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My Interview With Corporate Engineering

In about 1985 or 86, my manager made me aware of a job opening in Corporate Engineering. I was somewhat bored with what I was doing in Facitilies Engineering and had told my manager, Bill Claunch that I wouldn't mind looking at other engineering jobs if something came up like in Corporate Engineering. So one day Bill came to me and said there was an opening in Corporate Engineering in White Plains, New York did I want to interview for it. I figured why not, and was on my way to White Plains in short order.

I flew into Laguardia and drove up to White Plains and checked into my hotel. The guy I was going to be meeting with had offered to show me around the area that afternoon so he came by and drove me around. We got along fine and he showed me around White Plains. It got to be dinner time so we went to a resturant and before we ordered, we both ordered beer.

The beer came in the biggest beer glass I had ever seen. I really like beer and drank it down prety quick. Having had nothing to eat (maybe a snack on the plane) and having downed this super tall beer, I had a little bit of a buzz going. It was the most intoxicated I'd been in a long time.. and maybe since. Well that was when the interview began.

He started asking me questions about what I had done and what experience I had that was related to clean rooms. I did my best but when I got back to the hotel, I knew I hadn't been very sharp.

The interview the next day with him was pretty brief. He had me talk to a couple of other guys too and those didn't seem to go very good either. Not bad, but I just didn't seem to connect.

When I got back to Lexington, it was just a couple of days when Bill told me they didn't think I was the best match or some such thing. I wasn't really suprised. I did smart a little bit to have failed the interview, but I didn't really mind not getting the job. The price of realestate in White Plains was outrageous and we would have had to move into a much smaller home. And we would have been much farther from our families in Ohio, so neither Connie or I were disappointed in not having to move to White Plains.

I learned a good lesson.. don't drink and interview. I've always wondered if that guy sort of ambushed me or if he was just being cordial. I guess it doesn't matter.