Teaching Mia

Chapter 28 - Interviewing

Mia walked into the office in Tribeca where she would be having a second interview for her internship. She had already had a first interview over the phone and she had felt a good vibe from her interviewer. That made her feel a bit more confident but she was still nervous nonetheless.

She was greeted by a young person about her own age and he directed her towards the conference table. He offered her water and Mia graciously accepted. Walking around in the summer heat of New York together with the scorching boil of the subway tracks always left her parched. He came back with a glass of water together with a non-disclosure agreement. He explained it was a measure of precaution for the company since they were a technology start-up.

Mia was very familiar with the concept from her previous job. They would usually need high-profile consultants to sign them before working on a project for them. She never thought she would be asked to sign one herself.

"Well, this certainly makes me feel important," Mia smiled.

"Good to know. Most people don't understand what it is. Russ will be with you shortly," he responded.

Mia quickly read over the agreement and it was pretty standard so she signed and dated it. She then took a moment to scan her surroundings, trying to not seem so obvious.

The first thing that stood out to her was a pinball machine next to the conference table. It had a Playboy backglass depicting Hugh Hefner from his younger years together with two playmates and the mansion in the background. It definitely looked vintage and was an interesting piece of furniture to have in an office, to say the least.

The office itself resembled more of a loft and all the desks were arranged in an open space similar to a newsroom. The office décor was very modern and it was filled with huge iMac computers on almost every desk. Most people seemed very young and they were busy chatting away.

The artwork on the walls also caught her attention. They had prints of the company logo superimposed on subway, bus, and taxi signs and it actually looked real. Mia knew the company hadn't even launched yet, but it was a clever way of alluding that the brand already existed in everyday life.

They even had a couple of really cool graffiti paintings and she recognized they were riffs on Banksy,the British street artist. Mia remembered how Leo would talk about him all the time and she smiled at the thought. She decided right then she liked the place already.

"Mia? I'm Russ, sorry to keep you waiting."

She turned to look at him as he sat down at the conference table with her. He had a buzz cut and was wearing jeans and a t-shirt with an army id tag around his neck. He was nothing like what she had expected from their phone conversation.

"No problem at all, I was just admiring your artwork. Those Banksy pieces are really interesting."

"You like them? I've been going through a Banksy phase recently, I just think the street art concept goes pretty well with what we're trying to do here."

"Definitely. I mean it's all about going against the establishment right? There's this film he directed about street art that I really want to see."

"Oh yeah, I heard about that too," Russ said seemingly impressed. "So tell me, I know we spoke on the phone a couple of weeks ago, but to be honest I have the worst fucking memory. Just quickly remind me again of your background and what you've been doing during the last year or so."

Mia smiled and began to tell him her story. At least this was the easy part so she quickly went over her education and work experience. He nodded throughout her answer and at some point reached over for a candy bin that was on the table and started munching on some chocolates. He offered her some and she accepted even though she didn't necessarily want one. Someone had once told her it was best to mimic the interviewer's stance so she decided it couldn't hurt.

He went on tell her about the company and more details about the position. Mia was surprised to see he even pulled up the website on a monitor in front of the conference table and gave her a quick walk-through of the site. Mia had never seen anything like it and she could tell he was proud to be sharing it.

He then went over some logistics of the position, asking Mia a few more questions here and there that she answered easily. She then started to ask him a few questions on the company, most of which he answered but at a few said he couldn't discuss at that point.

After about 30 minutes of speaking, he asked her the dreaded question. "So why should I hire you?"

He noticed Mia's hesitation and laughed. "Don't think you were going to get off that easily. I had to throw a hard question in there."

Mia chuckled and felt more relaxed. She started to give her rehearsed answer, saying that she had the required education and work experience, she came from a diverse background and was a worldly person having lived in several countries, that she was a very reliable and self-motivated person always willing to give more than 100% to her commitments.

Finally, she said that this particular internship would mean a lot to her since it would give her a chance to put everything she just learned during the master's degree to use and since she would be graded based on her performance it was important for her to excel.

Russ nodded but didn't seem too pleased by her answer.

"I can also make a really mean guacamole," she added.

He smiled. "I was about to say your answer had been too cookie-cutter, but you saved it right at the end so I'll take it. You're lucky I really like Mexican food."

"I'm glad to hear that," Mia said.

"So listen I can usually tell whether I like someone or not during the first two minutes so I can tell you right now that you passed the test. So I'll email you about the start-date and all that good stuff next week."

Mia's face lit up in excitement. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had never gotten a job offer right on the spot. Even when she first graduated from college she had gone on almost 20 interviews before finally getting something decent.

"Really? This is wonderful news! Thank you so much for the opportunity. I can assure you, you won't be disappointed."

Russ held out his hand. "Welcome to the team," he said and she shook it with a huge smile on her face.