Contiki Holidays

So, I was a bit nervous to post this as it regards me going on an interview while I'm currently employed. However, my two good friends, Aimee and Elizabeth, gave me such good feedback regarding the detailed-ness of this email I sent them, that I thought I would share it with the world.
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The Contiki interview was held in Anaheim, California. They did not cover airfare or meals, just offered a free (shared) hotel room one night. I decided I wanted a private room and paid for everything myself. I went for two nights (Mon and Tues). The interview was on Tues and Wed during the day. Anaheim is beautiful! It's like Phoenix but with bigger palm trees and the ocean (the way the palm leaves fan out so wide it's as if you're looking at green fireworks explode)!

There were five of us interviewing while I was there. Walking into the lobby of the Contiki office building, three of the other applicants were already there sitting down. There was one seat left for me and the last girl, when she showed up, was left standing. I swear, it was like walking onto the set of the first day in the Real World house! Everyone is interviewing because they are friendly and outgoing so of course we were all BFF in like 2 minutes.

The first thing we did was learn about Contiki and who they typically serve. Also, the pay...which is ridiculous if you're a professional with a mortgage. You earn minimum wage, tips, and make commission off of selling the optional excursions. This is great if you are straight out of college or are still living with mom/dad/roommate. So, no health or retirement either. After listening to the company info, it was our turn to present.

I volunteered to go first. We had to give a 10 minute presentation on a pre-assigned topic. My topic was Santa Barbara. We had to hold a microphone to show we were comfortable with that. I was nervous but apparently "smile-y" as one of the girls put it later on. I included info in both miles/kms and inches/centimeters for the fake international travelers in the audience. I told them about the history, things to do, places to shop and eat.

The second girl to present was okay (she was a communications major). Her laugh seemed fake and she came off as somewhat insincere. The third girl was so freaking nervous! She started off strong but she melted into a pool of nerves. She had to stop twice, drop the mike, and run over to her chair to get a drink of water because she hadn't carried her water over to where she was speaking. The fourth person was a guy and he talked about San Francisco except that he got tied up in talking about how Italian San Fran is and how he's Italian. It was like the Italian version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding (everything Greek is so wonderful)! Plus, he got cut off by the supervisor at 13 minutes. The last girl to go was really good. She talked about Lake Tahoe and gave good examples of how to visualize how big the lake is. She didn't seem nervous either.

Then we took a quiz on American history, politics, and the states and capitals. I'm embarrassed to say I did not get all of my capitals correct, however, when I saw my test results on the second day of the interview, I felt pretty good about it all. I told the two people interviewing me that I was happy with my results and they agreed that they were definitely on the higher end of some tests that they've seen.

So, that was the first day. The girl who presented really well, Stacey, gave me a ride back to the hotel because she had her grandpa's car and I'd taken a cab to the interview. She and I made plans to meet up for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory later that night.

When we met up at 7, we had such a good time. It was really hard for me to believe that she is 22 because she's very mature. She said she wouldn't have thought I was 29 based on how young I look! Anyway, we had a great dinner conversation for 2 hours where we ranked everyone's presentations. She was my number 1, I was my number 2 and she ranked me her number 1 and herself as number 2. She has tour experience because her mom takes Jewish people on specialty cruises, so she's been all over the world helping her mom out with that. I was like, can I do something like that with Southerners...that's my cultural heritage!

The next day was our individual interviews. Stacey was scheduled to interview at 1 and I was scheduled at 2, so after hanging out at the pool together in the beautiful Anaheim sunshine reviewing the "Western Highlights" itinerary that the supervisor had told us to study, we drove over to the office and I waited an hour rather than paying for a cab or walking to the office.

My individual interview started off by the supervisor and one other person asking if I had any questions. So, I went down my list. What if someone's always late, can you leave them? Who cleans up the puke if we're on the bus? How do you take passengers money for excursions?

Then, they asked me some questions. I completely spaced on two: What song would be the theme song for your bus trips? Dude, I don't know music! Where would you tell your passengers to go shopping if they were in Anaheim? I told them I hadn't seen any shopping areas in all the walking I'd done in my free time but they proceeded to tell me where the mall was.

Overall, I felt good about the interview. I think they could see I'm both fun and responsible which is ultimately what they are looking for in a Tour Manager. I want them to offer me the position so I can feel validated in a way...like, hey, I'm good enough and they like me sort of thing. But if they do offer it, it means I'll have to make a tough choice because of the money. There's just no guarantee for the earnings.

So, that was my trip. Quick but fun and I'm glad I made a new friend. I do hope they offer Stacey the job because she was really good. They said we'd know by the end of the week, so I'll keep you guys posted.
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Note: They did not offer me the job. They did not offer Stacey the job either. What the heck, ya'll. This world is madness!