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Interview Freak-Out


Interview Freak-Out
Originally uploaded by Peacebang.

My goodness, what an anxious letter THIS is! Let’s see what this Job Seeking Reader has to say:

Dear PeaceBang,
I’m going for a job interview this weekend and I’m freaking out mildly and I dont know what it says about my life that I keep wailing to myself ‘PEACEBANG is the ONLY one who can HELLLLP’ but that’s the truth of the matter.

So, what do you suggest? I need an outfit that can:
1. ride in the car for three hours
2. go to lunch at a nice-ish restaurant
3. go for a walking tour of the neighborhood and then one of the church (this second part is scheduled to last an hour! How is that possible? I’m thinking that we must be hitting the attic and the boiler room which for sure means dust…)
4. interview for 1.5 hours
5. go to dinner at someone’s house

Do I wear the same thing all day? Or do I change out of travel clothes for the interview part? And then change again for the dinner after the interview? I feel like I’m going to the Oscars.

FYI: [The weather where I am going] will either be 40 degrees and raining or 70 degrees and sunny, but most likely both of these, and all the degrees in between, too.

Also, at the meals, what do I eat? Do I pull a Scarlett and have a big meal before so they don’t see what a chow hound I am, and also so that I can TALK without my mouth being full?

Any wisdom you can throw my way -confidentially if it’s ok as I”m job hunting on the sly more or less – would be so much appreciated.”

Well, my dear, that is indeed a doozie, and PeaceBang and her readers are *here for you.* We have ALL been there. We feel you.

First of all, if you can possibly steal a few moments to freshen up and change after your journey of three hours, do. At least spritz your face with some rose water, take a few moments alone to stretch and breathe, brush your teeth, blow your nose and apply fresh lipstick.
You’ll feel ready for anything. You’ll BE ready for anything!

I think a good outfit choice would be a patterned skirt (maybe an Indian print, nothing too florally-cutesy) , a classic cotton tank with some spandex in it to give it shape and dressiness factor, and a cardigan. You can leave the cardigan off on the trip so it will be fresh when you arrive. Wear a nice necklace, and keep the colors up top deep and neutral, which projects more authority and leadership than light colors (and certainly pastels!).

A nice pair of trousers with a lovely, colorful blouse and lightweight blazer would also work, just make sure your fabrics have some poly or spandex in them for wrinkle-management. Belts can also make blouses look very sharp, and a belted shirt or blouse under an open blazer is a nice look.

You might wear comfortable but nice sandals if it’s not raining too hard– not Clarkes, but something more dressy that you can still walk around comfortably in. I noticed a slew of choices at Macy’s this past weekend. A really nice, substantial flat should also be fine.

Don’t plan to change clothes only because your interviewing team may not have scheduled time for you to do so, and you want to feel that whatever outfit you choose can take you confidently through the entire ordeal… um, I mean, EXPERIENCE! 🙂

If you do get some time alone before dinner, by all means shower, change, do whatever helps you to re-energize, but you may just get ten minutes. And wouldn’t it be kinder to yourself to spend that ten minutes breathing and praying and discerning rather than scrambling into a new set of duds and worrying if things match?

If you want to change shoes for dinner, that would be nice. Sometimes I’ll wear comfortable walking-around shoes at a day event and then just change my earrings and shoes for a dinner appearance.

As for eating before you eat, it’s only true that you will be doing more talking and energetically reacting than actually dining. If you’re hungry, there’s nothing wrong with having soup or snacks beforehand on your own. Your digestion will be better for it, and so will your presence at dinner. And if you’re seen picking at your food, you can always say you’re too nervous to eat. Which is true! You’re too nervous to eat… in front of a group of people who are interviewing you for a ministerial position! Riiight?
But honey, don’t snarf down a bucket o’ chicken or a big bag of Taco Bell before dinner: you’ll just look puffy and you might get a grease spot on your blouse.

Seriously, though, you can always write to me (my e-mail address is always on the margins of the page, kittycats) and send photos.
This is a big occasion and we want you to feel 100% the shining star you are.

Blessings, and let us know how it goes!!
Kiss of Peace,
PB

(P.S. Readers, the photo is random. It is not a photo of our anonymous and reverend letter writer!)

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Do You Have "A LOOK?"


Do You Have "A LOOK?"
Originally uploaded by Peacebang.

I adored Terrance McNally’s play "Master Class," which features an imperious Maria Callas mentoring and tormenting three singers during a master class, and generally just oozing fabulous diva-dom.

(PeaceBang would like to say, as an editorial aside, that the word "diva" is ENTIRELY over-used today. Maria Callas was a DIVA. Kelly Clarkson is not a diva. Queen Latifah is a queen. And a diva. So is Michael Kors, for that matter, which is why we worship them. Celine Dion, for all her histrionics, is not a diva. Canada, I know that hurts. But it had to be said.)

Anyway, in the play, Maria Callas repeatedly accuses the students of not having a Look.
"You don’t have a LOOK," she says, but in her Greek accent it sounds more like, "You don’ hev alooook."

As I sat in the center of the orchestra watching Dixie Carter chew the hell out of this fantastic role the many years ago I saw it, I thought to myself, "UH-oh… I don’ hevaloook." Heving a looook is hard to do when you’re pretty much limited to Lane Bryant couture, but by God, Maria, from that day forward, I tried. I think my Look — on the days that I have one — could be described as "Vaguely Bohemian Plus-Sized Professional." Some days it’s just "Please Give Me Some Credit For Accessorizing." And in the summer it’s "21st Century Babushka."

I was fondly reminded of Maria Callas this afternoon when I stepped off the hospital elevator at the 4th floor and sucked in my breath when I saw none other than Holly Hobby walk by with a clipboard. She was middle-aged ("Holly! Girl, it’s been so LONG!") and smiling, wearing a long jumper with a gingham-checked pinafore top, ankle socks and little tan lace-up booties. Not the sexed-up, high-heeled kind of little booties, but the kind Laura Ingalls might have actually worn to go milk the cows.

As I was taking all of this in out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that the door Dr. Hobby was closing behind her was similarly adorned with a gingham heart plaque. And then I got it: this was her Look!
Whether Dr. Hobby just personally liked gingham hearts or was channeling that Jane Seymour pioneer doctor-lady character from that show whose name I’ve forgotten, or thought that her prairie fashion might be comforting to patients, I will never know. But this I do know: girl was rocking that gingham jumper with confidence and pride, and while I probably would have begged to be seen by another physician if I was under her care, she certainly had a Look.

I honestly think if she roughed it up with a few of those Jane Seymour buckskins, she might be able to pull it off. Even some denim. Something to break up the treacly little girl effect. But hey, give her credit for making a statement, however puzzling that statement may be.

Go get your Look on!

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Make-Up That Protects

Continuing our thoughts about how to protect la visage from the ravages of le soleil, PeaceBang has been investigating the virtues and vices of make-up that forms a natural and protective barrier on the skin by way of minerals.

She recommends L’Oreal Bare Naturale, http://www1.epinions.com/content_246490828420
and she recommends Bare Minerals.
Both of these make-ups — one drugstore available and affordable, and other available at finer cosmetics emporia — are applied with the tap-swirl-buff method, or perhaps the swirl-tap-buff method. Tap! Buff! Swirl! Buff! Tap! In any order, it’s all kinds of fun!

Believe me, though, the application is easy once you get the hang of it. You turn over the container and whap it on the bottom to get some of the powder going, open the top, swirl your brush into the product, tap the excess off (into the garbage can for me, else it gets all over the vanity table), and buff it over the face with circular motions. It provides terrific, natural coverage that hasn’t yet irritated my very sensitive skin, and it has a natural SPF of 15!! PeaceBang calls that pretty swell.

(I’ve heard bad things about Neutrogena Mineral Sheers, btw, and don’t recommend it.)

A word of caution: these mineral based powder make-ups won’t work nearly as well if you don’t regularly exfoliate and moisturize your skin. And a word of encouragement: hey fellas, PeaceBang thinks that you could totally get away with wearing this on your face without looking like you’re wearing make-up. Let me know if you’ve tried it!

The lovely people at Illuminare provided PeaceBang with samples of their entire line of liquid mineral make-up for those of you who aren’t so much into swirling, tapping and buffing.

Illuminare stakes claim as the first producers of liquid mineral make-up and their products are really terrific. They have three different formulas of foundation, all of which PeaceBang found to her liking and easily applied with a nifty little leopard-print sponge they provided.

Because the product is very concentrated, you do need to take a few moments to blend, blend, blend around the nose, mouth and eyes, especially. You need only to use a pea-sized drop and it will easily cover your whole face. The make-up is extremely pure, it provides excellent sun protection (but do use a sunscreen underneath, always), and fantastic coverage. In fact, I would even wear this stuff on stage.

It goes on a little dramatic at first, but it settles into the skin and looks beautiful. It provides a bit more coverage than I usually like ( I tend to use a blendable base only on the red areas of my face) but given that it’s pure and provides SPF, I may become a convert.

Say amen, somebody!