My Nightmare Interview...

Happy Holidays to everyone!

After yesterday’s post, I thought I might take a moment today to share one of the worst interview stories I know. Of course the reason it’s one of the worst: it happened to me!

Shortly after graduating from Eastern Michigan University, I had the opportunity to interview for an Admissions Representative position here in Grand Rapids. I breezed through the phone screen, met with a couple of people in a face to face interview, and finally was asked to prepare a short presentation which I would present to the entire admissions staff for my final interview. I spent a day or so madly editing and rehearsing the presentation I’d made to hundreds of students while recruiting for EMU. Finally I felt I had the presentation down (I was no longer saying “Eastern” throughout it anyway…)

I managed to have a good night’s sleep before the interview, and was reciting my pitch in the shower and as I dressed for the interview. I chose a chocolate brown suit over a black blouse, (very professional looking I thought) and after a moment of deliberation over which shoes to wear, I was off.

I walked into a conference room full of potential colleagues, answered a few brief questions about my background, and then stood and paced around the table while telling them all about “The 5 P’s of Choosing a College” (Programs, Preparation, People, Place, and Price).

I nailed it! I was great; they were interested and attentive, nodding and smiling. I was awesome!

We closed the interview, and I was feeling euphoric; they told me they’d be in touch by the end of the day. Still on cloud nine, I headed for my car, tripped and nearly fell face first onto the ground. I thought, “Wow, this parking lot is awfully uneven” and looked down at what I thought would be cracked pavement.

Instead I discovered my inability to walk was the result of wearing two shoes not even REMOTELY similar; one black 1½” heel, and one brown 2” heel,

I was horrified, embarrassed, and feeling totally stupid. Flashbacks to the conference room…were they smiling at my presentation or laughing at my shoes? Oh god, what have I done!

I went home, all my excitement and positive energy gone, and waited for the phone to ring. I started to rationalize, like… maybe they hadn’t noticed, maybe they thought I always walked with a slight limp, maybe they thought I was color blind, maybe they thought I knew and just didn’t let it phase me…

To my surprise, I was offered the job! I guess you really can recover from anything!