The day started off pretty well. I woke up relatively early, drove in with my dad and brother to providence, and chilled at Benson for a few hours. My interview was at 2:30 and I knew it was at 2:30, but for some reason I was nervous that I had forgotten the time. This is when I first started to panic, and began to come up with nonexistent events that I may have mixed up with my interview. So there was that.
At about 12:30 a guy walked into my dad’s office asking if it was admissions. “Excuse me, is this the admissions office?” That’s what my brother and dad heard. What I heard was the word “Admissions.” What my brother and dad saw as a lost confused old man in a sunhat, I saw as an angry, punctual man from admissions in a sunhat.
“Do you know where the admissions office is? Me and my daughter are here to take a tour.” My father looked at Adrian and remembered that my brother was to clean the silkscreen emulsion off the counters and asked me to show them to admissions.
During the walk I learned that the guy in the sunhat lived in the Galapagos Islands and owned a scuba shop there. His daughter was nice and commented on how “striking” my blue shirt was. I replied that I looked like a best buy employee without the yellow tag. And I did too.
After about 8 minutes of smalltalk we reached the admissions office and they both found out that they weren’t on the tour list and they might not be able to get into the tour. I told the guy that if he couldn’t get in I’d be around and could show him around the place since my dad works there and I only have that admissions interview anyway. I gave him my cell number, confirmed my appointment (it was 2:30 P.M. all along!) and went back to Benson for a couple of hours. That’s when the butterflies really started to kick in.
I started to think of every possible thing that could go wrong and kept drawing situations out of my mind until I was back up at admissions waiting to be seated for my interview. The secretary ushered me into “the conference room.” You know those board room scenes in movies where there’s an oblong table with tons of seats around, and on one side of the room there’s a big screen tv that’s used for satellite conferencing? It was like that but with a balcony overlooking Woods-Gerry. I could imagine Roger’s face opening and closing on the monitor in a weird, Orwellian tone.
Then came in Ed and Lucy. Before I say anything about the interview, i'm going to precede it by telling you that these two people are extremely friendly and are way better at the job than I could ever hope to be.
So it began.
They showed me a piece of paper with the job requirements, what I’d be doing and then Ed began to tell me forget about the paper “I will tell you what the job is really like.”
Basically I’d be traveling during the fall and wintersession semesters every other week. Intense traveling. I would fly out to say, Austin, or Chicago or LA and would begin my day by giving speeches at various high schools about RISD and it’s departments. Then after I finish the first high school, I would drive or fly to the next one in say, Minneapolis. Then I would fly to my next school and if I have time I would give a speech there or if I didn’t have time I would go to my hotel and prepare for the next day. This would go on for a week, and I would fly back to providence where I would commute back and forth every day working regular office hours.
During the office hours I would be contacting people about RISD and doing admissions office work such as organizing files, reminding people of deadlines, etc. Which I don’t mind.
Basically I’d be traveling during the fall and wintersession semesters every other week. Intense traveling. I would fly out to say, Austin, or Chicago or LA and would begin my day by giving speeches at various high schools about RISD and it’s departments. Then after I finish the first high school, I would drive or fly to the next one in say, Minneapolis. Then I would fly to my next school and if I have time I would give a speech there or if I didn’t have time I would go to my hotel and prepare for the next day. This would go on for a week, and I would fly back to providence where I would commute back and forth every day working regular office hours.
During the office hours I would be contacting people about RISD and doing admissions office work such as organizing files, reminding people of deadlines, etc. Which I don’t mind.
Then they asked me questions about what I thought of RISD, what was its biggest strength, and why I think I’m right for the job. I really don’t think I’m right for the job but I figured I’d bullshit and say well I’m good at talking to people. Although it came out as “Well, uh well, I think…I’m good with people sometimes, you know, and uh yea you know I try to be as honest as possible when I’m talking to people and stuff like that.”
Right after that I knew I was in trouble because the next question came with awkward looks and they asked me how experienced I was with public speaking. I told them I was an officer in high school but that was about it. And at this point I started becoming really nervous and began to have trouble forming coherent sentences. The interview went on a little while longer, but it ended not too long after that.
The funny thing was, even with all the stuttering and horrible eye contact during a job for a public speaking position; they were REALLY selling the job to me, which immediately raised some red flags in my head. And if they do call me back for a second interview, I can only assume that they are very desperate to fill this job position, because I am positive that almost every candidate that went into that room came off as more qualified and confident than I did.
After realizing what the job consists of and how it works, I’m not sure even if they called me that I would take the job.
After realizing what the job consists of and how it works, I’m not sure even if they called me that I would take the job.
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