Enthusiastic Go-Getter or Desperate Douchebag? You Decide

Distance Traveled to Date: 3.10 miles

I’m feeling a little light headed today and my nearly two full weeks of unemployment is only partially to blame.

The Future Missus, likely after noticing my progress (or lack thereof) on the elliptical and bulging beer gut, decided that I needed to start a new diet to shed some of my excess girth. And while I usually wait for winter to end before losing my hibernation reserves, to make the best first impression I need to ensure that my suit jacket fully closes.

That’s a long preamble for saying that I feel like I’m running on fumes today and had zero motivation to work out. At least that’s a more reasonable excuse than my customary “didn’t feel like it. Fuck off.”

Anyway, there’s not much to report today than a disappointing call I received this morning from the recruiter who had set up an interview for me on Wednesday. She told me that the executive director cannot fly to Chicago this week and needed to reschedule. She assured me that the company was still VERY interested in my candidacy, but that time constraints made an interview impossible until next week at the earliest.

How I responded is where I need your help. Determined to set myself apart from other candidates, I offered to fly to New York to meet with the executive director at her convenience. I figured that such enthusiasm for the opportunity would cast me in a favorable light…but after making the offer, I had a moment of panic when I realized that instead I could be perceived as a pathetic and over-eager kiss-ass (for what it’s worth, the recruited sounded genuinely impressed that I would go to such lengths and promised to pass along my offer).

So I ask you, friends, did I make the right call? In this depressing job market, was I correct in offering to go (literally) the extra mile to make an impression…or would I have been better served (professionally and financially – last-minute flights ain’t cheap) to wait for the executive director’s schedule to clear up?

Please tell me what you think, either via a comment to this post or in the poll to the right. Thanks in advance for your input.