Post #3-
In Person Interview (February 2016)
Chicago: The trip there, the stay, the interview, and being stuck in the airport on the way home
On the evening of Tuesday, February 2, 2016 I flew to Chicago- solo. This was an evening of firsts including one that probably no one else would care care about but OH MY GOODNESS I did something crazy.
I upgraded to first class. Seat 3A. Window and aisle seat!
See how close I am to the front of the plane? I was in a single isle, with extra wide seats, and the best part is that I kept surprising myself when I could stretch my legs and they kept going!
$50 on American Airlines SO WORTH IT. (And I could have checked two bags as part of the cost!)
This was the first time I have been in the Chicago O'Hare International Airport. When we travel to Chicago we usually take the train because it is fun AND often cheaper. So, navigating when I landed was a bit nuts. I have been in a lot of airports: KC, MO (KCI) , Lambert-St. Louis, Dallas/Fort Worth, Atlanta, Boston, D.C., Charlotte Douglas (NC), Phoenix (AZ), New Orleans (LA), and San Antonio (TX). (I am probably leaving something out). My favorite is Dallas/Ft. Worth and Chicago is definitely NOT on my favorite list.
I finally managed to find a pick up place at the airport, and I had my "second first" for the day--calling an Uber ride. I previously downloaded the app and when I set my destination I had a driver "ding in" within five seconds.
It took him 7 minutes to get there and I knew who was picking me up. In fact, within a minute of him accepting my request he called me to double check my location and to let me know he was on the way. The app is pretty neat. I was able to watch his car move on the map and I knew where he was and when he arrived. Unfortunately, he did not arrive for real, just on the map! He called me and told me he was in the blue car and was flashing his lights. I did not see a blue car or one with flashing lights. He quickly figured out that I was on the wrong level so he waiting while I went back in, found and escalator up a level, there he was standing out side the car ready to take my luggage.
No cash was exchanged. I just paid through my phone and it was about $18 cheaper than what a taxi would have been.
My meeting and interview was the next morning at The Hotel Public in Chicago. That was $140 a night. I had previously done a search to find a hotel near my interview that was half the cost (really less) and only a three minute walk (I got their faster because it was a bit cold outside).
I am all about advertising a place that treated me well. The front desk put me in a room away from the elevator and not facing the main street--I told her that I needed some good sleep. I didn't get to the hotel until about 11:30 p.m. that night and I was exhausted. For $60 I was amazed at the space, cleanliness, quiet and upscale atmosphere and the fact that I did not spend $140 to stay in the interview hotel.
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| Comfortable King |
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| If I were staying here more than one night the sitting area would have been extra nice! |
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| There was even a huge space between the sleeping and sitting area and the restroom. |
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| The extra space was loaded with extras. |
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Nice roomy shower which is not typical for a downtown Chicago hotel room; they usually have showers but then I have never had one that had so much room!
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Lucky me! I had a solid six hours and woke up very refreshed. I was showered, dressed, and ready by 7:35 and walked over and checked in before 7:45. MY ONLY glitch was that I forgot my brush. Yep, I had to blow dry my hair and use my fingers but amazingly had a good hair day (I forgot to take a photo--I forget about the selfies).
THE MEETING/INTERVIEW
There were a good handful of us there. Here is the funny part. I feel like ALMOST everyone was dressed in black and wearing tailored suite jackets. I was going to wear a skirt because I have been wearing skirts a lot to work, but the advice said to wear slacks so I did. HOWEVER, I did not wear black. I bought an awesome blue, long cardigan, just for this interview (and I have been wanting one)--and guess what? Yes, it has sparkles in it and I love it. I was the only one who looked comfortable. That could be my demise or maybe they just don't care. For all I know, they thought I was a slob.
We had a SKYPE meeting where the Abu Dhabi Education Council went over some basic expectations. That was easy. There was nothing new. I had already done enough research that it was just me validating and signing off and I agreed to the terms. I could tell they were really stressing for people to make the right decision. They want us to be able to finish our three year contract and get our bonus in the end which equals three months of pay in a lump sum- $15-$16K- pretty nice.
They verified that one must be willing to drive and basically that is why they pay us a bit extra compared to other countries. They know we will have to lease or buy a car (and in the UAE your car purchase cannot be longer than the contract time so you know the payments are higher). The nice thing is that people go in and out of the country so much, used cars are like new (not to mention one of the past times is going to malls and letting someone wash your car for $5.00 while you shop).
Also, they ask that if you cannot make it the three years to PLEASE at least finish your current year. Yikes, I cannot imagine leaving a class in the middle of a year.
We then waited to be called for our in-person interview. IRONY IRONY IRONY I flew to Chicago to have an "in-person" interview over Skype. Yep, I flew to Chicago to have an Skype interview-I just have to keep saying that. I hope they take that investment into consideration. If you are going to buy an airplane ticket and get a hotel for a night for a Skype interview--there has to be a high level of commitment! Well, at least in my case if they knew how cheap I really am.
There were five rooms of interviews with about 5-8 people people per room for teachers but we did not go in at the same time. I was number three for the Cycle 3 (HS) English teachers. People in the first and second turns were coming out a bit shaken. They were saying that they were getting "weird" questions that were too hard to answer because you couldn't tell what they were looking for. I was quite alarmed to see so many confident people coming out not feeling good about their interview, so I had no idea what to expect but after the "incident" I decided that I was going to own my interview!
The incident? I decided that I was going to wear my leggings under my slacks to help keep out the Chicago cold. What I didn't expect was what it would do to my pants.
After I had talked to some people around me, I kind of went into my daze; into my head thinking about possible interview questions. Someone came over to me and asked me if I was Shannon and I said "yes" with a question mark. She was sent over to ask me by another person, who wasn't sure but was trying to figure out some of our Google Plus community people. I hadn't even thought about it. That is how introverted I am! I am glad that she sent someone over to find out about me.
While we were standing around talking I kept feeling something happening with my pants but couldn't quite figure it out. I walked back over to my seat AND DOWN THEY WENT! Yes, my pants rolled right down and I reached down and pulled them up like nothing happened. Lucky for me I had my long cardigan on and it pretty much hid the incident and of course my leggings which were the same color of my pants. Well, if anyone saw it, and reads this, don't tell me!
At that point I was like...there's my bad luck...hopefully the interview itself will go better!
It was finally my turn to go in and it was 9:45 a.m. I went into the room and was surprised to find a huge television with a man sitting on the screen. I thought there were going to be people in the room asking me some "in-person" questions hence the term "in-person" interview. Nope. It was a man. He was really nice. And then another man joined him with a Scottish accent. They were both very easy to talk to. I quickly located where the camera actually was and kept making sure I was looking into and not at the screen. I noticed that it was hard to not look at myself in the little box on the screen and there was some feedback where I could hear my voice echo. I quickly blocked it out and just talked like they were in the room with me.
I did not get ANY weird questions. They validated my information. They did ask me what my religion was and I answered: Christian. And they didn't want further information about it.
All of my questions were related to my classroom strategies, how I assess students, how I use the information to inform instruction, etc. I have a feeling when I answered one question they asked, I actually answered three or four of their other questions because there was a lot of nodding and they would look at each other and mark stuff off their list.
I felt like I answered everything well. There were some things that I wished I would have added more details to but that goes with every interview. Hindsight 20/20 always kicks in as soon as I walk out of the room.
I turned in a USB port that had my updated scanned documents: reference letter from my current supervisor; copies of my highest degree, marriage license (yes, I have to prove I am married to the man I bring with me), copy of my lovely passport (that I recently received), two page resume, teaching license, medical history form, Introduction Statement (really just a form that gives a little information about my parents, spouse, travel history), and my passport photo.
Today I received my statement saying that my fingerprints cleared and that I am "negative"--that is a good thing. I have slowly been receiving letters from past employers verifying my experience, and now I have to get my documents authenticated through the state and the UAE embassy so I qualify for a work visa.
Really, what I need is an e-mail with their decision, so I know how to move forward. I do have contingency plans because I cannot put all of my eggs in one basket. I will not discuss that unless it is necessary.
So that is where I am. Waiting. Again. As I am writing this it is the UAE's Day off. Their Monday is our Sunday. I could hear something as early as tomorrow. However, I have never had anyone move quickly when it came to HR decisions.
AIRPORT on the way back.
At 10:25 a.m. I stepped outside The Public Chicago. It was cold but not freezing. I decided to head back to the airport and see about getting an earlier flight. You see my flight was set for 10:05 p.m. Can you believe that? They told us to not book a flight home before 4:00 and to be flexible with our day. I was hopeful that maybe they had it set up to do multiple interviews and they would just cut or SOMETHING that would keep us there until 4:00, and then I gave myself time to get dinner and work through traffic (one cannot be too safe).
Well, that is not true. I pushed my Uber button for my ride to the airport. The second driver tried to talk to me but I wasn't in the mood- at least he was nice but his car stank. That is something that can put me in a sour mood. I don't feel like smelling stale smoke. My first driver had a good smelling car. Too bad they didn't have selections on the Uber app where you could pick a good smelling car. They let you choose car sizes--I think they need to upgrade their options!
Anyhow, I was in the airport, checked in (yes, first class again--it is going to be hard to down grade), through security an putting my shoes back on by 12:30 p.m. Since I upgraded I could also check two bags (can you believe that I could check two bags for free cheaper on an upgrade than what it would cost to do a regular two bag check?) I took advantage of checking my one carry-on so I wouldn't have to drag it around the airport. I went to put myself on the standby lists (there were three planes before mine) but I was DOWN the list. There were others before me trying to get back to Kansas City.
I spent over 10 hours in the airport. I sat in a bazillion different places. I looked in every bathroom. I walked a lot. I found every route in my terminal. I stepped in every shop. I bought a lot of water. I finally took off my socks. As I was walking by the same sign I had passed over and over it dawned on me that all day I thought it was a sign for a barfing station; yes, a place for people to throw up.
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| Not a barfing station sign after all. Water fountain. It never occurred to me that there would be a sign for a water fountain! But now that I have had time to think about it, I will probably rely on signs in the future when I get a chance to travel overseas. |
9:00 p.m. came and my flight was delayed. It was then delayed again. And then again. By the third delay of going from 10:05 p.m. to 11:30, I decided that I was not going to be able to function at work, so I started making lesson plans for my first and second block. I figured if I got to bed by three in the morning, I could get to work at 10:30 a.m. and get through the second half of my day. Luckily that worked out well for me!
I traipsed into work, just in time for my newspaper class, wearing my cardigan and leggings but this time it was with a skirt--no pants were going to roll down today.
My next update will be the outcome of my "in person" interview".
Dr. Shannon Rennaker, educator
