The brightly-lit waiting room was packed with a motley crew of people from all walks of life. We were being watched. I noticed it from the moment I walked in and was ushered to an area with a glass wall putting us on display. We were all there applying for a job with a Fortune 500 company. On June 3rd, I received the email inviting me to the open house being held on the 6th. Almost everyone was on their phone, yet I took the time to take one last look at a book that I thought might very well help me during the job interview.

A very bubbly lady entered and informed us that they were filtering applicants in an entirely new way for the firm. Gone were the days of a sit-down one on one selection process. We were to do a group interview in front of everyone... There were surprised looks all around. "Bubble gum girl" who'd been nervously chewing like a determined trucker with a fresh tin of Copenhagen, began smacking on the sweet stuff even more...

Scanning the room I saw a well-dressed young lady, who looked like she already worked for the company. Nearby was a shy girl who would barely meet the gaze of anyone looking in her direction. Plopped front and center was a very confident man who had a lot of experience and made sure everyone present knew it. There was also a very plump female wearing skin-tight spandex, it wasn't quite business casual, but who knew what the dress code would be here? These people among others made up the 2nd grouping of the day.

Our turn now up, we were instructed to walk single file into the large interview room. I tend to notice things others miss, hence the name: "EverNoticeThat." In one corner I spied a white camera, almost blending into the wall. Most surveillance cameras are black in order to let you know you're being watched. This one was painted exactly the same color as the backing behind it so as to escape notice. Hhhhmmm... I made a quick mental note that they might be filming us for later review. Against the far wall were a set of tables containing the interviewers, with a line of chairs facing them. We were to be given time to tell them a little bit about ourselves, why we wanted to work for the firm, share a personal fun fact and make the case for exactly why they should hire us.

Center stage

After the team asked who wanted to go first, the confident man jumped up and gave a very pedestrian review of himself. He stressed his experience in the industry and that was fine as it gave me time to get the lay of the land. Not to be outdone, I went next, and while not matching the background of the first speaker, gave a good account of my time in a related field and got to show my warmth and charisma. Knowing we were being filmed, I wanted to stand out by making them laugh. My fun fact was, that up until last week, I was probably the only person in America who'd never seen an episode of Game of Thrones. The entire room erupted in laughter and cheers when I said I'd finally completed season 1!

Next up was the well-dressed lady who did a great job expressing herself and who I still thought might be a shill for the company. Lastly was a slightly nervous girl who I'd been encouraging since we met in the first room. To boost her confidence, I told her to imagine all of the managers wearing polka-dot underwear, which made her laugh out loud! While she was unsure of her performance, when her turn came, she did just fine.

And that was it.

After asking for the next volunteer, absolutely no one stood up...

There was this long uncomfortable silence as they repeatedly asked who wanted to go next. A bad move on the part of those who were left as it gave the impression they weren't really interested in the company. The lady announced that they were only looking for about 25 people out of hundreds who had applied, and this was their time to make the case for being hired.

Still nothing...

Because of this, management was forced to start at one end of the room and work their way across. I'll spare you the details, but will politely say that the rest were completely unprepared to be interviewed. The HR managers announced that they would give us 5 minutes to come up with a 30 second pitch to sell ourselves to the company. It would be one last chance for the quiet members to redeem themselves. They then left the room. The girl with the pointy head decided to do a skit with her friend as if they were employees. Her friend backed out so she decided to do it herself. I informed her that this was a time to underscore her value to the company and a skit might not do that. I really wanted some members of our team to get hired even if I didn't. I'd really come to like this bunch and wanted everyone to succeed.

Making the best of a second chance

When they came back in, the managers started the 30 second time clock. The girl went through her awkward one-person skit, which landed with a thud. Quickly trying to recover, she ran out of time before she had a chance to do so. I had taken some of the downtime to make sure I could fit my elevator pitch into my slot. When my turn came, I mentioned how I almost never missed a day at work and punched in on time, which highlighted my reliability. I briefly covered how I was robbed while in Germany last year and was rebuilding my life, which informed my ability to bounce back from adversity. To close, I offered that I appreciated what the company was doing to help revitalize the community and wanted to be a part of that story going forward.

The quiet girl spoke barely above a whisper and quickly sat down after saying she was just looking for a job. The bubble-gum chewer could not stop smacking her lips and nervously fidgeted the entire time. The spandex lady was admonished for her mode of dress which was not appropriate business attire.

The results are in!

The four of us who spoke first had our names called out for a second interview that day. The confident man was taken into one room while the three of us were taken into another. The gentleman explained the duties of the position to me, asked a bit about my work background and then asked a bizarre question at the very end...

How many balls fit into a limousine?

Now, I was not unprepared for this. Last year, I'd noticed a book with a cheeky little title in the campus bookstore. Seeing a familar name on the cover titled: Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google? by William Poundstone, caught my eye and I quickly picked it up.

Inside was a compendium of odd questions, riddles and snarky interview tricks employers use to filter job applicants. For instance, one chapter reports that clothing retailer Nordstrom screens more than 90% of their female applicants by noting if they're wearing black clothing, have heels on and are wearing a watch... So armed with knowledge like this, I gave an answer which made him laugh out loud saying "I've never heard that one before, Good answer!" He informed me that hiring decisions would be made in the upcoming weeks and I'll share the answer if I'm hired. There are over 200 of us vying for 25 positions, so the competition will be strong, but either way we'll learn something about the hiring process which will help all of us going forward. So with any luck, this book may have been enough to push me over the top. We'll see! Wish me luck! :)

Thank you so much!

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