Consolidated Graphics

Consolidated Graphics


This was a big week for me. I had three interviews scheduled, starting with Consolidated Graphics. Next was Sherwin Williams (both of which were in Clemson), and then I was to travel to Winston Salem, NC for a two day session with BB&T. As interested I was in all the companies and positions, Consolidated Graphics was first, and on my mind the most.

I found C.G. through the Clemson CareerNet website, and had applied online. I tried to go to their table at the Career Fair earlier in the semester, but I couldn't find their table. Nevertheless, they invited me to come interview with them.

The interview was on a Wednesday at 3:00 PM. I left home and drove up around 1, and got to Clemson with some time to spare. I made sure to overview the company before I left- finding out information about the company' history, its purpose, facts and figures, etc. I knew someone who had interviewed with them before, and he had told me to be weary of some weird characters. I also knew that interviews with graphics companies were somewhat different than regular interviews. My girlfriend is a Graphic Communications major, and she was able to secure a sole position as an intern at a well respected company after a five minute conversation and a follow up email (which I essentially wrote for her). I was ready to find out some more information.

I get to Clemson, put some change in the meter, and head up to the Career Center. After waiting around for about 5 or 10 minutes, the door opens and a young guy invites me in. We walk to a small, empty conference room on the right and sit down. His name is Jason, and he seems like a nice guy. he tells me that he is from Keys Printing, which is owned by Consolidated Graphics, and that he's here hiring for the Leadership Development Program. He goes on to say that he's been with the company for a few months, what kind of company they are, and what type of candidate they're looking for.

I'm listening intently on this description. It's a 3 year rotational program in a printing company where I would spend 1 year on the production/printing floor, 1 year in the business aspect, and then another year in some other area of interest that I find over the first two years. The training would cover all types of printing (web, digital, sheetfed), and the hours would vary. I'm told that I could have a 9-5 one week, and then work 15 10 hour days in a row- it all just depends.

Jason finishes up his initial description, sits back, and asks me if I have any questions. I'm surprised. It hits me that I've been sitting down for maybe a minute and a half. Jason is pretty much done from his end. I don't think he planned on asking any questions. Knowing that I had 30 minutes for this interview, I looked down and tried to compose myself for the questions I wanted to ask. I tried to organize them in my mind so it would take up more time.

I started asking questions, and I could tell the conversation was strained. I always try to make as much eye contact as possible in these interviews. As obvious as it sounds, I feel as though its something that makes a difference. Jason apparently got the same memo. As he talked, he stared right at me without taking a break. I was staring back, and we continued this lock for minutes at a time. I had to momentarily break away because it felt awkward, and then I would feel bad for looking away so I would look back again. This continued several times.

As the "interview" went on, things became more comfortable. We were both smiling and laughing more, and I was getting the information I needed. I noticed an empty seat next to Jason, and he mentioned that his boss was supposed to be here, but wasn't for some reason. I didn't really care.

Towards the end of the interview the door opens. A thin man in his 50's with graying hair walked in with a suitcase. He walked past me, set his briefcase down, looked out the window, and checked his phone. The room is silent. After shuffling with his things, he turns around, introduces himself, and we shake hands. Lets call him Keith.

Keith sits down and asks if I had any questions. Conveniently, I had pretty much just finished up asking all my questions to Jason, so I didn't have much. I asked him what he liked best about working for Consolidated Graphics. He gave me a standard answer, and then turned the conversation towards a different topic.

"I know Jason told you about the position, but I just wanted to tell you that we're really a performance company. We don't tolerate non performers, and we're looking for someone who can put in the hard work and perform."

I nod and say "ok." What else can I say?

"You know this job requires a lot of hard work and we want to make sure we get someone who is willing to put the time in..."

As Keith continued talking, I kept looking at him. Keith was staring at me as he talked about non performers and how much he hated them. There was no smile, no light heartedness about him, and it felt as though he was associated me with a non performer already. I didn't like this. I wanted to change the conversation.

Up to this point things had been going well. There was a positive vibe in the room, and things were coming together nicely. Now, I had Keith ranting about non performers. He was bringing the current conversation, and the entire interview down with him. It was uncomfortable. As he talked, I contemplated making a joke, a side step of sorts. Something to acknowledge that I understood what he was talking about and that we can move on to something else. I thought about it.

Keith was still going, with his stare and his speech, and I thought twice about the joke. I knew what I would say. I'd make a clever quip about printing, something topical that he'd understand. No, I won't do it. Well, why not. I have to get out of this situation.

I waited for a lull in his sentence, and decided to go for it. My joke was supposed to play off the fact that I was interviewing for a printing company. It made sense, he was supposed to get it. He was talking about non performers, and my joke was "Oh what do you do throw them under the press?" It's not stand up worthy, but I felt it was enough to get out of the situation.

I go for it.

I oepn my mouth, and out comes the joke. Except, it came out low and mumbled. I have a habit of mumbling sometimes, and my hesitation must have added to that. The room falls silent. Jason and Keith look at me.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Damn, I'm thinking. Jokes are only funny the first time. So I go to say it again, because I can't just give up.

So I go to say it again, except this time I mess up the first 5 or 6 words of the joke to the point that they come out as gibberish. It sounded something like this "Oh whsyd uuhd eww joo tghrow them under the press?" Apprently my tounge got in the way, and my nervousness about getting the joke right made me mess it up even more. I was horrified.

Dead silence.

Keith and Jason look at me. Keith speaks.

"What?"

I'm freaking out.

I realize that I royally fucked up. I tried the same joke twice, and messed it up twice. I have one of two options now. I can either say "nevermind," roll up into a ball and leave. Or I can be triumphant, I can say it again and finally get my point across. So I go for it one more time.

This time I get all the words correct. Except I say it much louder than I intended, and I said it with no hint of humor at all. Keith looks at me, gives me a half smile, looks at Jason and says "yeah."

After that the interview was pretty much over. I tried to mend the irrevocable damage I had just inflicted, but it seemed futile. I got some business cards, shook some hands and left very shortly thereafter, knowing that whatever chances I had were ruined by at least the second time I told my joke. I got in my car, left campus, and tried not to reflect on whatever the hell i was trying to say.

I have yet to hear anything back from them, and I doubt I will. I ran myself through the press.

The Home Mag

The Home Mag- some time in late June/early July


As I was searching through some indeed.com search results of "sales and marketing," I came across an interesting opportunity. It was for a company called The Home Mag, a home improvement magazine dedicated to being "all about the home." They were hiring for a sales position, and were looking for a motivated, outgoing individual who wants to earn a lot of money. I can do that. I read over the description, trying to make sure it was something that I wanted. It claimed that I would have either a set territory, or one that I can choose on my own. It sounded alright, and I felt like I wanted to make my "quota" for the day at around 4 or 5 applications, so I applied. No harm, no foul.

The next day around 3:00 PM I get a call from a guy named...lets say Chase. I miss the call, call him back, and we end up playing phone tag for a bit. Finally around 4:00 I get him on the phone. He seems very happy to talk to me, and wanted to just have a quick initial interview before me coming in. So we get o the phone, and he tells me he went to South Carolina. I joke with him a bit, and after a minute or two we start to talk business. His associate, James is on the conference call as well, so I acknowledge him and they start asking me some questions. Let me state that I have since forgotten both of their real names, and as James said his name over the conference call I swear I could see the words fly out my other ear and become lost forever. All I knew was Chase. The interview was nothing big, just what I want to do, if I'm really interested in the job, etc. We chat for about 10 or 15 minutes, and I convince them that they should bring me in for an interview. We set the date for two days later (Wednesday) at 1:00 PM. I get moderately excited.

Wednesday comes and I'm preparing for my interview. I hop onto their website and start looking around. Apparently the company is in several other cities, and they are opening up an office here in Atlanta, and want to start staffing their company. The website is vague, and doesn't really give me a great sense of what the company is and what they do. All I know is that they're looking for outside salespeople who are motivated, and that the magazine is dedicated solely to the home.

I get on the highway and make it to the downtown/Buckhead area with relative ease. I allowed for a lot of time just in case of traffic or if I got lost, none of which happened surprisingly. I reach the building and sit in my car overviewing some of the questions I'm going to ask and reviewing the company information before I forget it. At about 12:40 I get out, put on my jacket (start seating immediately), and head inside the building. I ask one of the security guards what floor The Home mag is one and he tells me. I get on the elevator and head to the top.

The elevator comes to a rest at the 14th floor. I step out, turn right and walk into one of the nicest reception/waiting areas I've ever interviewed at. The floor is a beautiful dark hardwood, with beige colored walls contrasting nicely with the sharp crown molding that seemed to cover every edge and corner perfectly. Black leather covered the futuristic chairs, and a broad receptionists desk sat in the middle. It looked, convincingly and appropriately, like a home.

I approached the secretary and told her who I was. She told me to just have a seat and Chase would be right with me. so I sat. I knew I was early, and figured I could keep refreshing my mind as to the pertinent information that I thought I needed to know. Ten minutes go by. Fifteen minutes go by. Twenty minutes go by and by this time I feel like I've been waiting a lifetime. My hands (although I am not necessarily nervous) are in a state of continual moistness, and I'm read for them to shake something other than my pants to dry them.

At 1:05 Chase comes off the elevator and walks in. He is a big, broad black man with a bald head and a dark colored suit on. He gives me a big grin and introduces himself to me. He tells me that he has to go get his things together and that he'll be ready for me soon. "Good," I'm thinking "I've been ready for you." About 5-10 minutes goes by, and his office door finally opens.

Chase walks out and invites me in, giving me a strong handshake as I cross the doorway and into the conference room. The room is a fairly boxy shape, with the door in front, two walls on the left and right, and a window as the third wall facing me as I walk in. There is a long rectangular conference table with a lot of chairs around it located in the middle. Chase has me sit at the end of the table, facing the window. He sits on my left, and as I look over I see who I can only assume is James sitting on my right. I introduce myself to him, and at the time I completely forgot his name. I was hoping he would mention it again as I shook his hand, but to no avail.

James was a middle aged, balding white man who hunched over the table and took on a look that resembled Dick Cheney. While Chase was thanking me for coming, I noticed that James just looked at his papers and didn't say much. We got to some rapport building (did you find the place alright? It sure is hot outside! No, its not too far of a drive form my house) before we got underway. Chase started in.

"Ok Steven, what we want to do today is just find out more about you and decide if you're going to be a good fit with our company. I'm going to ask you some questions and just give me a response, ok?

"Ok, sounds good" I say.

Chase begins with the usual barrage of questions- how I heard about the job, what attracted me to it, what I did in college, what I wanted out of a job, etc. He asked his questions not in an inquisitive way but as though he was challenging me to say the right thing to him. I was trying to be confident in a room where the most interesting thing was the view form the window. He was especially interested about me selling tiger paws, which I mistakenly tried to sell myself on during the initial phone interview. It was something I did for a few months, and most of the sales I claimed to have made were made by the pledges whom I had delegated my powers to. Still, I made a few.

"So tell me about you selling these tiger paws."

"Well, my fraternity received the rights to paint tiger paws back in 1970, and when I came into the organization it was one of our traditions, but not something we proactively engaged in. I took it upon myself to go around to local businesses and try to sell some of these tiger paws to help get better community relations."

"And did you enjoy going door to door?"

"Yeah it wasn't that bad. It was something that I was interested in, and I wanted to stay as involved as possible within the fraternity and the school as well."

"So how do you think that experience relates to this job?"

"Um, well.." and I proceed to give him a synopsis of how the classes I took gave me an understanding of the business environment and how I feel that I am good with people and that I liked the feeling of a sale. I finished, and the room unfortunately remained silent.

At this point in the interview I was clearly stuck in the middle, in a rut. I was sitting between Chase on my left, and James on my right. Chas asked the questions, and I looked at him first while answering, then I would have to move my body and turn to the right and look at James, who never took his head or eyes away from the desk. In front of me the gorgeous Atlanta landscape sprawled out before me, making me momentarily lose my train of thought almost every time. So I was continually shifting, and each turn of the head required me to look at only one person at a time, in opposite directions.

Chase sat back in his chair and asked if I had any questions for him. I did. I asked him to give me a more detailed overview of the job. He proceeded to tell me that The Home Mag was a purely advertising magazine dedicated to the home, and that my job would be to go door to door and try to get people to advertise with the magazine. There were no articles, nothing special other than it was a magazine filled with advertisements. This was a brand new market, and I would be given a county to canvass, or just a general geographic area. The work was all outside, and it literally required that I work extremely long hours, especially some on the weekends to get the sales. I would get a base salary, and a commissions as a percentage of the cost of the advertisement I was selling. When I heard this job description, I mentally blanked out. I didn't want to be a door to door salesman, even it was door to door business. I especially didn't want to do it in downtown Atlanta, where I had just as much of a chance of being mugged as I was getting a sale.

I asked Chase a few more question regarding the specifics of the position, trying to act interested even though I wasn't as much at this point. He had just answered one when he leaned forward and looked at James. Miraculously James found the strength to pick his head up and look at Chase, and they locked eyes for a moment. Then James put his head back down. I wanted to leave. I wanted to get out and not return. This job could be done by a high school dropout. Then Chase spoke.

"Steven, try to help me out here. I just don't believe you want this job, and you haven't convinced me that I should even consider you for it. I want you to convince me that I should hire you. Go ahead."

I had nothing to say for about a good 10 seconds. What a ballsy way to phrase something. What a douche. Sorry that I haven't gotten on my knees yet, I was saving that for the second interview. I couldn't believe he phrased it in that way, and I really didn't want to muster the mental energy to have to answer it. So I formulated a nice heaping pile of crap to feed him and started my response. He stopped me halfway through it and said "No, I want you to convince me. Don't tell me you're a hard worker and that you're competitive, give me something else." So I fed him my reliable line of how this would be my first job and that I would give it 110% of my effort because I want to put into use the skills that I've learned over the past four years. I waited for his answer.

He either liked the new pile I gave him, or he got tired of hearing me talk. What I do know is that I wanted to leave. Chase sat back again and James continued concentrating on the table, and he asked if I had any more questions for him. Thankfully I didn't care enough to ask any more, and I told him no. Then I asked for their cards, and since they didn't have any, they told me their email addresses. Chase went first, and then I swiveled over to James. Remember that at this point I had no clue of what James' name was. I asked for his email, and he gave it to me, which provided me no clues. We all stood up, and they said they were talking to some other candidates and that they would get back to me. I shook their hands, thanked them for wasting...taking the time to speak with me, and I left.

I got home about 45 minutes later and contemplated whether or not I wanted to send them emails thanking them for speaking with me and to reiterate my interest. I decided not to even send it, because I had absolutely no interest in the position, the company, or the managers. Almost a waste of time if it weren't for the story. I never heard a reply back from them, but if you listen closely, you may still be able to hear the faint knock of a door to door salesperson somewhere in Atlanta.