great. Take a seat”

(interview starts)

Me: “Pleasure to meet you, Susan.”

Her: “Who is Susan?”

Me: “Aren’t you Susan?”

Her: “Nope. Are you having a tough time remembering who your interviewers are?”

I mixed up my names. Susan was from another company. The admin never corrected me. It changed the entire flow of the interview.

I didn’t get the job.

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What’s the lesson you can learn from my mistakes?

It happens. Forgive yourself and move on. Get to a point where you can eventually talk about it in the open and laugh at yourself.

Just don’t do it again.

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