Applying for a job--what if your best friend wants the job, too?

In My Humble Opinion
1

So, I’m applying for a job. It looks really cool–it’s a lot like what I’m doing now (communications), but it’s an arts job, and right now I’m in public health, and I’d rather be working in an arts program.

I think a very good friend of mine will probably apply for this job, too. I’m just wondering if this has happened to other people. How did you handle it? Did it hurt your friendship if one of you got the job and the other one didn’t?

I want this job, but I already have a good job, and she has several part-time jobs, so I wouldn’t be too upset if she ended up getting the job. We both applied for another job, and it turned out that neither one of us got it, and after the interview neither one of us wanted it, so it wasn’t a problem.

So, if you’ve been in this situation, share your experience! Did you get the job, and did you stay friends?

2

This happened to me many times when I was graduating and the companies did on-campus interviews. If someone else announced they got a job I’d applied for, it certainly did irritate me. What did they have/say/do that I didn’t? So when I got my own job offers I just kept it to myself.
But after I got a job I never saw those people again, so it’s hard to predict.