How Not to Get a Job, part deux

If you missed part I, you can read it here: http://the-rickter-scale.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-not-to-get-job.html

Like last time, these are actual responses from actual interviewees.

Question- “What can you tell us about the Academy of Military Science and why do you want to join us at this point in your career?”

Response #1 (female from somewhere I can’t remember)- “Ever since I went through Squadron Officer School, I thought it would be really cool and rewarding to be on the staff.  So when I saw this opportunity, I couldn’t pass it up.  Blah, blah, blah.”

-  We all looked at each other like, “Are you gonna tell her this is AMS, not SOS?”  Nope, I guess not.  How do you not even know what job you’re applying for?!  Speaking of which…

Question- “What can you tell us about the Academy of Military Science and why do you want to be a Military Training Leader at this point in your career?”

Response (male from Tennessee)- “Well, I’m really not even sure what a Military…what did you call it?...is.  I saw the ad and thought what the heck.  I’m kind of bored in the job I have now.  Once I figure out what you’re looking for, I could probably do it.”

-   To solidify his standing as a premiere candidate, this joker also showed up in the wrong uniform.  It’s a given when you interview for a military job that you wear service dress, even if they tell you to wear whatever you want. He chose to wear the worst Air Force uniform combo ever- BDUs with the green boots.   At least he did eventually uncross his legs while answering a question.

Question- “Why should we hire you?”

Response #1 (male from Alabama)- “You should hire me because I have great attention-to-detail.  I never miss the little things that others do.  It’s what separates me from other officers.  I think I can teach future officers the same level of attention and precision.”

-   Pretty good answer.  Well, it would have been a decent answer if the ribbons on his uniform had not been upside down.  And if his US insignias had been grounded like they were supposed to be rather than centered.  The thought was good, the execution, not so much.

    -  By the way, this is same person from part I that did not know
        who ran the air war in Iraq.

Response #2 (the rambling male on active duty)-  “I didn’t plan on leaving active duty.  I wanted to make it a career.  Everyone’s been telling me how good I am and then, next thing you know, I’m getting told I have to leave active duty because of the drawdown.  I thought I would be safe with my records but I wasn’t.  So, anyway, I have to be out in a few months.  I have a wife and two kids to support.  This seems like something I could do.  I mean, I really liked being a maintenance officer.  Bottom line, Daddy needs a J-O-B!”

-   Amazingly enough, this guy eventually got hired and was a productive member of the staff.  However, he never lived his classic responses down.  Even now, every time I apply for a job, I say “Daddy needs a J-O-B!”

Response #3 (male already on staff)- He leaned forward, got an intense look on his face, and boomed “Because I’m ready to lead today!!!  I don’t need to be trained!  I don’t need to spun up!  I’m ready to lead today!”

-   Seriously, the intensity and force he spoke with was shocking. You got the impression that if he had continued it would’ve gone something like this-- “And if you don’t hire me, I will hunt you down and take your firstborn.  Hire me now, on the spot, or I will destroy all of you!”  I think the board president, a female colonel, actually recoiled in fear at one point.  When he left, she looked at me and asked “Why was he so angry?  Is he always that intense?  And where can I get a smoke to calm my nerves?”

Response #4 (yours truly)- “It’s like I always say…”

-   That’s right.  I quoted myself during an interview.  Brilliant!  Could help explain why I’m going to retire as a major.  Haven’t lived that one down yet. 

Sometimes before the interview even gets started, things can go awry.  For instance, this is an actual exchange between a board president and a candidate:

Board president- “Do you have any questions before we start?”

Candidate- “No, Sir.”

Board president- “Okay.  Don’t be distracted if you see us writing during your answers.  We’re just trying to make notes of what you say.  Could be good, could be bad.  Ready?”

Candidate- (stunned looked, suddenly pale) “Ummm, sure, I guess.”

Here’s another one:

Board president- (long, long pause) “Tell us a little (long, long blink) about yourself?” (Another eternal blink)

Candidate- (Staring aimlessly into space, refusing to blink, not saying a word for a solid minute)

Me (inside my head)- Open your eyes…blink… open your eyes…blink…seriously, you’re both starting to weird me out…Is he asleep?...does she have some disorder where she can’t blink?…wonder if I could switch chairs before he opened his eyes and she blinked?...I would never get into a staring contest with her...Man, this is freaky…someday I’m gonna blog about all these crazy things.

How Not to Get a Job

During my time at AMS, I had the pleasure of sitting on numerous interview boards.  Actually, I wouldn’t say it was a “pleasure.”  Frankly, it was shocking how bad most people are at interviews.  On the bright side, it makes for great blog material.  These are actual responses from actual applicants.

Question- “Who is your favorite Icon of Airpower and how would you use their influence in training Officer Candidates?”

Response #1 (female from Alabama)- “Woo wee!  That’s a hard one!  I don’t really know much about Icons.  And, clearly, from my initial response of yelling woo wee in the middle of an interview, I’m never going to be one.  Wow, I sure wish I had paid better attention in school when we covered these.  I think I’ll phone a friend.”

-   Okay, I may have embellished that slightly…but not much. 

Response #2 (another female from Alabama)- After lots of stammering, “Well, I guess I would say Gen McKinley.  I mean, a few months ago he was a 3-star general, and now I read where he’s a 4-star general.  How did that happen?”

-   I believe the technical military term for it is a “promotion.”  But don’t worry, I don’t think it’s a concept you’re going to need to be familiar with.

Response #3 (male from Alabama)- “Um, well, I guess I would say the guy who ran the air war in Iraq.  I don’t know what his name is but, man, he had a lot of responsibility.”

-   Really?  You can’t just break out with Billy Mitchell?  Everyone in the Air Force knows if they get an asinine question like this to go with Billy Mitchell.

-  By the way, anyone else picking up on a trend?  I’m not saying, I’m just saying.

Question- “What is an area you’ve been told you need to improve since being commissioned?”

-   This is usually where you get all the humble bragging.  You get the standard responses of:

o   “I’m just too hard on myself.  I expect everything to be perfect.”

o   “I’m so dedicated to the mission that I have a hard time leaving work.”

-   Translation- I’m so good at what I do that I have to turn a positive into a negative so I can answer this question.  We got a much more honest answer this particular time.

Response (male on active duty)- “I’ve been told the men in my family ramble.  I don’t know, maybe we do.  I don’t think I ramble.  At least not usually.  Sometimes I get worked up and ramble some.  But that’s rare.  I usually just answer the question and move on.  Kinda depends on the question, you know?  Sometimes it takes longer to answer a question.  Sometimes you can get straight to the point.  Now, my dad, he definitely rambles.  If you ask him a question, it’s gonna take a while for him to answer.  Know what I mean?  He’s not one to get straight to the point.  He will go on and on and on.  So, again, I don’t think I do that.  I try to give clear and concise answers.  My granddad, he’s a lot like my dad.  He’ll ramble on for hours if you let him. ..”

-   This went on for 22 MINUTES!  Thank goodness it was phone interview so he couldn’t see our faces.  We finally had to cut him off because it was time for the next interview.  I’m gonna say he had not quite cracked that nut.  There was still work to do.

Speaking of rambling, I’ve gone on too long.  I think I’ll turn this into a 2-parter.  Check back next week for the next installment.

Is Your Briefcase Not Feeling So Brief?

You know how you have been doing something for a while and you reach that point where you think nothing can surprise you anymore?  You know, you’ve been around, you’ve dealt with all types of situations and you’re the grizzled veteran.  Well, I thought I reached that point at AMS.  I quickly learned how wrong I was.  There were still plenty of strange things to see.  

One particularly dark day in my AMS career, I completely lost my mind and fired the student wing commander.  Not really a smart move on my part given that he had been in charge for only about 24 hours.  The damage was done, though, so I pressed on.  On the bright side, I compensated for my first poor decision by making another one.  After all, consistency is the key to good leadership.  Anyway, I decided to promote a really sharp female to the wing commander job.  The only problem was that she had only been in the Air Force for 12 days and wasn’t really ready.  I’m sure someone told me this but I didn’t care.  I was on a roll.  I had confidence in her and figured I could help her if she needed it.  Unfortunately, neither of us was really prepared for what one of the OCs did.

The next Monday at lunch, the wing commander approached me.  “Sir,” she said, “we have an issue we need your help with.”  “You know,” I responded, “part of being a leader is being able to think for yourself and problem solve.”  I know, I know.  I sounded like an arrogant arse.  No need to judge me.  She pressed on.  “Sir, we think we may have a sexual harassment issue,” she stated.  Whoa!  We do not say the SH words in the AF.  “What happened?” I asked.  “One of the OCs in the wing sent out an email and a lot of people said it made them feel uncomfortable,” she said as she handed me a copy of it.  It went something like this:

“Is your briefcase not feeling so brief?  Are you feeling tired? Stressed? Overburdened? Wouldn’t a quick shoulder and neck massage do wonders for your morale?  No degree or license yet…but I would be willing to trade massages for someone folding my t-shirts”

Can you say creepy?  I felt like I needed a shower just from reading it.  And, um, yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s solicitation in most states.  My first instinct was to tell her it was a great leadership opportunity for her and to just handle it.  I mean, why break my string of great decision-making?  Speaking of which, what goes through someone’s head to make them sit down and type something like that?  Do you think he thought, “Wow, this is a great offer.  People will jump at this chance”?  Or maybe, “I’m sure no one will think this is weird.  Who doesn’t love a good massage?!”  Or maybe even, “I already have these massaging oils.  I might as well use them.”  Honestly, I have no idea what he was thinking.  I just know that he is now leading other people as they defend our freedoms.  It’s no wonder I never sleep.

How Legends Are Made

I’m constantly amazed at the various ways people respond when put under stress.  Some people perform better under intense scrutiny.  You can tell they feed off the pressure, increase their focus, and rise to the occasion.  And then there are officer candidates.

Not too long after we moved to Maxwell AFB, Alabama, OC Smithowith came through the program.  Crazy as a loon.  She probably had the single greatest day in the history of officer candidates.  In 6+ years at AMS, I carved out virtually no legacy.  In about 12 hours, she became an AMS legend.

It all started at a student change of command.  We had decided to put her in charge of her flight because she was struggling with the leadership concepts we were trying to teach.  In fact, her whole flight was underperforming and not working as a team.  To fix this, they were given “The Load”, a huge aircraft chock with about 10 rope handles on it.  Any time the flight moved, everyone’s hand had to be on “The Load” because it forced them to work together.  So right after the change of command, they were marching with “The Load” and heading to class.  I was marching with them so I could put some extra pressure on OC Smithowith and see how she handled it.  Let’s say not very well.

She passed by an officer, took her hand off the load, and saluted.  “You need to keep your hand on the load, even when you salute, “ I corrected her.  In a stunning display of boldness or idiocy, she again took her hand off the load, whirled toward me, threw both hands in the air and yelled, “I’m doing the best I can!  What do you want from me?!”  Uh-oh, this was about to get ugly.  I used my best overhead correction voice to gently encourage her to fall back in line.  She just continued to lose her mind.  At this point, I decided to pull her away from the rest of the flight and talk to her.  I motioned for the other major to join me.  I just had a feeling that I would need someone to cover my back.  So, we pulled her aside and tried to figure out what was wrong with her.  Maybe the pressure was too much and she just snapped.  Maybe she was just bat crap crazy.  The more we talked to her, the more the latter option seemed like the right one.

Despite our best efforts to calm her down, she stayed irrational.  She kept raising her voice and yelling, arms flailing everywhere.  All in plain sight of the rest of the wing.  This was a disaster.  If we didn’t handle this correctly, we could lose the whole wing.  Patience is not one of my virtues and I had heard enough.  I told her she was done and that I was going to personally make sure she got kicked out of the program.  At this, I walked away thinking that would be the last of the episode.  Uh, no, not yet.  She came running after me screaming, “I just need a second chance.  I just need a second chance.”  When I heard this, I was thinking “What, did we just break up?  Am I going to need a restraining order?”  Anyway, I told her she should have listened to me before and done what I told her.  Being a lunatic, she decides the best response is to argue even more.  She started ranting, “Nothing I do is good enough.  All the staff does is criticize and correct me.  I just need someone to tell me I’m doing okay.”  I responded that would come later in the program.  “Well, nobody told me that!” she shrieked.  My bad, I didn’t realize your crazy butt needed to be briefed on the staff training philosophy. Next time, have your therapist call me.  It’s no wonder I don’t like people.  Anyway, by now, it was lunch time so we had an MTI escort her to the dining facility.  On her way there, she stormed by several flight commanders, failed to salute, and screeched, “Are you happy now? You finally got what you wanted!”  See, that’s how you create a lasting impression. 

I finally made it back to my boss’s office to brief him on the events.  He had Smithowith write a statement.  She claimed she went nuts because “Maj Kallstrom had verbally kicked me out of AMS.”  Ultimately, he disagreed that we should just kick her out so she got her second chance.  When the OCs fell out for dinner, we informed her that she was back in charge.  “What?  I don’t want to be in charge,” she said.  “You have to be in charge.  It’s not optional.  This is a leadership program, “is how I actually responded.  In my mind, it went more like, “Listen, you insane lunatic.  No one here wants you to be in charge.  If you ever actually get commissioned none of us will ever be able to look at ourselves in the mirror again.  Why don’t you do us all a favor and just quit.  The only way people would ever follow you is out of morbid curiosity.  So shut the heck up, get out front and follow orders like I am.”  But somehow, I think she got the telepathic message I sent her.  She looked at me, took her hat off, and said those two beautiful words “I quit.”

Next thing I know, she’s storming off.  I tell another staff member to call the commander and get him down there so he can witness the insanity while we chase her down.  We catch up to her and asked her if she really wants to quit.  She says yes so we start explaining the procedures to her.  She goes off again saying, “I’m a failure.  I’m a failure” because everything had to be said twice.  I’m not sure who she was trying to convince.  She had definitely failed at being rational.  As she’s chanting about her failure, I hear my sidekick come back with one of the best lines ever.  He says, “That’s neither here nor there right now, we just need you to sign the paperwork.”

But wait, there’s more.  During her exit interview, she told one of the flight commanders that she "just wanted to fly and didn't realize the blood of terrorists would be on her hands."

And that’s how legends are made.

The Shower From…Well, You Know

As I mentioned before, I have some serious privacy issues.  For a long time at AMS, I was able to keep them under wraps.  The set up there was perfect for someone like me.  There were two private showers in our building so I was able to avoid using the open bay ones at the gym.  Through time, conversation, and observation, however, people started to realize my issues.   I knew this was not going to be good news for me. 

It started off harmless enough.  When I would leave the office, I would get the “Hey, major, where are you going?”  or “What were you doing downstairs?”  I knew it was just an effort to embarrass me.  And I knew the worst thing I could do was give them the satisfaction.  After all, that’s what I do to people all the time.  I wasn’t going to get beat at my own game.  So, I would just give them the ol’ “you’re a jerk” smile and go on about my business. 

When they realized it wasn’t working, they did what any good military operation would do—they increased their efforts.  Sergeant Thorny Flower seemed particularly dedicated to the mission.  He would come into the bathroom, tap on the shower curtain, and say in his gravelly, I-lived-in-east- Tennessee-all-my-life twang, “Sir, I have an update for you.  Mind if I step in and brief you?”  I would kick the shower curtain, lose my testimony for a few seconds, and tell him to get out.  He would laugh and then run like a little school girl back to the office to tell the others what he did.  So, I would get back to the office to a stream of people coming by to ask me how my shower was.  This kind of stuff continued for a while until Sergeant Thorny Flower finally got the best of me…albeit accidentally.

So, I’m in the shower after a workout and I hear Sergeant Thorny Flower come in the area.  We go through the normal routine and Thorny Flower gets in the other shower.  Perfect.  I’ll get out now and be dressed by the time he gets done.  If only it had been that easy.

As I’m sitting there in my shorts and t-shirt, Sergeant Thorny Flower throws back his shower curtain and says “Sir, I really need to brief you right away.” Before I can say anything, he takes a step toward me, obviously going for the max effect.  But, as he stepped forward, Thorny Flower slipped.  The next thing I know he is hurtling at me COMPLETELY NAKED.  All I see is flesh…hair…flesh…hair where it shouldn’t be…more flesh…more hair (seriously, can you say “manscaping”?)…and more flesh (at least I hope it was just flesh).  Then I realize there’s no way he’s gonna regain his balance and stop.  You know those movies where the meteorites are rocketing toward earth and there’s no way to stop it so all the people panic?  That’s how I felt.  And I didn’t have Will Smith to save me. 

I finally regained my senses and tried to move.  Too late.  Sergeant Thorny Flower landed right in my lap.  I started making some sound that was a cross between a horror movie scream and hyperventilating as I’m pushing him off me.  I honestly think I blacked out for a few seconds at this point.  I’m sure it was a defense mechanism.  Of course, Thorny Flower just laughed it off.  As for me, I’m still haunted by the image and I’m pretty sure I’m never going to feel clean again.

Oh Crap!

So I like my privacy. I mean, I like it to the point of being neurotic about it. If I could, I would shower with my clothes on. And going to the bathroom, well, let's just say there are strict conditions that must be met. And if at all possible, I try to avoid playing away games. I don't know if I had a traumatic incident when I was a kid or if I'm just a freak. Either way, given that I'm in the military and have to be away from home at times, this issue means lots of wandering around looking for an empty bathroom.

As part of my job as an instructor, we had a field training exercise every class that required us to be gone for 3 days. After several trips to our training site in Georgia, I had figured out the best times to shower and use the restroom. Of course, no plan is perfect. So one morning I had just sat down when someone else walked in. Okay, no big deal I thought, maybe he just needs to pee. Then he walked into the stall beside me. Okay, okay, there's still a chance. Maybe he likes privacy too. Nope, he didn't care about privacy at all.

My first thought when he sat down was “Well, this ain’t happening.” After that, I just started having an internal debate with myself about whether to wait it out or leave. As I’m sorting through the pros and cons, I hear his phone ring. Every sane person just lets it go to voicemail in that situation, right? Not this guy. He answers the phone! I’m still baffled by this. What possible decision-making process do you go through that makes you think, “Yeah, even though I’m in stall 2 taking my morning constitutional, I should really answer this”? Look, I’m not saying I’ve never sent a text message while being indisposed. It happens. I get it. But answer the phone? That’s where I draw the line. To make matters worse, I recognize his voice and realize it’s my boss sitting beside me. The scales had definitely been tilted in favor of getting the heck out of there before something else weird happened. Too late.

As I started to formulate my exit plan, I heard my boss rattle off a series of “Yes, Ma’ams”. I then realized that he was talking to his boss, a very refined female Colonel. Are you kidding me? What in the world would she think if she knew he was talking to her from his current location? I thought my head was going to spontaneously combust. This was just too much for me to process. So I decided to just make a run for it and hope he didn’t realize it was me. I jumped up and started for the door. There was only one miscalculation in my master plan. The toilet had an automatic flush. And a loud one at that.

And that's the way I flushed my career down the toilet.

Phonetic Friday

When I was training officer candidates, one of my favorite days was Phonetic Alphabet Friday.  During the first two weeks of training the OCs, as they were called, had knowledge they were responsible for on that particular day.  Our job as staff was to ensure they learned it.  Any time they were in formation outside and not moving, we would walk from person to person drilling them on that day’s knowledge.  And Heaven help the person that didn’t know it. 

So, on Friday of the first week of training, the OCs were responsible for knowing the phonetic alphabet.  For those of you who may not know, the phonetic alphabet is where you use a word to represent a letter.  For example, is someone told you to spell cat using the phonetic alphabet, you would spell it Charlie, Alpha, Tango.  Well, with a name like Kallstrom, I lived for Phonetic Friday.  My favorite thing was to go from person to person asking them to spell my name using the phonetic alphabet.  Listening to a trainee butcher both my name and the phonetic alphabet was priceless.  And it gave me a good reason to get my yell on.  There are two particular instances that stand out the most.

Tired and cranky at the end of a brutal week, I rolled in hot on an unsuspecting OC and gave him my standard line, “Spell my name using the phonetic alphabet.”  Crickets.  Not a word.  So I told him again, in a much louder voice, “Spell my name using the phonetic alphabet!”  Again, no response.  I started coming unglued.  The staff is not to be ignored under any circumstances and I vociferously reminded him of this.  Finally, the kid says “Sir, OC Jones reports to make a statement.”  “What?!” I replied.  After a slight hesitation, the trainee broke out, “Sir, I know the phonetic alphabet but I have no idea who you are.”  The rest of the staff had to turn around and walk away because they started laughing so hard.  I never lived it down and that poor kid will never forget my name again.

 The other instance happened outside the dining facility.  One of the flights was waiting to go in so I decided to start asking them to spell my name.  It started out much like the story above.  I kept asking this trainee to spell my name and he kept not saying anything.  Finally, I asked him if he knew who I was.  He still looked confused. “Come on!  You are really starting to hurt my feelings,” I said with just a hint of sarcasm.  At the time there were only two majors on staff and the other one was black and a former all-state football player.  It wasn’t like we were easily confused.  So I started in again.  “What’s my name?!” I asked for the last time.  The OC took a deep breath and said, “Sir, it’s Major…Kasselhoff.”  “Kasselhoff?” I replied incredulously.  “That’s right,” I continued in my best sarcastic voice. “I was on Baywatch, the number one show in the world, and I gave it all up to come train people like you.”  Then, as I started to walk away, I turned and said, “But don’t worry, I’m still huge in Germany.”

Coincidently, it was shortly after this incident that we were instructed not to use sarcasm as a training tool.  Evidently, it’s not very effective.  I’m not so sure.  To this day, if Hasselhoff makes the news for some type of buffoonery, I have random students from that class email and ask me if I’m okay.  I would say the sarcasm worked.