GOOD PROBLEMS TO HAVE

This month, when it rained it poured. I'm not just talking about the record breaking precipitation we have been enduring in the Northeast. I landed two interviews in less than a week, and it's raising some professional etiquette questions.

After months of sending out resumes with no response, I got professional advice and a ‘resumakover’ from career coaching wonderwoman Gloria Schramm. I sent it out for the first time last Friday for a 3-6 month gig I was genuinely interested in landing and got a call the next day requesting an interview.

It occurred Monday, and I believe that it went well. My skills were a perfect fit for the job, my research on the company was appreciated and I discovered I had mutual acquaintances with the hiring managers. Acquaintances who loved my work.

But I did make one key mistake - I didn’t get the e-mail addresses of the people interviewing me. When I couldn’t find their contact information online and the 24 hour window of thank you letter sending time was almost closed, I called the woman who brought me in to get them. I entered the addresses on their respective e-mails (one of which was to her) and hit send. I then left my laptop to run errands take a class on a skill that will further my career. When I got back six hours later, I discovered that one of the e-mails had bounced back.

Pop quiz hot shot - what do you do?

I'll tell you what I did. Using Glorias suggestion, I pushed the feeling that I was acting like an incompetent stalker aside and sent her an e-mail saying that I hoped she received her letter since the other one bounced back. I added that I wanted to confirm the other address since I wanted to make sure he knew I was appreciative of his time as well. She wrote me back with the right e-mail and I was back in the game.

After hitting send, I got a call to interview for ANOTHER job. This one is for the BBC, where I have worked in the past. I'll be heading over there tomorrow to interview with a casting director I have never met before. Not sure how to handle the situation if I am offered that job on the spot since the first gig was supposed to last longer and that is always a big plus. I guess it all comes down to if the BBC is willing to wait for me to hear back from the other company.

I am struggling with how to treat both hiring managers with as much class as possible. In a freelance world where jobs are scarce, you can't burn any bridges. I don't want to get blacklisted by a company because I say I'm available then am suddenly not. It would also be tricky to say I'm holding out for another job that pays more, or will last longer, or is in the vicinity of more friends I can meet up with for lunch.

I'm trying not to count my chickens before they hatch (getting offered both jobs) - but I want to be prepared in case the best scenario happens. I think we all know what the worst case scenario is... another frustrated blog.