Interview #12

It looks like I forgot to actually document what happened at interview #12. Let me do that now for your reading pleasure.

I drove to the company's office in suburban New Jersey, just about half an hour from my home. I entered the hotel-scented lobby, rode the rickety elevator to the third floor and found the reception area of the office. Once inside, I was greeted by the HR lady with whom I was in contact. Also, I should note that I only got this interview because of a family friend who recommended me. That was nice of her, see -- the power of networking at work right here!

The company had grown from its founding in 1997 and now opened offices across the country and internationally. We walked back down to the lower level, where the HR offices were located and I found myself in a spacious conference room with windows overlooking a parking lot. Oh, what a view.

I seated myself, and the HR lady asked me to fill out an application for employment. Really, now? Another application? It's bad enough filling them out online. Now I actually had to put pen to paper and rehash the contents of my resume on this four-page form. I was not pleased.



Once I was done, the HR lady returned with another interviewer who was a plump middle-aged woman with a scowling face. Before she even greeted me, she kept going on and on about the weather without acknowledging my presence. When she finally turned to me, it felt like she was deigning to take time out of her oh-so-busy schedule to meet me.

We sat down. It was clear that she hadn't perused my resume or cover letter yet, so a she did, she started grilling me about both of them. I mean, I guess that's fine, but there's no need to be nasty about it. She began questioning my choices about college, about my majors, and what exactly I planned to do with my course of study.

"Well," I told her truthfully, "I just wasn't really thinking about my career when I picked my major and minors. They just sort of happened. I was more interested in studying subjects I thought were interesting in order to develop a broader framework with which to analyze real-world problems."

She raised an eyebrow skeptically and continued scowling. Oh gosh, this was not going well. I could already see there were fundamental conflicts in our personalities and in our points of view. "Damn you, liberal arts elitist," I read in her expression.

After getting grilled for a few more minutes, we launched into details about the position. I mean, it sounds okay, very doable, especially since it's a new position. It would probably give me good experience, but the responsibilities aren't so clearly defined. Ah well, we'll see how it goes.

I found out that the interview was only a first round interview, and they're trying to see a total of 15 candidates before narrowing it down to 3-5 to put in front of the SVP of Marketing. Sigh, why couldn't we have done a first round interview on the phone? There might even be a second and THIRD round. A third round? This seems ridiculous for a job I barely want.

My expectations are not very high right now. However, I do have another interview at a publishing house lined up for Monday, so I am stoked.