Wow....this was a really interesting read.
So - what I did was this: I called my old boss and said "I need half of a personal day." He responded with "What, do you have a job interview?"
Was a tough spot to be in. I had to lie and tell him 'no,' but that's because it would have been an immediate death sentence if I said yes. I told him it was "personal" and I didn't feel comfortable going into details. That seemed to be ok.
So - once I got up to Santa Fe, my job interview was neat. I wanted to share this now, because my life has changed so drastically (in a positive way) since this interview.
Once I walked into the heavily secured building and talked to the receptionist, I was lead into a fancy room that was called "The Red Room," with all red furniture, oriental artwork all over the walls, and a giant Hookah sitting in the corner. I thought it was a lamp at first, until I saw all the hoses....so weird.
Well, my future boss walked in with a very defined purpose. He was obviously a very busy man, and had just come from something pretty stressful. He reached into hit pocked, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and asked me if I wanted one.
"No thanks, I have my own," I said. Then it blew my mind, I figured we would be walking outside to smoke instead of starting the interview, but instead, he lit his cigarette up right there, and handed me an ashtray and a match.
Whoa....this place is unique...
So, about an hour later, we finished up our part of the interview, and he said he wanted t introduce me to the IT team (at that time, everyone was still IT, not IM). I met everyone on the team, and my future Boss's Boss talked to me in an office for a bit, as a mini-second interview. That went really well also, and we then proceeded to go to talk to the Senior Director of IT, and he suggested they take me out to lunch, and then have me meet with HR.
Well, I knew I had the job at this point, so I was enjoying this. We went out to lunch, and we talked about a lot of different, non-work related things over Green Chile Cheeseburgers and a beer. Wicked cool. Conversation topics spanned: Motorcycles, Flying (my future boss wanted to be a pilot, and being from South Africa, he had a lot of friends that were), Chicks, Beer, and a few other things.
This was, by far, the most relaxing and laid back interview I had ever been on. I should note that my suit was overkill, since everyone was wearing jeans and t-shirts.
Well, after the entire experience, it was like 2:30 or 3:00, and I still had an hour drive back to Albuquerque. Ooops....the day went a lot longer than I planned. I returned to my old job and my old office at about 4:00, stuck around for an hour or two, and went home. My old boss never went into the office that day, so he never knew whether I was there or not. Oh well.
I got a call and an offer about 4 or 5 days later, and I accepted.
And that, my friends, is how I wound up on a crazy ride that took me to North Carolina and through an acquisition in which I am one of the only two people from the old office that survived. That's a really good story too, but I don't think anyone really wants to hear it right now...something tells me no one cares about "How Nick became successful." lol.
