Prepare For Revolution
Stepping in from the coastal fog of a Santa Monica morning, the hallways smelled of paint and plaster. This gave the impression of offices built and occupied hastily in the 11th hour, but the place appeared to be deserted. The internet flyer I’d seen said to “come early to avoid the lines.” Taped to a fluted glass panel on the door of Suite 200 was a printed sign that said: “Please wait outside until you are called for your interview.” I knocked softly and high heels answered from within, waltzing across a tile floor. The door swung open and a lithe woman of exaggerated features and height pivoted halfway into the hallway: “Hi,” she said.
“Hi,” I replied, “I’m here for the open interviews…?” She stood off to one side under the door frame, facing me in a baggy sweater and a pencil skirt.
“Great! Come on in. I’m Julia.” We shook hands.
As promised on the e-flyer, the interview lasted no more than five minutes, but at the moment time slowed down considerably: Julia’s gaze was reptilian, nearly magnetic, her greenish eyes grabbing hold of the room from beneath a wave of red hair. From the moment I sat down across from her, her eyes remained riveted to a spot between my eyebrows, uninterrupted by blinking or any other diversion, continually readjusting to follow my movements as if controlled by remote. Julia, I thought, must be great at pinball.
“Welcome to Revolution Prep,” she said, with all the warmth a professional can muster. ”Can I ask if you took either the SAT or the ACT and if so if you remember what you scored?” Julia paused just long enough to jot down what I told her, then looked down for a second while she continued, processing and commenting on my resume simultaneously—“Now let’s take a look at this quickly: I see you’ve got a good GPA—what was that in?—and some great teaching experience on here, tutoring, and some internships. Can I ask you what made you want to come in to interview today, what other jobs you’re going in for?”
Online, the revolution was described as a group of “dedicated, talented and performance-minded individuals…profitable, and privately held.” It had become “a national leader in Educational services and software [with] the vision of using technology to transform Education while remaining true to a social mission,” but it was still hard to tell what the revolution was trying to accomplish. I knew only that I was applying to enroll in their ‘Entrepreneurial Management Program” (EMP). I told Julia about my passion for education and technology and wondered aloud what exactly the the EMP would train you for. Julia nodded rhythmically; her eyes drilled into me.
“Well we’re looking for about five folks to hire for our Entrepreneurial Management Program by December, and those folks will spend twelve to eighteen months on our inside sales team while you build your skills under a supervisor, receiving phone calls from parents and kids about what prep options to choose—giving them the range of options, counselling them, reassuring them about our classes and materials. Then at that point you would move to outside sales, where you would set up meetings with principals and school administrators to try and place our products in their schools. So what we’ll do is we will hold your candidacy under consideration and if you are interested I’d be happy to forward your information along to our teaching division. What we do is we pool our candidates on a weekly basis and we see based on these interviews and your CV who is the best fit and most qualified to move forward. Then if you are selected we will recontact you within a week’s time to meet with our recruiting manager, Katherine.” Where is it that people learn to speak like this?
When I returned from a brief refresher in Joshua Tree two days later, the following muddle of corporate speech and bureaucratic pleasantry was waiting in my inbox:
Hello Rowan,
Thank you for taking the time to attend our open interview session. We appreciate your interest in Revolution Prep and though your background is impressive, we have decided to move forward with other candidates who more closely match our current needs.
We wish you luck in your job search and continued success in your career.
Thank you again for your time and interest.
Sincerely,
Katherine Warner, Recruiting Manager
