I’ve never been more psyched about an interview in a long time, here was my opportunity to finally start getting ahead on things and start earning some real money; unfortunately what I thought was my time isn’t my time yet.
I came prepared, probably more prepared then I ever have been for a job interview. I had a nice looking resume, a list of professional references and was looking pretty damn sharp if I may say so myself. The drive over all took about 40 minutes, which isn’t too bad considering the early morning traffic. I managed to make it almost with 30 minutes to spare before my scheduled interview and that was definitely a good thing! Whatever I ate yesterday didn’t sit too well with my stomach this morning and I was forced to make a stop at IHOP to make a I-PLOP if you know what I mean…stupid ass stomach.
Finally being ready to make my way to the Safeco building, I felt extremely confident upon entering the building and I felt like a million bucks. I made my way up the building via the elevator to meet my interviewer and the secretary greeted me at her desk. After filling out the usual paperwork, she complimented me on how organized I was and told me that my interviewer would be with me shortly.
I peered around my environment while I was waiting, seeing all the other future candidates for other jobs. Some seemed pretty nervous while others seemed like they could care less if they got the job or not; I thought that was interesting…
Finally after a few minutes I am greeted by interviewer which I thought to be a Phil Carol, but something struck me about him right away. First off, the guy I talked to in the phone was older in nature and definitely seemed like one of loose end businessmen. There was no way this guy in front of me could be Phil Carol, turns out I was right, Phil Carol is just a people whore, he calls them and brings them in and this gentlemen in front of me was going to be my interviewer. Ladies and gentlemen meet Mahmood Ahmed.
Now I’m a little nervous…
Mahmood sits me down in a little room with a couple chairs and we shoot through the usual introductive stuff…how the weather is, the drive was how long I’ve been in jail. (Kidding about that part.) After that, we get into the details I tell him what I do; we talk some further details about the job and he stops me about 3 minutes into everything.
“I’m going to be honest with you; by looking at your resume I don’t think you’re qualified for help desk technical support. I don’t like to beat around the bush with things like this, because honestly I don’t want to waste your time with some false hopes. However, I still would like to hear how you would handle a tech support phone call, so why don’t we role play? I know you have lots of computer knowledge.”
Now I don’t even role play after a first date, let alone my first 10 minutes of meeting someone; but I’ll entertain this guy.
My first call: Some guy calls and says his computer turned off somehow when he walked away. I answer the phone in my most professional etiquette and handle it like I would of I was on the job. I ask him the basic stuff, are the plugs in? Are there lights on his computer? (After telling him what his computer was.) After establishing that his computer was on and his monitor was flashing I instructed him to move his mouse. It worked…it was a screen saver.
Now you would think the dude would be impressed right? Nope, he thought the steps I went through were too long and he told me I just should have told the person on the phone to move the mouse in the first place….
Now I’m starting to get nervous because the guy wasn’t impressed by the steps I took, but I take a deep breath and get ready for his second wave. I can impress this guy…
Second call: Guy calls back and his “G-drive” has vanished he wants to get it back. My first question is if he has any usb devices or drives. Mahmood stops me there “That would be something in a home environment, not a business environment! You have to assume that their on a network.”
That was going to be my second question and if your work where I work we have usb devices ALL the time…I decided to keep going. I ask him to check his cables, he says he can’t, I ask if his co-workers computer is having the same issue and he says he doesn’t know. The interviewer says I should find out if he has a connection to the network, and I go through the steps (By memory mind you.) The interviewer stops me again. This time he says I just should of went to internet explorer and found out if he had an internet connection.
The role play ends. My interviewer says I approach things too long and c complicated and that I need some work before I can approach a help desk job. He says I have almost everything I need, I’m energetic, polite, ect, ect. I have some skills but need some fine tuning. He goes ahead and says that because I have potential he will give me access to some programs that will help me in the future.
I take the offer for the training…if anything this has lit a fire under my ass to get some proof that I can get things done. We say good bye and I’m my way back home…
That was my interview…
