I was doing a Q&A session at a book signing event last week when a member of the audience—let’s call her Molly—made this comment:

I’m very creative, but when I’m in a job I find myself hiding my creativity, because a lot of businesses don’t seem to appreciate it. Tomorrow I’m going on a job interview, and I feel like I have to be careful to present myself as a conservative, normal person.

Here’s how I responded to Molly:

I know what it’s like to “role play” a certain kind of person in a job interview—buttoned up business suit, good posture, careful language. I did it a number of times, and then, once I got those jobs, showed up at work as myself, with my quirky sense of humor and my creative spin on things. My bosses weren’t too happy with me, because in each case they had hired someone else—the person I had pretended to be when I was trying to get hired. And I was unhappy in those jobs, because I had gone to work for organizations that weren’t a good fit for me.

Molly and I talked for awhile after the event. She mentioned she had been stressing about the interview, and had been worried that she didn’t have the right interview outfit. But she had just that moment decided that she wasn’t going to worry about being perfectly dressed, and she was definitely going to wear her favorite scarf— a colorful wardrobe addition that would give her prospective employer a hint of her artistic flair.

A few days later, I received this email from Molly:

Hi Kathy — My interview yesterday afternoon (3:15) went GREAT!! Thanks for sending the good vibes. I was even held up by a TRAIN crossing about a mile from the campus — but still made it on time & ready to interview. If I had not gone as “myself” to the interview, I would’ve been frazzled & running at the mouth about my frenzied journey to the interviewers. Instead, I was able to focus & answer their questions directly & succinctly. …I’m beginning to think that “reinventing myself” at my present stage means reinventing myself to the authentic “me” — not the one I previously created to accommodate others. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks Kathy!

That meant more to me than any book I sold that night. I don’t know yet whether Molly got the job. But whether she got this job or continues to look for another one, I have faith that she’s going to find a job and workplace that will appreciate her talents—because she’s stopped hiding her true creative self. And started being a true “life change artist.”

Kathy Author, Becoming a Life Change Artist: 7 Creative Skills to Reinvent Yoursel...