A job interview at the University of Pennsylvania that never happened

So you would think people who work in a college career center who know better.  I had sent a resume for a job at the University of Pennsylvania's career services office. A few weeks later I received a call to schedule an interview. When the day arrived I used vacation time and drove two hours to Philadelphia. I parked and got to the career services office about ten minutes before the scheduled interview. However there was no receptionist, and I noticed that the staff members had offices beyond a partition; there was a waiting room for the students.  So I stood there for a minute, contemplating what to do, when an older lady appeared from the rear area. She introduced herself as one of the members of the career staff, with a smile and a British accent, and said that members of the search committee would be with me in a few minutes. Then she disappeared back behind the partition.

So I sat in a chair in the waiting room. And I waited. And waited, And waited some more. About 20 minutes past the scheduled interview time the British lady came to the reception area, saw me, and frowned.

"They didn't come out yet?" she asked.

"Um, no," I replied. I remained polite and smiled, trying to look upbeat.

"Let me go see what's going on," she said, and disappeared back behind the partition.

I sat and waited another 15 minutes. I had nowhere else to go, so I figured I see this through to the end.

The British lady appeared again.  "You're still waiting?" She looked somewhat perplexed.

"Yes."  I wasn't sure what else to say.

"Okay. I'll be right back."  She scurried back to behind the mysterious partition.  Interestingly, there weren't any students in the waiting room. I did see students walking in the hallway outside the office.

I sat there and waited another 20 minutes. Now it's nearly one hour past the scheduled interview time. I think to myself, time to take the hint. I walk out and back to my car and drive the two hours home. A total waste of time, not to mention a wasted vacation day.

In retrospect, if I had the chance to do things again, I would have walked back there behind the partition and asked everyone what the hell is going on.  Then I would have left.  For some reason I was just too polite in those days.

Interestingly, a year later I saw an ad for the same job at the same career center. I sent in my resume, and a few weeks later received a call from the British lady about scheduling an interview.

"You don't remember me, do you?" I said.  "A year ago I was there for an interview for the same job, but I waited for an hour, and no one came out to interview me.  No one even came out to apologize or tell me what was going on."

"Oh," the British lady said. "Well, we're more organized now."

So I pretended to be cheery and scheduled the interview for the next week. Of course, I didn't go, nor did I call them to cancel.  I doubt if anyone there cared, though.

I'm better off, probably. I would have to move down to Philadelphia for a job that had a salary that was only minimally higher than what I was making in the job I had at the time.  So in this case things worked out for me.

Still, the world would be a better place if people treated job candidates with more respect. Especially at a college career center. And a place like the University of Pennsylvania, which is supposed to a leader in the field.

Rutgers athletic director Hermann is a joke

I’ve always wondered how some people who work at colleges get their jobs. It just cannot be because they are the most qualified for the position. I find it hard to believe that some of these folks interviewed the best, as well.

Case in point would be the Rutgers University athletic director, Julie Hermann. Here is someone who holds an important, high level job at a university, and she speaks to a journalism class and says that it would be “great” if the Star Ledger, New Jersey’s largest newspaper, were to “die.”

Isn’t that kind of a stupid thing to say to a class full of journalism students?

And this person is an athletic director at a major university? How could she not know better?

It’s typical for college administrators to blame the media for the problems they create and problems that, despite their advanced degrees, they can’t seem to figure out how to solve.

Instead of blaming reporters who merely cover the news or columnists who express an opinion, college administrators would be better off spending their time working on improving their campus.

Rutgers’ athletic program could use a leader who is looking out for its interests, not her own.  Rather than complaining about newspaper coverage, maybe college administrators can look at the causes of the negative news. And then do their jobs by fixing the problems.

A job interview at Seton Hall University

My last job search article discussed an incident that happened on an interview with a company in the private sector, Goldman Sachs. But I had some odd experiences while interviewing for jobs at colleges. (Oh, and “universities.” Excuse me for that major oversight).

Once I went to an interview at Seton Hall University Law School, and met with a committee of four people. So when I walked into the room each person introduced himself or herself and held out their hand. I smiled as I gave each person a firm handshake.

Unfortunately I grimaced when I clasped the last woman’s hand. Her hand was greasy. She must have just smeared it with some sort of hand lotion, before I entered the room. Now my hand was covered with whatever this oily slime was. Afterward I wondered if this was her, or the committee’s way of trying to trip up a candidate. A stress test of some sort? A clever way to see how someone would react to adversity? Perhaps it was a signal that if I got the job I would have to “grease palms” in order to get ahead in the organization?

Or maybe the woman was just a moron. Even with all their degrees some people who work in higher education are pretty strange.

They asked me a couple of questions, the asked me if I had any questions. I asked one and had a few more prepared but one guy with an unkempt beard (must have been a sleazy lawyer before landing his cushy job at the law school) abruptly thanked me for coming and stood up.

Needless to say I didn’t shake anyone’s hand as I left. I didn’t bother to send a thank you note either. I decided I didn’t want the job. I guess some lawyers really are slimy, literally.

Donald Trump is right to not shake anyone’s hand. Smart man…