Friday, January 27, 2012
Fashionably Unusual
I mentioned yesterday that I finally landed an interview with a company that for a year, I had been trying to get an interview with.
You can imagine my excitement when they called to set up an interview. (I'd only applied 4 times in the last year and for every position that they offered...)
Let me tell you more about the job and company so that you can really grasp my interest in this position. The place is at clothing corporation, and yes, the corporate offices are in Wooster. The company is world wide and has been pretty successful for a while. Working for this company includes mandatory world wide travel and fashion shows, which is my cup of tea. Plus, there would be constant room for growth which is good for an over-achiever like myself.
The interview was set up right after I got done working at my current job...you know, a cook. Hot, sweaty, no make up, hair pulled back job...not my best look. The last thing I wanted to do was go to an interview for a fashion industry job looking unfashionable. I requested a later time in the afternoon for an interview but they told me it was that time or next week. Since I already had a job offer in my hands, I wanted to do the interview sooner rather than later.
I left from work and drove over to the interview location, arriving with plenty of time for me to do my make-up, fix my hair and change my clothes (while still in my car.) With 20 minutes to spare before my interview would take place, I headed into the small corporate office building.
Quickly, I felt like I was over dressed. In my heeled boots. Dark jeans. And swoop neck sweater. Of course, I was carrying my D&G bag.
The receptionist had an outfit on that she'd probably been wearing for the last ten years. Faded and wrinkled, she looked like she could careless about making a fashion statement. Her hair was a big frizzy mess and she maintained her desk like she did her appearance.
"Hi, I'm here for a 3:00 interview." I gave her a smile.
"Who are you?"
"Jennee Thompson."
She looks around her desk and then walks into another room. "Do you have a resume, I can't find yours?"
I always take a resume with me on an interview, even if I already emailed it in. I get it, a lot of resumes come in and it's hard to keep them all straight so I tried not to judge her for her lack of organization as I awaited my interview.
She took my resume and walked into the other room. She came back with a stack of magazines and handed them to me so that I would have something to look at while I waited.
When I say a stack of magazines, I kid you not, she gave me probably 20. It wasn't awkward at all since there was no table or empty chair to put the stack on. So now, I was holding my purse, my coat and trying to flip through 20 magazines without dropping them.
I listened in to the other receptionists talk as I waited for my interview. There was some traveling conflicts where their hotel lost a reservation and several times they wondered if so and so knew he had an interview and would be coming back into the office today.
Finally, an Indian man walked in followed by his teenage son. He approached me with excitement and shook my hand. I gathered my stuff to stand but he insisted that I stay seated, "It's only 2:55." He assures me, and apparently we can't start the interview until 3:00.
So I wait. For five minutes.
Then, the Indian guy (named Raj) comes out and asks me to follow him to his office and have a seat. (A seat beside his teenage son!) He sits down behind his desk and starts reading over my resume.
"Very good. Very good. Ah, Miami, very nice place. Very good." He says without looking up at me.
"I have a lot of variety." I add since I feel like I should say something in my interview.
"That's fine, all very good." About a minute later, he says this.... "We have a show and we'll be gone until Feb. 18th. I'll call you then with my decision."
My brow crinkles. "Uh, ok."
He offers his hand, we shake again and I walk out of his office, out the door and back to my car, mumbling WTH?!?! Was that even an interview?
There was no discussion about the position that I applied for, no discussion about my work experience, no questions about my strengths and weaknesses.....I literally drove out there to watch him read my resume.
I've had some strange interviews in my days...but this was a new one.
Part of me hopes that he'll call me on the 18th. I guess I'm hoping he'll tell me something about the job but if he offers me a job, I'm going to have to decline...because something tells me that this company doesn't have the greatest communication skills.
So much for traveling abroad and going to fashion shows.... but hey, I tried.
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You can imagine my excitement when they called to set up an interview. (I'd only applied 4 times in the last year and for every position that they offered...)
Let me tell you more about the job and company so that you can really grasp my interest in this position. The place is at clothing corporation, and yes, the corporate offices are in Wooster. The company is world wide and has been pretty successful for a while. Working for this company includes mandatory world wide travel and fashion shows, which is my cup of tea. Plus, there would be constant room for growth which is good for an over-achiever like myself.
The interview was set up right after I got done working at my current job...you know, a cook. Hot, sweaty, no make up, hair pulled back job...not my best look. The last thing I wanted to do was go to an interview for a fashion industry job looking unfashionable. I requested a later time in the afternoon for an interview but they told me it was that time or next week. Since I already had a job offer in my hands, I wanted to do the interview sooner rather than later.
I left from work and drove over to the interview location, arriving with plenty of time for me to do my make-up, fix my hair and change my clothes (while still in my car.) With 20 minutes to spare before my interview would take place, I headed into the small corporate office building.
Quickly, I felt like I was over dressed. In my heeled boots. Dark jeans. And swoop neck sweater. Of course, I was carrying my D&G bag.
The receptionist had an outfit on that she'd probably been wearing for the last ten years. Faded and wrinkled, she looked like she could careless about making a fashion statement. Her hair was a big frizzy mess and she maintained her desk like she did her appearance.
"Hi, I'm here for a 3:00 interview." I gave her a smile.
"Who are you?"
"Jennee Thompson."
She looks around her desk and then walks into another room. "Do you have a resume, I can't find yours?"
I always take a resume with me on an interview, even if I already emailed it in. I get it, a lot of resumes come in and it's hard to keep them all straight so I tried not to judge her for her lack of organization as I awaited my interview.
She took my resume and walked into the other room. She came back with a stack of magazines and handed them to me so that I would have something to look at while I waited.
When I say a stack of magazines, I kid you not, she gave me probably 20. It wasn't awkward at all since there was no table or empty chair to put the stack on. So now, I was holding my purse, my coat and trying to flip through 20 magazines without dropping them.
I listened in to the other receptionists talk as I waited for my interview. There was some traveling conflicts where their hotel lost a reservation and several times they wondered if so and so knew he had an interview and would be coming back into the office today.
Finally, an Indian man walked in followed by his teenage son. He approached me with excitement and shook my hand. I gathered my stuff to stand but he insisted that I stay seated, "It's only 2:55." He assures me, and apparently we can't start the interview until 3:00.
So I wait. For five minutes.
Then, the Indian guy (named Raj) comes out and asks me to follow him to his office and have a seat. (A seat beside his teenage son!) He sits down behind his desk and starts reading over my resume.
"Very good. Very good. Ah, Miami, very nice place. Very good." He says without looking up at me.
"I have a lot of variety." I add since I feel like I should say something in my interview.
"That's fine, all very good." About a minute later, he says this.... "We have a show and we'll be gone until Feb. 18th. I'll call you then with my decision."
My brow crinkles. "Uh, ok."
He offers his hand, we shake again and I walk out of his office, out the door and back to my car, mumbling WTH?!?! Was that even an interview?
There was no discussion about the position that I applied for, no discussion about my work experience, no questions about my strengths and weaknesses.....I literally drove out there to watch him read my resume.
I've had some strange interviews in my days...but this was a new one.
Part of me hopes that he'll call me on the 18th. I guess I'm hoping he'll tell me something about the job but if he offers me a job, I'm going to have to decline...because something tells me that this company doesn't have the greatest communication skills.
So much for traveling abroad and going to fashion shows.... but hey, I tried.
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10 awesome words said by you:
What? Take the job! Never know what could happen with it!
well that's crap on a cracker... companies can pretty much be the bullies in the school yard, i have had one real interview in two years... and they brought me in cause i was on the list. they had hired someone all ready, they just wanted to be fair.
it could work for you, maybe they know you are great... it didn't take only but a minute to know that.
That sounds like a let down! I'm sorry to hear that. What a weird interview!
That sounds about like what would happen if I ran that office. Luckily, I am at least self aware enough to recognize that I NEED uber-organized paralegals/receptionists.
I think you should still make the decision after you find out what they pay. Personally, this sounds like my kind of company!
I forgot to add that if you really don't feel like it's right for you, at least you know that know and don't have to keep imagining how great it could be.
good decision. I wanted to work in publishing so bad last year i took a job i knew i shouldnt have. They ripped me off & somehow r still in business.
good decision. I wanted to work in publishing so bad last year i took a job i knew i shouldnt have. They ripped me off & somehow r still in business.
You never know...! But funny interview story though.
Sounds like a pretty random place to work.....that is one quick and strange in interview. Keep up posted - I'm SO curious! :)
I once had an interview that was similar to that, and it turned out that they already knew who they wanted for the position and were merely going through the motions of interviewing other people (so they couldn't be accused of not conducting open interviews). Stink.
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