Why You Should Never Take a Job Interview from the Car: Tips from a Former Head of HR and Mom of 5 in 30 Months
- marybethcrawford6
- Nov 8, 2024
- 2 min read
So, my eldest—who still asks if there’s a “wrong” way to microwave mac and cheese—gets her first job interview. Naturally, I jump in with pep talk pointers: make “eye contact” (even over the phone), don’t sound like you’re Googling answers mid-sentence, and maybe try not to have siblings yelling about Wi-Fi in the background.
Then it happened. The call came…just as we’re crammed into the Expedition—seven people and a dog, off for a weekend adventure with exactly zero “professional atmosphere” on board. I’m frantically signaling “No!” from the driver’s seat, but she flashes me the “Mom, I got this” look and takes the call on speaker, wedged between a kid wielding a half-eaten burger and our dog trying to nose his way toward the burger.
Think you know secondhand embarrassment? You don’t until you’ve watched your child interview for a job while wedged in the backseat of a rolling clown car. Her siblings are covering their faces, muttering “cringe,” and staring at her like she’s auditioning for a sitcom no one signed up for. To her, a job interview was just another group chat—you just mute yourself when the dog barks. To us? It was a train wreck in stereo.
To say it wasn’t her best work is an understatement. Turns out, it’s hard to project confidence when "everyone was listening to me?!" When she finally hung up, I gently suggested, “You know, it’s okay to say, ‘I’ll call back when I’m not in a moving three-ring circus.’” For once, she agreed. I was no less mortified.
Then, it hit me: we’re all working from home more, and home’s working right back at us, with boundaries as outdated as landlines. We’re stepping over sleeping college students to take client calls, answering emails while dinner boils over, and pretending we don’t hear the neighbor’s leaf blower during budget discussions. If we’re doing it, how can we expect our kids to do any different?
They're watching every moment of this. They see us shifting laptops to hide the piles of laundry just out of the frame. They know, deep down, we’ve accepted chaos as the backdrop for "professionalism." Why wouldn't they take their first interview from the car?
Here’s my tip: don’t let them. Show them that setting boundaries looks a little more professional and a lot less chaotic. Teach them that a hiring manager worth their salt will appreciate someone who can say, “Let’s do this at a better time.” And, while you're at it, minimize the number of times you have to shush your kids in the family truckster for those crucial work calls. Your kids and your team will appreciate it.
This is my free & unsolicited coaching. We’ve all got more to learn about leading and surviving in an always-on world.
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