I had an interview a week ago with Staples. I have decided to stay in Thunder Bay for the summer, and as such needed another part time job to supplement my income from VV. They were hiring, my friend Paul who has worked there full time for the past 7 months has said good things about it, so I decided to apply there again…
Yes, I said again. You see, I had applied to Staples last school year when I was looking for a job and was called in for an interview. The weather being nasty, and I having not other form of transportation other than my bike, donned all my weatherproof gear, hopped on my bike, and rode to Staples for my interview. Arriving there, I realized that my pants and even the front of my jacket was covered in mud. I could take off my jacket, but stripping of my snow pants would have been too awkward, so I kept them on. My hair, recently having been freed of dreads, was not in a presentable state, so the toque stayed on. And that is how I was interviewed. I was not called back for a second one.
This time, I was going to do things right. I had recently purchased a kick-ass pair of brown khakis, and a very nice blue dress shirt. My hair was cut short and trimmed perfectly by a barber. I was not clean shaved, but I always seem to pull off the 3-day growth fairly well. I also had scored a pair of brown dress shoes, and put those on too. I definitely looked professional, and thinking about it now still makes me laugh. It just didn’t look like me.
Arriving at staples a few minutes early, I asked Paul to alert the lady who was interviewing me to my arrival. I then waited 20 minutes to be interview, standing tall and straight, with the sweat rolling down my sides; I had forgot to put on antiperspirant. The effort of standing straight and the heat of the store were a little much. Finally, I was directed to an office where the interview began.
I had no problems answering any of the questions, and things progressed well. So well, in fact, that I immediately went on to the second interview. I again, answered all questions well, and actually had a very pleasant conversation with my second interviewer. I was then hired on the spot.
Thinking back, I’m fairly confident that the questions were the same as that interview I had many many months ago, and that my answers were also very similar, which has lead me to believe that they were either desperate for staff, or the effort i put into my physical presentation really made a huge difference. Apparently, looks do matter.
On a side note, my second interviewer was a gorgeous lady from the east coast. Her lips were actually colored with a multi tone gradient. It must have taken her a long time to do something that seems so useless, and that very fact blows my mind.
10/04/2008 at 7:48 pm Permalink
good boy!