Adventures in Job Hunting: Bo.oz All.en Hamil.ton
Atlanta, GA
08:00 Make way to Airport after spending time with GAM
08:30 Arrive at airport, handle check in, make way to gate
917:00 Purchase Wicked by Gregory Maguire for reading entertainment
9:32 Get a sausage biscuit from a vendor near the gate and indulge
9:48 Board plane and hope no on sits next to me
9:54 Notice dude setteling into a seat one away from me…briefly wonder if he’s a Bo.oz Al.len Employee…or if anyone on the flight is for that matter
10:00 Plane takes off
10:08 Attempt to read, but decide to sleep instead…it had been a long night (see 08:00 entry) 0;)
Washington Dulles Airport, VA
11:50 Arrive at Dulles airport and make way to baggage claim
11:58 Notice my seatmate standing nearby, and what looks like a Bo.oz All.en tag now apparent on his carry on
11:58:03 Think “Frick…I could have been talking to him the whole time!!!”
11:58:18 Edge closer to confirm that it is indeed a Booz Allen Tag…it is
11:59 Gather up the courage to speak…my Prophytes didn’t name me Carpe Diem for nothing
12:00 Tap dude on the shoulder…
Hello sir, I sat next to you on the plane right? I just noticed the Bo.oz Alle.n tag on your bag, do you work there?
Dude: Yeah I do..
Me: Oh okay, hello! My name is KaNisa [last name]. I’m interviewing there later today.
Dude: Oh okay.
Me: Are you a consultant there?
Dude: [tells me he does internal work and that he’d just attended a conference in Atlanta.] What position are you applying for?
ME: Well actually, I’m not sure. I was invited for an IT Invitational, so I’m not too sure if there is a specific position they’re trying to fill.
Dude: Oh okay. Well it’ll probably be like a career fair then. The interviews aren’t too bad…in fact they’re really very nice and adamant about finding a good fit for you. How are you getting over to the campus?
Me: I thought I would take a shuttle to the hotel and figure it out from there.
Dude: You should take a taxi. I’m surprised the company didn’t arrange transportation for you (he had a chauffer standing near him). The taxi isn’t bad though…they’re very helpful.
Me: Oh okay thank you for the advice.
Dude: [gives me directions to the taxi area] Good luck on your interview! Maybe I’ll see you later.
Me: Yes sir. Thank you!
12:15 Make my way to the taxi area and commission one to the hotel (a Crowne Plaza…don’t worry they paid)
Mclean, VA
12:40 Arrive at the hotel, and notice the place I would be interviewing is about a block or two down the street. Take a shower, and a nap
14:15 Wake up and get ready for interview
15:10 Make my way down the street to the building
15:15 Arrive in the lobby and wait with the other candidates
Everyone was very friendly. All of the candidates either recently graduated, or were about to in December. I was a little intimidated at first since they were from U Penn, Carnegie Mellon, University of Maryland (booo!) and Virginia Tech (boo) …(boos are rivalries or recently lost football games). But then I thought, hey, I graduated from Georgia Tech…that is not a podunk university…in fact it is #8 according to US News’ public college rankings…which is higher than Virginia Tech AND the University of Maryland. I had every right to be there…and in some areas, more of a right to be there…
15:50 Recruiter comes to retrieve us. We are given passes and led to light refreshments
16:00 I find and talk one of three black people (including me…all were female too). She was an Information Technology major from U Penn. We shared a common bond in that we both used to be Computer Science majors until we found that it was 100% coding…all day long. She was pretty nice…about to graduate in December.
16:15 We are lead into a conference room for an orientation session…panel discussions, Q&A with partners, etc.
17:00 We are unleashed to the “interview fair”
This was an interesting format. About 20 different Bo.oz All.en teams were set up in a large room. Each table had maybe two people…a consultant who was fairly new, and a senior associate who was kind of like the “team leader.”
I was the second candidate through the door and headed straight to my first choice…the User-Centric Team. I chose this team mostly because it aligned best with my design talent…the team was in charge of making layouts for programs, and different types of multimedia from websites to print design and the best part was NO CODING REQUIRED! (That was the developers’ job). The UC team just makes things look pretty.
I went over and introduced myself, and the Senior Associate already knew who I was! He said he’d been to my website, was familiar with my work, and that he was glad I came to see him. I was like hooty hoo (in my head of course). This guy was quite cool. He had a degree in Fine Arts from Florida State and had done some design work for different firms before he came to Bo.oz Al.len. He was really honest too…he’d said he was reluctant to send his resume to the company because they did a lot of government work and seemed to be full of conservative good old boys…but since they hired him, they really let him push the envelope and he’s been there for the past 10 yeas.
In regard to me though, he asked random team fit questions like “what’s in your CD player” (Paul Hardcastle, Motown Artists, smooth Jazz like Dave Koz, Chris Botti, Marc Antonie), what kind of magazines do you read (Vanity Fair, Practical Web design, Computer Arts)…etc.
After going through my portfolio, we actually ended up talking just about design…it’s always nice to talk to someone who knows where you’re coming from with things like that. He told me that I had something that couldn’t be taught, a designer’s eye…and that I was pretty amazing for someone who never had any formal training.
I think we connected pretty well…
We’ll see though…proof of that would be a JOB!
Well this is getting pretty lengthy…I’ll be back with Part II later.
What’s Next?
– A Kappa is a Kappa is a Kappa
– KaNisa, FE.MA, and the War.gaming Team
– Yellow Jackets Unite
– Flying High in the Friendly Sky
