Interviewing in Manhattan

Interviewing in NYC has been quite the experience.  I have had to reschedule due to train/traffic mishaps, wilted in the heat and humid, got caught in a downpour without an umbrella, lost count of blisters, and dealt with a woman straight out of the devil wears prada. Here are a couple of stories from my interviewing fun.

I started job searching at the end of July and had an interview set up for a dream job at a dream company for August 1st.  So four weeks postpartum I was out suit shopping with a four week old infant in tow.  After I found a couple that I could deal with I had to nurse Jaime in the dressing room before trying them on as he was close to a melt down... I had to laugh at his extremely loud burp as you know someone else in there would be like "wow, classy!"

Our temporary apt is about 15 miles out of city and so for my first interview in the city I thought that leaving 2 hours ahead of time would be perfect, giving me a little extra time once I got to the right spot.  The night before the interview Jaime was up more than usual and it was the second time I set an alarm clock since his birth and it was set for 5am... so much for solid night of sleep before an interview.

The 2 hours of travel time was a fail.  I ran up the stairs to the train platform as it pulled away.  The next train was in 30 minutes.  It was super steamy hot outside and sitting in the sun wilting was making me irate (I am not so great or rational when I am overheated and in business clothes).  So I had the brilliant idea to have Dan drive me to Newark so that I could catch a train there.  There was an accident on the road we had to take and so as we sat and watch the time tick by I almost cried.  Instead of crying I called the woman I had the interview with and rescheduled for a couple of hours later.  I did make it to interview with her and she asked me back.

After an interview at a major accessories company I found myself watching the clouds get darker and darker on the way back to our little village stop... of course when I got off the train it started to downpour and I didn't have an umbrella with me (both of my umbrellas have been MIA since the move)... saying I was soaked after the three block walk to our apartment would be an understatement.

After a day of 5 hours of interviewing at this major accessories company I got the call back to meet with just two more people... the last being the VP for the team.  For some reason I had a bad feeling about the interview from the moment it was scheduled.  But when the interview started off with the woman acting as though being from Iowa was akin to being from Mars and then proceeded to find it unfounded that I didn't ride horses constantly when I was growing up (because growing up on a farm = being obbessed with horses - you didn't know that?) I knew I was in trouble.  The woman continued to on to be a major b@#%.  I have been on a lot of interviews at this point in my life and this was the most ridiculous excuse for an interview.  To say she was lacking a shred of mutual respect and professionalism would be an understatement.  It was the first interview I have been on where I left saying there is absolutely no way in hell that I will work for or with that person.  And I let them know that the next day.  Weeks later it still gets me riled up just thinking about it.

So yeah, interviewing has been interesting and it was no surprise that we spent the next couple of weeks trying to decide if I should commute back to Chicago to keep working at my existing job.  It was very tough to quit.