Job Fair Part I: The Experience

Yesterday's job fair for a particular favorite store of mine was an interesting experience. It was held in the banquet area of a nearby hotel. During the quarter mile drive to it from the entrance, I was getting a bit excited thanks to all the signs that were placed every few feet, proclaiming what a great place it is to work.

I got there about 15 minutes before it officially began so I sat and watched people coming in. I was kind of glad I wore my usual business casual work attire since that seemed to be what most people were in. I did spot one guy in a suit and quite a few in jeans and Detroit Lions jackets but much like wedding receptions, that was probably to be expected. There were also quite a few in red. I'm not sure if that was premeditated or just a coincidence. I was glad I didn't go for the red though.

At 8 a.m., we lined up, signed in, grabbed a name badge and a folder of all the forms to fill out. I found a place at a table where some of the others that I kind of chit chatted with earlier were seated and began filling in the forms. Since it was a job fair, I didn't cringe much at the idea of putting my SSN on nearly every form but I wasn't completely comfortable with it. I must've been sitting at a table of people
that had done this before because after filling in the initial form with my name and SSN and the corresponding small circles were filled in, I saw that they were taking some sort of test. I finally found my test booklet and began answering the multiple choice questions. They were questions about what I would do in certain situations and how my friends and coworkers might describe me. I was honest in answering even the one asking if I was more leader than follower, slightly more leader than follower, slightly more follower than leader or more follower than a leader. I sucked it up and chose the more honest third option.

After that, we were lead into Interview #1. I had a cute girl named Crystal who looked all of 25 and fresh from the sorority in her pearls. It was a pretty basic interview, I think. From there, I was lead to Interview #2 with Stephanie. Her questions were typical interview questions but a bit more in depth. Questions like tell of a time where I changed a policy. That's a tough question when your job is the bottom rung in a business that loves it's hierarchical structure. I blathered out an answer.

From there, I was lead to the 'relaxation room' which featured a television blaring this company's commercials and two more 25 years olds trying to entertain the crowd of people that were on average, older than them. I waited about 10 minutes before a lady called my name. Thinking this was finally done, I was looking forward to getting out of there but no. I had forgotten to sign one of the many forms and she also pointed out that I didn't fill out some sort of voluntary tax form that was included in my packet. I signed the one sheet and told her that I didn't fill out that form because it was voluntary. "So the only reason you didn't fill this out was because it was voluntary?", she asked. Correct, I replied. I then went back and sat down, knowing for sure that my folder had just been red flagged.

About another 10 minutes passed before another lady came out and called my name. As I was following her to yet another small room, I noticed that what was once a red folder, had turned into a green one. She sat down and said that they would love to hire me as a cashier/guest service person. I had a weird moment as she was saying that and it's something that I'm still trying to understand the reason for. After she said that, every part of me suddenly did not want the job. I didn't say anything though, I gave the usual 'Oh, that's great!' response. I signed up for my orientation at a nearby store on the afternoon of the 22nd (the one that I was hired for is still being built), forgetting entirely that it was Big A's birthday and instead, inwardly lamenting about having to use vacation time (I'm hoping I and just switch the weekday I normally have off now).

At this point, it was now 9:42 a.m. I had only been at this for about an hour and 42 minutes but I was exhausted. The next and last step was the drug test. I knew I had nothing to fear since I don't like poppy seed muffins (a Seinfeld reference) or drugs of any kind but thanks to Aunt Flo visiting this week, I was really praying for a blood draw rather than urinating in a bottle. Yet another form is filled out that required our SSN and this lovely lady that must've been the official overseer gave me and another lady our wide mouthed bottles and our instructions: fill it up to just past a label that was on the bottle and don't flush the toilet. While I was deeply grateful for container with a wide mouth on it (I've yet to master the talent of proper first placement so the wider the opening, the better the chance I have), my urge to ask about Aunt Flo's visit became to much and I quietly asked if her visitation was ok. It was but I think the lady felt for me and my discomfort because when I gave her the bottle and the test strips on it said that I wasn't on drugs, she told me that I was o.k. and called me sweetie. I won't go into more detail but it was not fun, I cringe just remembering it and I'm very thankful that my stone colored khakis that I had on came out of this adventure just fine.

Coming up...Job Fair Part II: The After Effects