Tips For Job Interviews

I've been doing a lot of interviews at work lately, and I'm set for another 4-hour marathon tomorrow. It's been a good experience for me; it's taught me a lot about proper conduct in an interview, and what employers are looking for in a candidate. So, I've composed a short list of tips of interview dos and donts for your reading pleasure.

1. Dress like you're going to an interview. Even if your interviewing for a crap-shoveler position and your local dairy farm, at least wear a nice shirt. If anything, it shows that you care about how you look.

2. Smile and show some enthusiasm. This one seems obvious, but you would be surprised. I've had a couple of interviews where I seriously thought I was talking to a coma victim or Wednesday from the Adams Family. People with no personality are not customer-friendly, and will probably no get hired.

3. Do a little research. Find out the manager's name or a bit of history on the company. Browse their website and figure out what they're all about. This impresses people. It shows that you have an interest in the company.

4. Don't swear. I once had a person respond to the question "Why would you like to work at Prime Shine?" with "Cuz I'll kick some fuckin' ass out there." Yeah...bad idea.

5. Extra reading materials (such as resumes, cover letters, recommendations, etc) are always good. It shows you are prepared and that you have taken time to present yourself as professional. But...

6. ...If you do go through all the trouble to make a resume and stuff, please make it look nice. Don't just crap something out in 5 minutes. A bad resume can be far more damaging that no resume.

7. If you've applied at some many places that you don't even remember giving me an application, don't make it obvious. Statements like "This is my fiftieth interview this week," and "Did I really drop off an application here?" are not winners in my book, nor in anyone else's.

8. Fill out an application completely and thoroughly. Nothing says "I'm lazy and will do nothing at work" like not filling out half of an application.

9. Don't complain about your past bosses. It makes you seem defiant and means I should anticipate you having problems with authority.

10. If I asked you a question ten minutes ago and you're still talking, shut up. Just shut up.

11. After an interview, one phone call is sufficient. Anything after that is irritating.

The Day That Started It All

It has been brought to my attention that I have yet to blog about the fact that I am getting married in just over three months, and that I also haven't blogged about my wife-to-be. I think it is all related to my natural aversion to writing about love. One of the things that plagues my writing and really acts as an obstacle is that I hate thinking that what I'm writing is unoriginal. I have taken whole pieces and thrown them away because I think they sound too much like whatever author I had been reading, or because I am borrowing phrases and words from related works. Love is hard to write about for this reason. It is the subject of an unfathomable amount of works of art (in any median) and has been explored from every image and metaphor I can conceive of. I am worried that whatever I put down will just consist of bits of everything else I've ever written, and it ultimately wouldn't be worthy of the heavenly person that Sarah is. I love you, Sarah, and one of these days (hopefully by November 17th) I will conceive of the perfect way to say it.

What I can do quite easily is tell the great story of how we became the dynamic duo we are today.

I honestly don't remember the first time I met Sarah, and I'm certain she doesn't remember the first time she met me. What I do know is that we did meet casually in a group of people a couple of times. I was familiar enough with her, and she with me. I had a girlfriend, and she thought I was way too young, so nothing ever went farther than casual conversations.

However, that changed on May 19, 2005. But let's jump back a few days earlier.

My dad was invited (that is, ordered by his boss) to go to a conference in Long Beach. After he mentioned this to me and discovered that I had a few days off at around that time, he invited me to come with him. Later that day, I was talking to my roommate Daniel, and he informed me that he was leaving that same day for another conference with a group of youth leaders, and that some of them were planning to see a midnight showing of Star Wars 3: Revenge of the Sith. I talked with my dad and arranged a plan whereby I would travel down with Daniel, see the movie, and then meet my dad at his hotel afterwards.

Daniel and I drove down to the theater and met Beth Wornack and Sarah Soon-To-Be-Andrews, who came down with the rest of the group in a big 15-passenger van. We watched the movie, and it turned out to be much better than I had expected. Once the movie was done (approximately 2:30am), he realize he have a problem with getting people home. We have no cash for a cab, and the girls needed to get to Azusa Pacific college, which was a bout 10-15 minutes away. Daniel drives a 2-seater Silverado. So, what we decided was Daniel would take Beth to the college, com back, take Sarah to the college, come back, take me to my hotel, and then drive himself back to the college.

Daniel left with Beth at about 2:45am. Sarah and I sat inside and waited, talking about random things. I think we got up to play some pinball for a while, but mostly we just talked. Pretty soon it was 3, and then 3:30, and we thought it might be a good idea to call Daniel. Once I get him on the phone, we find out that he is lost and has no idea where he is going. Furthermore, upon looking at a phone book map, we can't even find the streets he's naming off. And then our phone start to die.

So, 4am comes around, and that turns into 5am, and still no sign of Daniel. Sarah and I just talked most of the time, laughed at Daniel, laughed at our situation, and then consulted the phone book again to try mapping out a walking route. Finally, at around 6, as the sun is rust rising over the line of buildings, up pulls Daniel. Frustrated, he hurled his keys into the empty parking lot and told me to drive her home.

That's the story of how Sarah and I got to know one another. Nothing happened right away - I still had that pesky problem of the other girlfriend and she still thought I was too young - but it set a solid foundation for a friendship to ultimately blossom into a romance almost 7 months later.

But that's a story for another blog...