Interview Tips

On Wednesday, I went to River Hill High School to conduct junior interviews.  The junior interview is a graduation requirement at River Hill.  The purpose is to get the kids ready for both college and job interviews.  Each junior prepares a resume and meets with a parent volunteer who interviews them about their background and interests.  They all get written feedback on how they did.  I interviewed 10 kids.  I was pretty impressed with how prepared and confident they each were.

All those interviews got me thinking about some of my own interview experience.

• After my junior year at Bucknell, I moved down to DC for the summer.  My older sister, Lisa, worked for a lawyer in DC while she was an undergrad.  The lawyer always hired a bunch of college students for the summer.  She got him to agree to meet with me about a job.  I showed up at the appointed time and knocked on the door to his suite.  I could hear voices inside but no one answered.  I knocked again.  Now I could hear a voice saying "Don't answer it."  I tried once more.  Remember, this was before cell phones so I couldn't just call and say "Hey, it's Mike Bucci.  I have an interview scheduled."  Still, no one came to the door.  Instead, I heard again "Don't answer -- they'll leave."  So, I left.  Long story short, I did end up working there that summer.  Lisa got things straightened out for me.  What I didn't realize when I showed up for my interview was that the lawyer lived in constant fear of being served subpoenas and didn't answer the door for anyone.  I guess that should have been a warning for me.  There are quite a few crazy stories from working for that guy but I don't want to cause trouble for anyone so I'm not telling them.
• After graduating from Bucknell, I wanted to work for the U.S. Department of Labor.  I'd interviewed on campus but it took several months for them to finally get around to scheduling on-site interviews in DC.  Finally, the day arrived.  I had a series of interviews with 5 or 6 people during the course of the day; each person was located in a different part of a pretty large government building.   After the second or third inteview, I was walking to my next appointed stop and realized that I should take advantage of the break by going to the bathroom.  I saw a sign for a bathroom and walked in.  I noticed right away that it didn't have any urinals (which I thought was strange).  So, I went into a stall, took care of business, and walked out to wash my hands.  As I stood at the sink, soaping my hands in my new interview suit, a woman stepped out of another stall.  Yep, I'd used the women's bathroom.  I said "I'm sorry," dried my hands, and casually walked out.  I got the job.
• After working for the government for a few years, I got an interview with Foster Higgins, a benefits consulting firm (that later became part of Mercer).  The interview was scheduled for 7:30AM one weekday morning.  I headed in to DC, took the elevator up to Foster Higgins' floor, and stepped out of the elevator.  As the doors closed behind me, I saw a set of closed double doors in front of me and a buzzer for entry.  I pushed the buzzer and waited a few minutes but no one came.  I pushed the buzzer again but there was still no response.  Now it was almost 7:30AM.  "What the hell," I thought, "Maybe the doors are open."  So, I pushed them open.  Immediately, the alarm siren went off and lights started flashing.  Very quickly, a woman came running to the door from inside Foster Higgins' offices.  "Hello," I said, acting like nothing unusual was happening as the alarm continued to sound.  "I'm Mike Bucci and I have an interview at 7:30AM."  She laughed, commented on my ability to make an entrance, and shut off the alarm.  I got that job, too.

I wish I'd remembered these stories before talking to the juniors at River Hill.  It would have been fun to share them.

P.S.  Listened to the first album by The Strokes (Is This It) while writing this.  I'd forgotten how great it is.  Top 3 songs -- The Modern Age, Take It or Leave It, and Someday.