On Monday, I told you about the awkward bar interview I had when I was job searching last year. During that same time, I had other non-office-setting interview and it was the complete opposite of the awkward bar experience.

Just like the bar interview, prior to this one I had had two phone interviews. One with the COO of this tech news start-up and one with the Events Director. Both went really well. Which is saying a lot, y’all know how I feel about using the phone, right?

Unlike the bar interview, I was invited for a lunch interview at a restaurant near the company’s office. I was prepared to eat with my interviewers, the COO and the Managing Editor, and thankfully it was much quieter setting with much better lighting.

I was the first to arrive so I sat down at the table and organized myself. I’m not sure what the proper etiquette is for the lunch interview situation but I highly recommend arriving early in an effort to be the first one at the restaurant. It gave me a moment to take off my coat, take out my portfolio and deal with my hat hair. It was December so that last one was extremely necessary.

When my interviewers arrived I felt prepared and confident. It helped that they were very nice and were they type of people that make you feel at ease. We ordered food and began a conversation about the company, position and my experience. The restaurant setting helped create more of a conversation rather than a question and answer type interview.

I made an effort to show them as much of my portfolio before the food arrived. I didn’t want it to be difficult for them to page through and some of the other pieces I wanted to share were my only copies and I didn’t want them to get ruined.

The position at this company was one I was very interested and it felt like a great fit. Which is one of the main reasons my interview performance was better than the bar interview. By the end of the interview, I felt excited and hopeful. I wanted this job!

After our meal and conversation, we all got up to leave and I will admit I did have one awkward moment but I don’t think my interviewers caught it. As we shook hands and said goodbye, I awkwardly held back to be sure I didn’t have to walk in the same direction as them.

A few days after the interview, they asked for references (usually a good sign!). A few days after that, I was offered a position at the company. I was beyond thrilled. But…I ended up not taking it. A tough decision that I’ll share with you soon.

When I was unemployed around this time last year, I went on 16 interviews. All but two of them were in a typical office setting.

Those were two of the more interesting interviews that I had during my search. One was super awkward and the other was probably one of the best interviews I had.

Let me tell about the awkward one today, because who doesn’t love awkward and bizarre?

My interview was scheduled for the early afternoon at The Lobby Bar at the Ace Hotel in New York. The Ace Hotel is super cool. I am not cool enough for the Ace Hotel.

Prior to my interview, I had had two phone interviews with employees of this company who held the position for which I was interviewing in other cities. Based on my conversations with them I wasn’t 100% sure this job was the right fit for me. The company, a event information and ticketing website that you’ve probably heard of, was looking for a event planner slash promoter to create buzz in New York City. Buzz creator and promoter, I am not. What I was, was unemployed so I was trying to convince myself I could do it.

I arrived at the loud and dark lobby and searched for my interviewer. She’d have a sign with the company name. After several minutes of searching I found her. Her “sign” was a napkin propped up on a glass with the company name in pencil. Hard to see in broad daylight, harder in a dark bar.

Just as I sat down, the lunch she had ordered for herself had arrived. I found this a bit rude. Sometimes, you just don’t have time to eat, I get that but it made for an awkward interview. She’d ask me a question, take a bite of her food, I’d answer and finish before she was done chewing. (She took very big bites.) I would wait in silence as she finished or fill the silence with long-winded answers.

The dark setting didn’t just make it hard to find her, it made it difficult to show her my portfolio and examples of work. I had to hold a candle from the table up to the pieces so she could see. It was so loud it was nearly impossible for me hear most of her questions or comments. I felt like I was saying “what” every two minutes. We would have been better off having the interview in a tourist filled Starbucks in Times Square.

While nothing extremely memorable happened, I will always remember how overall awkward it was. I just wanted it to be over. Thankfully, it didn’t go on for too long. The combination of the unideal interview setting and my lack of genuine interest in the position made for a rather short interview for a job I, obviously, didn’t get.

(image via)

…And visit a different site for real career advice.

Now, I’m not saying there isn’t anything to be learned here on Working Girl. I bet some of you thought twice before wearing a short dress with Spanx after my wardrobe malfunction, but I don’t know that many people would call that career advice.

We love sharing our working stories here, along with a few things we’ve learned along the way, but if you are looking for REAL advice, like how to invest your 401k or how to negotiate for more vacation time, we aren’t exactly expects.

So I wanted to share two of my go-tos for career and financial advice.

One of my personal favorites is Savvy Sugar. It has everything I love about the Internet and blogs: Slideshows, polls, and lots of links to more stories and other blogs. It never ends, which is why I love/hate the Internet.

Anyway, what I love most is that the posts are short, sweet and right to the point. I get distracted very easily, so the sooner I can get my information the better.

Another great one, and friend of Savvy Sugar, is LearnVest. I’ve yet to dive into LearnVest completely and use the budgeting tools, but the finance-focused content helps me to keep my finances on track. With career content thrown in there, it’s a great resource for Working Girls looking for career advice, financial advice or both.

What sites or resources do you use for career and finance?

Remember when you were an assistant? Are you still an assistant?

I blocked several of my assistant memories from my mind and I didn’t even have a terrible assistant job. But all the memories came back as I read Lilit Marcus‘s Save the Assistants.

Most of us went to college thinking we’d graduate and land an amazing job at a well-known company and it would all be fabulous. We thought we had paid our dues during our internships. Then we landed assistant jobs and sure, we might have to get coffee every once and a while, but it was going to be great.

But it wasn’t.

And boy do I wish I had Save the Assistants when I realized that. Save the Assistants walks you through the ins and outs of being an assistant, how to deal with your boss, coworkers and other assistants and most importantly, how to keep your sanity.

Even as a Working Girl who has been in the game for four and half years, I picked up a few reminders. I was reading Save the Assistants during a time when I was getting very lazy at the office. I was unhappy and ready for a change. Save the Assistants reminded me to still do a good job while figuring out the change I needed to make.

I also had some serious flashbacks. When I ran into a portion titled “What Is Stockholm Syndrome?” I had a good giggle on Metro-North. I thought a few of my old coworkers were the first to compare the working world to having Stockholm Syndrome, but they definitely weren’t. There was a time when I had serious Stockholm Syndrome and could have used some help getting out.

Whether you’re a brand-new assistant or a seasoned Working Girl, you’ll certainly benefit from picking up Save the Assistants. Either to guide you through your first job or remind you how far you’ve come.

And did I mention there are quizzes?! Who doesn’t love quizzes?

Recently, I had a job interview.

I haven’t been looking looking for a new job but I a position caught my eye at a company I admired so I applied. I didn’t think I’d get an interview but I did. And I was very excited.

After updating my portfolio, researching the company and picking out my interview outfit I felt ready to go.

When I was I greeted by my interviewers in the lobby, I could tell they were not into me at all. Throughout the interview, they didn’t listen and asked me questions that completely contradicted answers I’d just given them. I’m pretty sure they hadn’t even read my resume before I came in. They weren’t bad interviewers. In fact, I could probably learn a thing or two from the questions they were asking. The ones that weren’t contradictory, of course.

They were just not that into me. And I wasn’t into them. While I was slightly offended by their apathy, that wasn’t the only reason I wasn’t into them. They had a too cool for school attitude that I was not cool, or uncool (?), enough for. The office was dark and daunting. It just wasn’t the right fit.

So, after the interview, what is a Working Girl to do?

Normally, I would get to my back to computer whip up nice “thank you” note further explaining my interest in the position and why I am the perfect candidate for it. But I’m not interested and I’m not the perfect candidate. I thought about writing a note thanking them and withdrawing myself from the candidate pool but that felt a little presumptuous. I couldn’t have written my normal note but that would of been a complete lie.

Instead, I just didn’t follow-up. This is probably a huge Working Girl faux-pas. Ok, it is definitely a faux-pas. It’s the easiest way to get written off. But in this case, I’m fine with being written off. Although I probably already was.

It’s been a year since I was let go from the company I had worked for since I gradated from college. Before college, if you count my summer internship. It’s been an interesting year. After three months of job interviewing, I started freelancing at a magazine. I was offered a job at a start-up and then offered a second job when I informed the magazine. I picked one of those jobs and have been working since. But this post isn’t about what has happened in the last year. It’s about what happened the day I was let go.

Now, let me preface, this is not a “this is my side of the story” or “I’m going to make them feel bad because maybe they are still reading this here blog” post. Yes, it is my story but I don’t know, and probably never will know, the other side of the story and if anyone feels bad, it’s not my intention.

It was a shitty situation and this is just what happened, how I dealt with it and what I learned from it. The first thing my dad said to me when I called him with the news was “the first time is the hardest.” The first time?!? People are getting laid off left and right lately, maybe it will happen to you or a friend, maybe it already has. I’m simply sharing my story for the same reason Working Girl Two and I share all of our stories: So other Working Girls can hopefully learn something from our experience or just to know that someone else went through it too. So, here it goes.

About a month or so before I was let go, I started looking for a new job. I knew it was my time to move on. I’d been with the company for more than three years, started as a sales assistant and quickly worked up the ranks to a manager. I knew I’d grown as much as I could there. I also felt that my boss was treating me differently and something was up, but I brushed it off as just usual office stress.

But I knew, or my gut did. When my vacation request for the holidays wasn’t approved in a timely manner, I knew something was up. I joked to Promo Girl (remember her?), who had recently left the company, that my boss wasn’t approving my request because I wouldn’t be here for the holidays.

The weekend before I was let go, at a friend’s wedding, there were some alcohol-induced tears as I told my boyfriend that I was convinced I was getting fired. “No, no,” everyone told me. “They love you, they’d never let you go,” they said.

That day started like most of the others leading up to it. A coworker, who is also a good friend, and I were headed to a meeting about an upcoming event. I went into my boss’s office to let her know that I was heading out the meeting. I was expecting the usual “OK, see you later” but instead I got a seemingly frantic “when are you coming back?” I told her and headed out with my coworker who immediately said “that was weird.” It was weird. My response, I’m not even making this up, was, verbatim, “she probably wants to know what I’m getting back because she’s going to fire me this afternoon.”

That afternoon, HR called just as the same coworker popped over to my desk. They asked if I could come down to meet with them. I hung up the phone and told my coworker who called. I’ll never forget the look of shock on her face.

I headed to HR. My boss was there, with the HR rep, and the rest is a bit of a blur. My position was being eliminated because of lack of upcoming events (wasn’t I just at a meeting about an upcoming event?), they were sorry, if I need anything they are there for me. I started crying immediately even though I swore I wouldn’t during my elevator ride to HR. My boss left and the HR rep went over my severance package, next steps, etc. all while handing me tissues.

After going over all of the details, she led me to a conference room where I could make any phone calls I needed and pull myself together. I called my boyfriend. Then I called Promo Girl. She told me to do two things. First, ask HR if I could leave and come back at the very end of the day to pack my things and have them call one of my coworkers and ask her to bring down my purse, ID, phone, etc. Second, go get a USB device so I can pull anything I need from my computer. Not in the take everything you can kind of way, in the you’re going to be apply for jobs and need examples of work kind of way. This second piece of advice I forgot to follow and wish I hadn’t. As easy as it was get materials that I needed from my old coworkers, I would have been nice not to have to bug them I was frantically looking for something that I needed for a job application or follow-up.

I did follow the first piece of advice. My coworker brought me my things, comforted me as best she could, offered to stay late to be there while I packed my things. I went to Central Park to call my mom and my dad. I barely remember the conversations just that I was the crazy girl hysterically crying in the park. After finally killing enough time, two hours that felt like ten, I headed back to the building. A few people in my department were still there but my coworker who brought me my purse told them to leave me alone (some didn’t listen, wasn’t too thrilled about that). I did my final expense report because, fun fact, if your expenses aren’t up to date, you don’t get your severance, and packed up my things, mostly shoes (so many shoes!).

I’d gone from crazy girl crying in the park to bag lady on 8th Avenue searching for a cab. There was NO way I was getting on the subway. After 15 minutes of cab searching, I finally found one and began my trip home. When I was finally sitting in the comfort of a cab (for the record, this is the only time I’ve ever found a cab comforting), I realized I had a pounding migraine and couldn’t wait to get home and feel sorry for myself. What should have been a 10-minute ride turned in a 45-minute ride, thanks President Obama for being in town that day, it was awesome. I deleted my work email from phone. One would think that that would somehow happen automatically happen when one is let go.

When I got home, I wallowed. I needed to wallow and just get it all out. The next day, a Friday, was weird. I didn’t have to wake up early. I didn’t have anywhere to be. I stayed at home, took a mental health day, if you will, before letting myself worry about money or job searching.

It might be cheesy, but I believe everything happens for a reason. I was ready to leave my job and I did, it just wasn’t on my terms. And I needed a push. I’d been on two job interviews before I was let go and I came back from both feeling that maybe I wasn’t totally ready to leave. I’m still not completely over what happened, but it doesn’t upset me the way it did six months ago. Writing this post, I got a little shaky and a pit in my stomach reliving the emotions.

Remember that episode of Sex and the City when Charlotte tells the girls that it takes half the time you were in a relationship with someone to get over them? That’s how I feel about getting over being let go. I’m still working through it. I no longer think about it daily and I no longer worry “will I ever get over it?” I know I will. It just takes time.

I’m not a phone girl. As you may already know.

I’ll take e-mail over a phone conversation any day. Unfortunately, my job requires that I talk on the phone. But there is one thing I hate more than talking on the phone.

It’s voicemail.

Is there really anything worse than leaving your desk to use the bathroom or talk to a coworker for just a few minutes only to come back to that dreaded red light? OK, yes, there are many things that are worse. But you know what mean.

You see that red light and don’t know who the message is from or what they want. With email you have the benefit of a subject line.

Sometimes, leaving a voicemail makes sense. Introducing yourself to a new contact. Following up with someone who hasn’t responded to an email or two. But a message to say you got my e-mail and will answer my question soon? Not really necessary.

Fortunately for me, at work our voicemail also goes to our email. So while I eventually have to listen to the messages, I can mark that sucker as read and the red light on my phone disappears!

Much like with supplies, the month of September signifies the need for a new wardrobe. Now, this Working Girl is trying to save more, a lot more. But that doesn’t mean I can’t dream of the items I would purchase if I had the extra income and do a little internet window shopping, right?

So to ease you into the work week, I thought I’d share with you some of the outfits I’m currently coveting for autumn. Related: is it really September 12th already?! This month is FLYING!

1. J. Crew Tee, 2. Michael Kors Bracelet, 3. J. Crew Skirt, 4. Ann Taylor Pumps

1. La Garconne Tote, 2. Dorothy Perkins Dress, 3. Jennifer Zeuner Necklace, 4. BCBG Pumps

1. Haute Hippie Blouse, 2. H&M Tank, 3. Max Studio Trousers, 4. Kate Spade Bag, 5. Jessica Simpson Pumps, 6. Michael Kors Watch

1. Marc by Marc Jacobs Sweater, 2. Calypso Scarf, 3. 7 for all Mankind Jeans, 4. Aldo Loafers, 5. Cole Haan Bag

OK, now before anyone gets their panties in a bunch, I said SOMETIMES! And hear me out.

They say you should do what you love, right? Well, I love to do the following things: Plan meals, plan menus, cook, bake, clean (kind of), organize things, plan trips and activities (i.e. day trip to the beach, apple picking in the fall), decorate, throw parties (birthday, dinner, all of the above) and wear an apron. I love wearing an apron.

I also love kids. Not just in the “Oh sure, kids are great, I think I’ll have some one day” kind of way. In the “I’ve babysitting since I was 11 (OK, I was a Mother’s Helper at 11, full-fledged babysitter at 13), was a summer nanny, went on family vacations with the families I worked for” kind of way. I have a pretty good idea of what I’d be getting into.

When work gets me down or I’m tired of commuting and I think of my future, I think that I wouldn’t hate being a housewife. I think I’d like it and that I’d be good at it.

Now, I am aware that this is extremely unrealistic. The days are long gone where having a stay-at-home parent is the norm. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of people who don’t want that lifestyle.

Recently, I was out with a group of my girlfriends from college and we almost all agreed that in an ideal situation, we would not work full-time after having kids.

Not one of us was very adamant about having a career. We might just be in that quarter-life crisis stage (we are all 26 this year) and the idea of working full-time for eternity is a little daunting.

Or, are there a lot of young women who feel this way? And does it say something about our generation? I wonder if there is a niche in our age group that has seen the career struggles of women before us and would like to opt out of that lifestyle. Working Girls before us paved the way so we could have opportunities and choices. But given those choices, how many of us would rather be housewives?

A year ago I would have told you that I planned on being Super Working Mom one day. Now, I’m not so sure. Do I still want that or would I be content as a housewife? What I enjoy doing falls under the housewife category. But the reality is, I will likely be a working mother whenever the time comes. Which is WAY down the road so it’s far too early to really be worrying about this.

But yeah. After a terrible day at work, I’ve thought “I just want to be a housewife.”

Stories, news and other important tidbits Working Girls should know. Here are a few things to glean from this work week:

• Do you like cookies? We do! If your company was a cookie, what type of cookie would it be? [CarrotBlog]

• We’ve all eaten lunch at our desks at some point. But has the smell of your coworker’s lunch ever really ticked you off? Fish microwaver, I’m looking at you! There may be some science behind why it makes you mad. [The Kitchn]

• Law & Order, CSI and other crime dramas may be the boosting jobs in the Forensic Science field. Be sure to check out the info graph. [Jezebel]

• Have a career question (or any question for that matter) for us? Ask it here!