Sometimes a phone call can throw your mind into a whirlwind and get you thinking the preverbial question, “What if?” Well that took place recently when a former colleague and existing friend informed me about an open position at the Education Service Center in Fort Worth. He said they were looking for someone “just like me” to head up their entire technology division which services over 75 districts and upward of 500,000 students.
So as not to be rude, I decided to take a peak at the job description and decided that even though I felt completely confident in my abilities, my resume was not going to be one that stood out in the crowd. After a couple of days of deliberation, I went ahead and hit the submit button on the application so at minimum I could tell my friend that I applied. Within an hour, I had a phone call to schedule an interview. WHAT?!?!
Speed forward to the ESC board room with 9 individuals sitting around the conference table and myself at the end ready to receive from the firing squad. Now I would like to proceed to a few of my tips on interviewing:
1. Open the bottle of water and drink it through the process. Personally I have never hired a person who didn’t drink the water. Shows me that they are relaxed.
2. Never answer the first question, “Tell us about yourself” with the phrase I used. “Well I am completely happy where I am, and I am not really looking for a new job.” Did I really just say that?
3. Write down everyones name because trying to send a thank you email to people whose name you don’t know through the online Staff Directory is tough!
Ok so long story short, the questions flew, and I had a fun time answering, laughing, joking and quite frankly just being myself. It wasn’t until two days later when I got the call for a second round that things GOT REAL. When I walked out of the second interview, the phone call to my wife went exactly like this. “Well I killed the interview and have no feeling at all that they will offer me the job. However, it wouldn’t surprise me if they did.” I didn’t understand it either though it made perfect sense based on how I was feeling.
So even though I tried to make this a short post, I am officially stepping into my new role of Deputy Executive Director for Technology Services. Let the new journey begin!
