Alarming Job Interview

by Elizabeth
(Madison, WI, USA)

When I was just out of college, I worked as a temp. I was assigned a position in a huge building for a major company for 2 weeks. While on that assignment, I saw a posting for a permanent job with the company as an administrative assistant.

I called and arranged to have an interview over my lunch break the next day (it would be in the same building as my assignment).

I had to take an elevator down to the lobby, cross to the other side, and take an elevator up to the top floor of the other side of the tower. Immediately after the interview began, an alarm went off, and a recorded voice told everyone to go to the stairwell and go down 3 flights and await instructions. This happened over and over again until we were finally on the ground floor. The interview had been on the 30th floor of the building, so we had to do it in 10 stages.

There had apparently been a pipe burst that was flooding the elevators and they were evacuating the building while they got it fixed.

We had to reschedule the interview for the next day, and I went back to work. The next day, I returned for the interview, and the interviewer was effusive with praise for how I'd handled myself the day before during the alarm/evacuation of the building. My experience wasn't quite what they needed, so I didn't get the job, but the interviewer praised me up and down and said she'd love to have me work there. I learned that day that handling stress well during an interview can go a long way to help you make a good impression on the employer.