Job-seekers complain about “ghost jobs,” 5 rounds of interviews, and tedious abilities checks—however even main leaders aren’t any exception to the ordeal. Google CEO Sundar Pichai was put via 9 interviews and a trick query earlier than securing a SVP product supervisor position on the $3.4 trillion firm. Likewise, former U.S. vp Kamala Harris has simply revealed the extreme course of she went via to land the coveted White Home job.
“After I was being vetted for vp, I had a 9-hour interview with a lawyer going via all the things,” Harris recalled lately on the Diary of a CEO podcast. “My taxes, my skilled document, all the things.”
Harris undoubtedly had the skilled chops to tackle the job. She served because the district lawyer of San Francisco for 2 phrases, in addition to the lawyer basic of California for six years, and a U.S. senator of the Golden State for 4. She made historical past within the Bay Space as the primary lady elected to the position of San Francisco’s DA, and the primary feminine, Black, and South Asian lawyer basic within the state’s historical past. With many years of governmental expertise underneath her belt, she ticked all of the packing containers to turn into the forty ninth vp—however the choice course of went effectively past credentials.
“Having been within the place of each being the interviewer and the interviewee, it actually as a lot as something comes all the way down to chemistry,” Harris defined. “As a result of by the point that that interview is occurring, it’s often narrowed all the way down to about three individuals. So all of the vetting has been carried out.”
“Then it’s about sitting down and simply deciding, as a result of it’s going to be a partnership,” she continued. “And it needs to be the place you are feeling that you may belief somebody, you can work with them, you’re doing it for a similar causes.”
Every time she wins or loses, she will get ‘gold medal despair’
In fact, Harris obtained the job. However she quickly realized that even profitable can include its personal vacancy—or “gold medal despair.” A post-competition feeling of despair, anxiousness, and vacancy after main profession occasions, that sinks in whatever the consequence.
The final time she skilled it was when she went head-to-head in opposition to Donald Trump within the 2024 U.S. presidential election, with lower than 4 months’ discover. The vp had a variety of catching as much as do with misplaced time, racing across the nation for marketing campaign visits, prepping for heated debates, and making an attempt to drum up enthusiasm amongst a deflated supporter base. When she wound up dropping to now-president Trump, the gold medal despair kicked in.
“It lasted for days,” Harris mentioned, likening the loss to a “phantom limb.” “I had a tough time reconciling [that] we will’t nonetheless do one thing about it.”
Nevertheless it wasn’t the primary time she skilled this. She defined that the adrenaline from high-stakes milestones retains working even after these massive occasions finish, leaving a sudden void as soon as the depth stops—even when she wins. Identical to how CEOs and founders say that they felt empty after hitting IPO.
“Your physique is bodily used to this factor that impulsively stops, and I’ve had that occur each time I’ve run and [won],” Harris mentioned. “Since you’ve been functioning the entire time in a really aggressive nature, and it’s struggle or flight and it’s adrenaline surging, surging, surging.”
