Interviewing

Over the past year, I've had many job interviews. Most of them have been pretty standard, with all the same questions and whatnot. But a few have been a little more interesting. Here's a recap of some of them. I won't include any company names or anything. Just know that none of these refer to the job I got.

1. For one company, I attended a recruiting fair where we heard a panel of current employees speaking about why they like the company. Afterwards, all attendees had a 10-minute speed interview, in which we met with two hiring managers and went over the highlights of our resumes. The idea was that this would get our information into the company, and then when positions opened up, they'd have a stack of people to bring in for real interviews. So a few weeks later, I got called in to interview for a specific position. The person doing the hiring had seen my resume and the notes that the hiring managers took during the speed interview, and presumably thought I'd be a good candidate. So I went in and had a series of one-on-one interviews with four different guys. Each one lasted half an hour, and each guy asked me the exact same questions. I don't know why we couldn't do it all at once and cut out a lot of time, but whatever. When the last guy (who would have been my boss) came in, he told me basically that I would be a great fit for some division in the company, but he only hires fresh undergraduates in his division. He never hires MBAs. So he told me I should definitely look into other divisions. Really!? He's the one who saw my resume before-hand and had HR schedule the interview, even though according to my resume I would never fit what he was looking for. What was that about?! Whatever.

2. For one company, I had a phone interview with HR that went really well. A week later, I had a phone interview with the person who would have been my boss, and that also went really well. Each of these interviews lasted an hour. Then they called me in for an in-person interview. The interview process had already lasted longer than most companies, so I figured this would be another hour or so. When I got there, I met first with the HR guy, who told me I'd be meeting individually with three or four other guys, each for 45 minutes. I was there for three hours! Wow! I was really hungry/thirsty by the end of that one.

3. While I had specific industries I was interested in, I was also sending my resume to other big name companies that I thought might be interesting. I honestly can't remember all the companies I've sent resumes to. So one day, I got a call from HR at a big name company, and we scheduled an interview. I prepared for that interview, researching the company, getting ready to discuss that industry. When I got there, based on the decor, it was clearly not the company I thought I was going to interview for. It was a much smaller company of the same name in a whole different industry. I quickly glanced through some industry magazines in the lobby and then went in for my interview. The first question was "Why do you want to work for this company?" Wow. At this point, I only had a tiny idea of what this company even did. Luckily, it was in an industry I was particularly interested in, so I was able to give a good answer, and I even got called back for a second interview the next week.

4. One day, HR from a certain company called me to schedule a phone interview. They were only going to do interviews on one day, a week later, and my schedule that day was particularly busy and up-in-the-air. I gave HR an idea of when I might be available, and she said she'd talk to the hiring managers and see what time would work for them. Then she would call me back. I never heard back from her. When she'd called, the number didn't show up on my phone, so I had no way to contact her to see if I had an interview. So I kind of just assumed they couldn't fit me in and that was that. I went about my week and got really busy and forgot all about it. Then, on the non-appointed day, my phone rang in the middle of the afternoon, and there were three people on the other end ready to interview me. I did a quick mental rundown of what I thought the job was, and jumped into the interview. It went relatively well, but had basically the results you would expect from a surprise interview.

The New Thing?

Several times in the last month or so, I've seen people rockin' out in parking lots. They find a relatively empty part of the parking lot, crank up their car radio, leave the doors open, and then just dance all by themselves next to their car. Is this acceptable now? I can understand blasting the radio when it's just you and your friends, and having a dance party, but out in public? Where anybody can see? In the middle of the day? With lots of shoppers around? I'm not sure I'm ready for this. On the other hand, they always seem to be having a good time, so maybe it's worth a try.

Potato Chips the Third

When last we saw our heroine, she was frustrated at having had a taste of some really good potato chips, and not being offered anymore. When it was clear that no more of those chips were ever going to be offered, and that there weren't any other tasty chips at that particular store, she decided it was time to get serious and go straight to the factory. After all, if anyplace was going to have good potato chips, it would be the factory. She'd heard all sorts of promising things about the factory, and was even told that a few really good bags of chips were just sitting on the factory shelf waiting for her to get there. And so she went. But the factory turned out to be not much better than the outlet stores she had been in. In fact, while the factory did produce a fair amount of decent chips, it didn't produce many really good, quality, gourmet chips. And of the few good bags it did produce, most got shipped out to the outlet stores throughout the distribution network. The factory also produced a massive amount of cheap, discount-variety chips. Some of these were disguised in fancy packages, but it didn't take much inspection to realize that they were ordinary chips. In fact, often, the worst run-of-the-mill chips were packaged in the most colorful and noticeable bags, in an apparent effort to fool some innocent shopper into buying those chips. But this girl is no moron. She can tell a good chip from a stale, bland, burnt, overseasoned, or otherwise bad chip. And so she continues to dig through the piles of chips at the factory, looking for the bag of good chips.

Nightmares

Last night I had a very disturbing dream. I was in high school (ah! the horror! but that's not the disturbing part) and I had driven my Nitro to school. When I came out at the end of the day, my Nitro was gone. Somebody had stolen it. I was pretty upset about my hot car being stolen, but the really upsetting part came when I realized the insurance money would only be enough to buy something super boring, like a Toyota Corolla or a Honda Civic. I had a moment of calm when I thought I might be able to get a Pontiac Solstice, but then the stress of having to drive a Corolla regained control of the dream. I know I have strong feelings about cars, but I didn't think those feelings ran deep enough to disturb my unconsciousness.

A quick plug

I've never been picky about my hair. I don't really care how it gets cut, because I figure it'll grow out in a few months anyway. For this reason, I used to frequent little places like Great Clips and Fantastic Sams. But the stylists there expect me to know what I want done with my hair. If I knew how to do it, I wouldn't need to pay them to do it, right? And even when I tell them what I want, they do it wrong. So I've had a lot of really bad cheap haircuts. And then I saw the light. One of my friends in Michigan is a hairstylist. I'd heard good things, so I went to her salon one day, and it was life-changing. She told me what would make my hair work, and then she did it. And, unlike those other places, she spent time on my hair. It wasn't just a quick wash, cut, and get out. When I left Michigan, I didn't know what I was going to do. How could I ever find another stylist who understood that I truly had no clue, and who would take the time to make my hair look good? So I went for longer than I care to admit without getting a haircut. And then, my prayers were answered. Instead of having to find another stylist, my stylist came to me. She moved to Salt Lake last month and just started working at a salon in Sugar House. She's trying to build her clientele, and I'm trying to share the joy. So, if you or yours are looking for an amazing haircut, the search is over. My friend's name is Amanda, and she works at b space salon. It's at 2315 S. Highland Dr. The phone number is 801-746-3059. It's just behind the Nordstrom Rack and Shopko there. She also does amazing eyebrow work. Seriously.

Christmas!

I don't have much to say. So instead, I'll just post some pictures of the gingerbread house I made this year. And just so you know, I'm not completely delusional; I realize it looks extremely homemade (the missing m&m on the roof doesn't help; yes, Amanda, I'm still giving you the evil eye), but I'm proud of it anyway. I plan on breaking it down either Christmas day or the day after and going to town on those m&m's. I'm also throwing in one or two random pictures I took of the mountains in October.

I feel like I've been complaining in some of my recent blogs, and I don't mean to. Life is good. And, since it is the season, I've decided to start a list of things that I'm thankful for. Here goes:

I've had more opportunity than I ever imagined I would to travel and get familiar with places other than Utah. London, DC, Virginia, Michigan, Germany, Italy, Vienna, New York, Boston, most of the western US, and other places. In each place, I've met lots of good people, made great friends, found good food, tried new cultures, and learned new things. I honestly feel like I have lots of homes around the world now.

I've had amazing jobs. Working at the Fed was a dream. It was so fun to see Alan Greenspan on a regular basis, and to have my morning meetings with some serious big wigs. And I learned a ton there. It's fun now to be able to read in the paper or watch on the news about what's going on at the Fed, with interest rates and FOMC meetings and such, and to know exactly who's behind it and what they're doing and what they're looking at to reach their decisions.
And then Chrysler. Another dream. I've loved Jeep Cherokees since they first came out. It was the third car I ever loved (after Mustangs and Miatas). My first assignment at Chrysler was on the Jeep team. I was working with the actual engineers who designed the Cherokee. And my specific assignment was on the Grand Cherokee. How great to go to work and spend my day looking at spreadsheets and charts, and then to go out and about and see people driving the car that those numbers all belong to!

I have great friends. My Michigan friends really are family to me. 1700 miles from home, I never had to worry about being alone on a holiday. I was always welcome to join my friends' families, or we would have our own holiday just among us friends. I loved our Sunday dinners and weekend outings and theme parties. And, even though sometimes they were frustrating to plan, I loved taking trips with my friends. They felt like family vacations. It's wonderful knowing that however good or bad life gets, I have people who want to hear about it and who will let me come over to talk or go for a walk or go to dinner to celebrate or commiserate with me.

I've never really had to worry about finances. Somehow, even in college, I was always comfortable. And now, with almost a year of unemployment under my belt, my parents are good enough to let me stay with them to stay solvent.

I have good health. I think I would go mad if I couldn't go to the gym and get a good workout every day, or go for a long walk and enjoy the sunshine. And I'm also grateful that I enjoy healthy food. It'd be really hard to stay healthy if I didn't like apples and cabbage and whole grains as much as I do. I'd be eating even more peanut butter and chocolate than I do now!