Friday, March 5, 2010

Ego in Flight

Holla,

My ego is vulnerable. My ego is large. My ego is fragile, but it's an essential part of me.

No, I'm not quoting lines from the "Ego Monologues". I'm simply reminding myself of the dangers that my large, vulnerable, and fragile ego gets me into. Every once in a while, I need to refresh my memory of this fact, otherwise I will find myself in the middle of Home Depot, hawking cabinet refinishing for my next job.

I had an interview today. Over the last several days, I sent out countless resumes to a wide variety of job openings. When I received this interview, I was initially confused as to which position it was for. Was it for part-time tutoring? Maybe the data entry position? Could it be for the administrative assistant role at the publishing company? I had no idea.

After a few minutes of conversation, I remembered that the job was in entry-level advertising. Previously, I had looked over the company's website, and was intrigued at the possibilities. I've always considered myself a fairly creative person, and there was a period of my life that I imagined myself creating marketing campaigns and writing advertisements. I took the interview, and was looking forward to the opportunity.

I entered the office suite, and was greeted by a relatively drab looking reception area. There were hole marks in the walls, dust everywhere, and fake plants that looked like they were dying. To add to this, the company that I kept in the waiting area, was not all that reassuring. I was told that the dress for the interview was "business professional". I put on my suit and tie, however, my fellow interviewees must not have interpreted the message in the same way.

There was one guy in a button-down and slacks, which is close enough. Another guy rolled in with jeans, a nice shirt, and a tie. Not really business professional, but not unacceptable. The worst was the guy in the hooded sweatshirt. He carried a professional-looking black folder with him, but he appeared to have skipped the showering/cleansing portion of the "business professional" class.

Due to my first impression of the company, my initial excitement was tempered when I went into the interview. I met with a very nice woman that began going over my resume. We talked for 20 minutes or so about my various goals, employment history, and my preferred working environment. I fell right into her devious trap. She talked about how she saw leadership ability in me. That she thought I had management potential. That she was only offering the position to three people, and that I had bumped someone from her top choices. My ego was soaring. Wings spread, it had taken flight and was lifting me far out of the 80's style office chair that I was sitting in.

This all occurred before she said a word about what my actual job duties were going to be. Here's how they work. They place employees within big-box stores such as Home Depot or Best Buy. Those employees then promote certain brand names that those companies sell. My job would be to stand in those stores, trying to sell Direct TV installation packages or cabinet refinishing services to customers, from 10:30 to 7:30, including weekends.

I just threw up. Writing that was just as bad as hearing it from my interviewer. She had built me up so much, talking about my future management role, that I had almost signed a contract without learning about the job. My ego had grown so large that it was dominating the rationale portion of my brain.

Thankfully, she didn't offer me the job on the spot. Instead, she offered me a second interview next week with her manager. I was powerless to say anything but, "Okay, that sounds great." So now, I'm meeting with her and her manager, to learn more about the process and make an in-store visit to one of their selling teams.

I just need to remind myself that this probably isn't something that I want to spend my time doing. I want to write, I want to entertain. I don't want to put on an orange, Home Depot uniform. Now, if my pesky ego would just take the day off, I may be able to escape the interview without a job.

-More to come...

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