Interview Chatter

On A Personal Note - Robb’s Story

by Darlene McDaniel on July 26th, 2007

On A Personal Note

It has been a while since I have shared something personal to me, and for some reason, I have been thinking about Robb. So I decided to tell his story. I may break it up over the course of a few days, but I trust you find value in the story and maybe a lesson or two about getting a job.

Robb C.

I met Robb as a Training manager working for American Express. He was probably about 21 or 22 at the most back then. Anyway, when I met Robb, he had a eyebrow piercing and a tongue or lip piercing (it has been well over 7 years ago). He was an excellent customer service rep, and I was a new manager for Amex. When I got there I was tasked with many new projects and one of them was hiring and training new customer service representatives for the Traveler’s Cheque Division.

I didn’t have enough people resources to do what was being asked. And I was too new to get new FTE for my department, so I pitched an idea of creating “cross-training” opportunities to support the hiring and training need we were experiencing. I got a “yes” from my Director and off I went. I posted the job, and set the interview dates.

Yep, you heard me, I conducted interviews to fill the cross training opportunity in my department. The purpose was two-fold, I wanted and needed a subject matter expert and I wanted to eventually increase the headcount in my department. I knew that if I could get the cross-training opportunity, I would eventually would get the FTE increase.

I can’t remember how many people responded to the posting, but it was more than a few. I was confident that I would find raw talent out there and meet my training goals. Robb was the last candidate I interviewed. When that young man walked in the door, he had the job. He came in with energy, enthusiasm, and I believe he still had his piercings, but he came in with substance and had my undivided attention for the 12-15 minute presentation.

By the time Robb completed the presentation and the interview portion, I was sold. I knew, I could take what was in him and mold it and shape it, into an excellent trainer.

More to come tomorrow. I would be interested in any comments you may have about the first portion of this story. How important were the piercings at a company like American Express? Do you think he got the “cross-training” opportunity with the piercings? Did he remove the piercings at any point to compete for the job once the interview process was complete? What do you think? Why am I sharing this story?

See you tomorrow!

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• On A Personal Note - Rob’s Story Part 3
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POSTED IN: On A Personal Note, Preparation & Planning