I was thinking today about the order of interviews. I guess there is no reason that the Board could not have announced the order of candidate interviews, but perhaps they had one.
If you were one of three finalists for the position, would you want to be first? second? last?
In the world of sales, a strong salesman would want to make his sales presentation last. He'd want to be closest to the decision time. If he made a real zinger of a presentation and had a strong product or service, he might just get the nod; i.e., the Yes.
I always wanted to be last. But the risk is that the deck could be stacked, and a decision might get made before I got my time at bat.
I recall a time when I was first. I was in Denver and a regional stock brokerage firm advertised for a person who would train their stockbrokers to sell life insurance. The ad was in the newspaper on Sunday and looked legit. I called at 8:30AM on Monday and arranged a 1:00PM appointment with the VP.
I arrived at 12:45PM and he hadn't returned yet from lunch. When he did, he greeted me and motioned for me to follow him into his office. As he went through the doorway, he held his hand out and asked for my resume.
"I didn't bring one," I said.
He asked why not, and I told him that I didn't know if I wanted the job, adding, "In five minutes I'll know if I want the job and you'll know if you want to see a resume." Pretty bold, eh?
An hour and 45 minutes later, he looked at his watch and asked me to bring him a resume.
I wrote him a five-page proposal on why he should hire me. I had all the information I needed to sell him on my being everything he was looking for.
I called him a few days later and learned that he liked what I had given him, so I asked him for the job. He told me he had promised his boss in Kansas City to interview for two weeks. I suggested he give me the job; that would solve both our needs. And then tell his boss in two weeks that he had found the perfect hire. He wouldn't do it.
Two months later I found out that his company had not approved hiring anyone and had not funded the position. They were just testing the waters to find out what was available.
Two years later I wrote to him and thanked him for not hiring me. I was sincere. I meant it. I had finally broken free of being an insurance salesman! That was 1987. Free at last!!!
