The Interview

The Interview

"Hello, welcome to our company. I appreciate you taking the time to talk with us." The young man looked as if he'd just awakened from a short night of little rest. He was dressed in a faded colored t-shirt, scuffed jeans, and sandals. He'd responded to our ad for an electronic technician, and from the resume he sent, he had experience. In response to my greeting, he just grunted an acknowledgement and followed me into my office.

I motioned toward a chair, and said "please have a seat." He wordlessly slid into the chair, and crossed his arms.

Keeping the smile on my face, despite the lack of one on his, I said, "so, tell me about yourself." "Uh, I mainly work on electronics." "What type of electronics?" "It's on my resume, but mainly industrial stuff."

"Great, so how would you rate your component level skills?" He stared at the wall. "Well, what do you mean by 'component level?'" Now he had me looking at the wall, trying to see what was so interesting there; "I mean discrete electronic component level troubleshooting, such as integrated circuit chips, transistors, and so forth. Do you have any experience with that?" There was a long silence as he shifted his gaze to the top of my desk. "I've repaired lots of stuff." Now the silent period was of my making as I tried to think of an appropriate response. I decided to let it pass and try again; "Did you actually do solder work?" He looked back at the wall, "yes." Obviously a man of few words. "How about using test equipment such as Oscilloscopes and so forth, how often did you use those?" "Oh, I couldn't say." "Why not?" (I can be a man of few words as well)

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and continued staring at nothing in particular. I decided to change the subject. "Why did you decide to leave your former employer?" For the first time, he straightened up a bit, and looked in my direction. "They were idiots." "Oh," I said with raised eyebrows, "how so?" He shifted and straightened even more, "every time I was late, they made a big deal about it. Like I have anything to do with Atlanta traffic. No one can be on time anywhere around here."

"Was that it, they were upset with your tardiness?" "No," he said emphatically, "I was absent a few times, and they made a big deal about that too!" The smile on my face was becoming harder to maintain, "how much time did you miss?" "During what time period?" "Oh, let's say in a average month." "Oh, no more than 4 or 5 days."

My smile was beginning to waver, "so you were absent almost a week per month?" "Yeah, but not all in the same week." "What day did you usually miss" "Mondays."

My curiosity took over. "So, what else caused them to mistreat you?" "Well, they have this long time customer, a real nutcase. One of my repairs had a little problem and this guy blew it all out of proportion. He claimed it shut his machine down and cost a lot of production. My boss there took the customer's side. It was very unfair."

He was actually looking at me, so I leaned over my desk and looked him in the eye. "So tell me, why do you want to work here?" He averted my gaze, and said, "well, I just need a job; I got bills you know."

I stood up. "Thank you again for coming in, I appreciate your time." He made no move to get up. "Can I ask you about your pay and benefits?" I moved toward the office door and opened it. "Our benefits and pay are very good for our market, but I don't usually discuss that until we make an offer."

He went from a sitting slouch to a standing slouch. "Well, can I expect an offer?" I gestured with an open hand at the door, "I don't think so, but thank you for coming in." He walked through my door, turned and said angrily, "you people just... " and then his head dropped and his voice trailed off. He started walking away, and for inexplicable reasons, I touched his shoulder and said, "listen Pal, do you have friends or family that are successful in life?" Surprised, he turned back, and after a pause, said, "no, I really don't." "You don't know a single successful person?" Another pause, and then in almost a questioning tone, "my cousin is pretty successful."

I stepped toward him, and said in a soft tone, "do you have a decent relationship with him?" "We were close when we were little." "Then here's what I want you to do; call him up, and go over everything that happened during the meeting that you and I just had. Leave nothing out." His voice almost inaudible, he said "What good will that do?"

I put my hand on his shoulder, "maybe none, but the lack of a job is really not the problem, it's the result of your problems. Ask your cousin to explain that. Please talk to him."

He stared at me for a moment, nodded assent, and walked away.

EMA Drive Lines, May 2007