Chapter 9: Mock Interviews

The second weekend of March 2017 was bitterly cold when I met Sarah, James, and Henri at their apartment in Oakland. James was getting ready to drive all of us to Woodland Summer Camp in Wexford for their interview. "Hi, guys!" I greeted my friends. "Hi, Angel!" Sarah greeted back. "You three look nice," I complimented. "Thank you, Angel," Sarah replied. Sarah, James, and Henri wore white dress shirts, black dress pants, and black dress shoes, except for Sarah was wearing a black tank top under her dress shirt. "Are you ready to go with us, Angel?" James asked. "You bet I am, James!" I replied. "I can't wait to see how you guys will do with your interviews." We got in the car and drove up to Wexford. James used his cell phone as a GPS to figure out where he was going and, at the same time, used Spotify to play Maroon 5's 2007 album, It Won't Be Soon Before Long, which was one of our favorite albums by them. "All my CDs were in my other car, but I can use Spotify to play all of my favorite music until I get my CDs back," James explained. "Amazing how your new car looks very much like your old car," Sarah remarked. "Yeah," Henri agreed. "I wish I could drive." Maroon 5's first single from the album, "Makes Me Wonder" was playing. "I love this song," I stated. "Me too," James agreed. "Me three," Sarah agreed. "Me four," Henri agreed. James turned the song up. When we arrived in Wexford, before we went to the interview, James ordered Chinese food for all of us to eat: sweet and sour chicken for James, chicken with broccoli for Sarah, beef lo mein for me, and pork fried rice for Henri. We all got fortune cookies and orange slices with our meals. Then, we arrived at the Woodland Summer Camp office. One of the head directors, Patrick Joyal, was interviewing a young man named Joseph, who was also applying to be a camp counselor. We were all impressed by the quality of Joseph's interview: his personal appearance, his body language, and the quality of his response to the questions. Patrick Joyal also interviewed Henri. I decided to watch Sarah and James do their interviews. Sarah was interviewed by Leia Mortimer, the Administrative Assistant to Programs. I liked the part of the interview where Leia asked Sarah her personal experience with taking care of kids, and Sarah explained how she has been taking care of little kids ever since she became a young teenager in 2002. She mentioned the time she baby-sat Henri and me the summer that James went away, the games we played, the snacks we ate, and how if she were a TSS for a younger child, she would feed them a snack and play a game with them. I felt comforted when she mentioned me, Henri, and some of my other friends, too, like Erica Homeson, Carly Shay, and Alex Russo. Leia thought Sarah's personal appearance, body language, and quality of response to the questions was very good. "When mentioning negatives, you need to try to bring up how you learned from the experience and bring up the positives," Leia pointed out. "And, please stay focused on the questions." "Okay, Leia," Sarah agreed. "I will do that." "Other than that, it sounded like you had great enthusiasm and you knew the job and company well," Leia continued. "Good job!" "Thanks again for the interviewer," Sarah thanked Leia. "You're welcome." James was interviewed by Jesse Solomon, the Director of Programs. I liked the part of the interview where Jesse asked James to describe the house party that he threw when he was 16 years old, as described on his resume that I helped him with. James stated how he was very good at planning events, and could plan out a whole day's schedule of camp activities for everyone to enjoy. I also liked the conflict that he described when working at the Allegheny YMCA back in the summer of 2011 with his group of 7- and 8-year-olds. Jesse thought James's personal appearance, body language, and quality of response to the questions was very good. "Try to share more results from your examples using the SAR technique," Jesse pointed out. "Okay, Jesse," James agreed. "I will do that." "Other than that, good job!" "Thanks again for the interviewer," James thanked Jesse. "You're welcome." After their interviews were done, Sarah, James, and Henri drove me back to my mom's apartment. "I hope you guys get the job," I told my friends. "You would make a great TSS and camp counselor!" "Thank you, Angel," James replied. "I'm sure we will get the job," Sarah agreed. Pretty soon, we arrived at my mom's apartment. "Bye, guys!" I told my friends. "Bye, Angel!" Sarah replied. "Have a good evening!"