Phone a Friend.

I was invited back for a second interview. And I politely declined.

If there’s anything I learned from my awkward dating experience recently, it’s that saying yes to something you’re sure you don’t want is lying and wasting both people’s time.

Therefore, when I was passed up for the job I'd applied for in this organization and my resume got handed from one branch to another, I did my due diligence: I showed up, made a good impression, and knew that this newly offered position was not a fit. But I got the callback anyway.

So on Wednesday, when I got the "want to see you again" email, I called my mom. Not always the paragon of rational decisions, but someone who here I felt could be, I told my mom about the parallel metaphor between my career and my lackluster first date. And it’s strange and uncomfortable follow-up.

A friend earlier that morning suggested I just go to the second interview. “You never know.” But, see, I think you do. When you’ve given a fair and first chance at something a worthy go, I think at that point you get to say whether you’re interested to go further.

As a mentor once told me, A first date is just an interview for the second.

We do get the chance to say no at some point, yes?

I felt so, and I just needed a little corroboration. Not always a co-signer of my machinations, either, mom was the right call. She listened, and then she asked what advantages this job could have over my current one. They were few.

One, I told her, was suggested by my friend earlier that morning: You could meet a nice Jewish guy.

After hearing this very short list, she replied, “First of all, you are [insert some really nice and positive characteristics, like, smart, beautiful, brave and wonderful] and you don’t need to take a job you don’t want to meet a hypothetical guy.”

Or something like that.

It was really the only enticing reason of the bunch I gave to her. If the job I’d actually applied for in the first place was still available, I’d still be interested in that, and I do know it’s still open. But this offered job would be a lateral move, adding a 3 hour commute for what I imagine is similar pay and responsibilities that don’t really align with my values or my career goals.

So… she said it sounded like I already knew what I wanted to do. But what I could do was be honest about my goals, tell them that I was still interested in the first job, be very flattering and kind about their organization and say if other opportunities came up there, I’d be interested to have that conversation.

Unfortunately, in the dating world, it’s not as easy or accepted to say, "Hey, I’m not interested in you, but if you have any friends you think’d be good for me, let me know!"

But, Romance and Finance don’t always overlap.

In the end, that’s what I did. Called the woman who’d interviewed me for the second position, got her voicemail, and told her exactly what my mom coached me in saying.

What my mom really did was help me to feel comfortable owning my truth.

This is not always easy. And sometimes I need someone outside of my own limiting self-beliefs and self-sabotage to coax me and just sort of shuffle me along on the path I know I want to follow.

In the pre-school in the building where I work, some of the students have a cute ritual when their parents drop them off in the morning: Push on the Tush.

It is exactly how it sounds. Having been deposited in their classroom, feeling safe in their surroundings, the child is ready for their parent to leave, and wants to have a ritual for that separation. So, the parent stands in the doorway, and the kid gives him a push on the tush. And out the parent goes.

For me, that’s what my mom did. Having come to a conclusion, but needing a little encouragement, I reached out to a person I knew could hold and support me, and then give me a little push.