Final Interview: Floor (Part Twenty-One)

Before lunchtime, Ahm, our project manager, changed his status message from an excerpt from a song to that of him asking for a volunteer to help him conduct final interviews. Being the curious person that I am, I asked him if I could accompany him in the interviews. He quickly said I could go while telling me that there were three interviews, one following the other starting at around two in the afternoon. I hesitated if I should ask what I was supposed to do, but I calmed myself in saying that Ahm would be the one leading the interview, and I should just pretty much step back and watch, pitching in some questions from time to time.

Two in the afternoon came, and Ahm waved to grab my attention that it was time to go. I diligently brought my notepad and a pen, just for the sake of having some props with me. As Ahm and I conducted the three interviews, I was impressed at how spontaneous he was in his questions. His follow-up questions were quick and snappy, but at the same time were actually worth asking. He also conducted the interviews in a very light manner -- we were actually chuckling and laughing two-thirds of the time. The three applicants tackled our questions and behaved very differently, from being politely talkative to being awkwardly quiet.

At the end of the first interview, I asked him what some of the abstract questions were for. He explained to me that what he was looking for was not somebody who had a lot of technical knowledge, but people with interesting personalities and creative ways of dealing with a problem. Following suit, I said my few cents worth every time he asked me what I thought about each applicant. There was an applicant wherein I particularly felt strongly against. When Ahm asked me if I was going to hire him or not, I told him that I found the applicant's stubborn attitude and inflexibility to adapt to challenging situations concerning, despite his superior potential compared to the other two. Ahm agreed with me, and listed that applicant to be interviewed again by another panel. We hired the two other applicants because we found them to be gregarious and actually interested in joining the company.

As Ahm and I walked back to our workstations, I realized that yes, the result is important, but the process and journey in getting to that end is as important as well. Taking the applicant we rejected as an example, he had all the intelligence needed to succeed in our field, but why was he rejected? He didn't show he had the passion for technology. Comparing him to the other applicant who we felt strongly for, we accepted him because he showed to us that he really wanted to be a programmer, even if he had four failing marks in college. I've always felt chained down by my own insecurities, but in sitting down and talking to three complete strangers, I realized that I can achieve things no matter what, if I truly wanted to attain them.