an ampersand in the Empire of Signs

Yesterday brought me back to 20 Bay Street for my second round of interviews at BearingPoint. It was a blustery day, and my thirty minute walk from home to the office left my hair entirely disheveled. These days I have more hair than I've had in a long time. My mane tends to be unruly on good days, so the wind tunnel effect near Union Station really did a number. I had to run into a convenience store and buy a comb before my interview. I restored as much order to my hair as possible before ascending to the 10th floor.

Four different individuals interviewed me this time. And each person interviewed me separately. I grew a bit worried, because there are only so many times you can tell people the same canned answers before the veneer on your image begins to crack.

Luckily, each interviewer took a different approach, and all of the interviews were more like casual conversation. The first one, with a manager who seemed to be about my age, required that I do the most talking. But he also took the time to answer my questions and give me his impression of life at BearingPoint. The second interrogator, a senior manager, came in and said, "You've probably talked enough about yourself, so I won't ask you to tell me the same stuff. What can I tell you about us?" It was a short, but useful conversation.

The third interview caught me off guard. In walked a really clean-cut, brawny man. I almost wanted to stand up and salute, "Yes, colonel, sir!" He sat down and said, "I'm the ugly American in the office. Okay, we're going to do a little mini-case. Once I hired somebody that looked good on paper, but he couldn't string two thoughts together. It cost me a lot of time and money. I'm not making that mistake again. So, we're going to test your thinking skills."

"Yes, sir, colonel, sir!"

It was actually a terrific exercise--sort of like b-school turns Oxford tutorial. He presented me with a real case that he had just finished. He didn't expect me to come up with the answers, but he did want me to show my problem-solving approach. He seemed satisfied with the results, but who knows.

The final interview was a "peer interview" over lunch with a man who was at roughly the same level I would be starting at. Actually, he gave me more of a grilling than anybody else. But he was equally happy to provide me with his own impressions of the company.

All in all, I think the interviews went well, but I won't know until I hear back from the recruiter. And I don't know when that will be. Until then, I can continue reading and (maybe) writing my blogs. Oh, and I guess I should get down to the gym every now and then.

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