another interview, sort of

A prestigious midtown address. An energetic office.  Women in expensive suits, fabulous furs and Louboutins.  This real estate company is professional and one of the country’s largest. Its beautiful design and large space suggests money.  Lots of it.

I arrive a few minutes early and the assistant to the woman (I’ll call her Jane) I’m seeing offers me tea and tells me Jane will be available soon. She hands me an impressive pamphlet with many one-pagers about Jane’s accomplishments and her uber team.  This is an immensely successful group.  It even has its own marketer and graphic designer.  And, everyone in the group is experienced and multi-lingual, equipped to handle international clients. I realize then that Jane is seeing me as a courtesy, not as a potential hire.

Thirty minutes past our meeting time, a rushed and stunningly dressed Jane emerges.  “I’m sorry I’m late.  But let’s get started; I only have a few minutes and then I have a Board meeting.”  I had contacted her.  I know her by reputation (she’s one of this city’s top salespeople), and by the fact that our children went to the same elementary school. We met a few times many years ago.

Jane is all business; there is no chitchat.  I’m not even sure she remembers me.  Probably not.  She begins by telling me she is not hiring.  “Everyone on my team speaks several languages.”  She also tells me that inventory is down 40% (I don’t ask from when as it doesn’t seem to matter).  She adds that business is very tough, ridiculously competitive, and no one has time to train.  (I don’t ask the obvious:  if inventory is down, doesn’t that mean business is slow, and then doesn’t that free up people to train others?). 

She tells me she’d be happy to make an introduction to someone else in her firm who maybe would interview me.  But she also tells me that new hires, without experience, usually come with a strong rolodex. “Do you have one?” I tell her I don’t.

In the course of our very brief conversation, I tell her I recently met with someone at company X and they are willing to take me on.  She says, “They hire everyone.  But that’s a good firm to start with.  They usually do studios and one-bedrooms,” implying — not townhouses and four-bedrooms like my group does.

Our meeting is over in fifteen minutes. I feel like I’ve just come from an interview with the admissions director at Harvard who tells me I’d be a good fit with DeVry.