I was twenty-two years old at the time of my most memorable job interview; working by day as a graphic designer at a small medical manufacturing facility and some evenings at the donut shop that I had worked at throughout high school. I received a phone call about an interview for a position that I had applied for via a newspaper ad that would be based in Pittsburgh for a company located in Deerfield Beach, Florida.
The interview was scheduled for 6PM on a weeknight. It was scheduled in a hotel lobby downtown – who holds interviews in hotels??! So, not only did I need to rush home from my day job, only to turn around and get back on the road to fight traffic on the parkway to go into downtown essentially during rush hour. Oh, and I had to call off work at the donut shop to do it. (Sorry to all my donut shop co-workers who are now friends on facebook). I was exhausted after a long day and not super excited about fighting traffic and paying to park for an interview I didn’t know much about.. and found weird meeting two men at a hotel for an interview. But, nonetheless, I went. As I waited in the lobby of the hotel for my next potential bosses, who were late arriving in Pittsburgh, I people watched… and people watched… and people watched. At one point, I thought of leaving, because it was much later than I had hoped it would be. But finally Jeff and Hassan showed up. Jeff, as the classic New Yorker that moved south – the company President/Owner. Hassan, who reminded me of Chris Rock (visually and personality) – the plant manager/production director.
The position I had applied for was a Desktop/Production Artist position. My role would be to make type/graphic changes to the art files for packaging for the Ore-Ida brands for Heinz Frozen Foods onsite in Pittsburgh. As I was still fairly new to the graphic design field, I certainly didn’t have much packaging experience, but I had a lot of attitude and confidence. The interview itself was interesting, not too long and I walked away from it knowing, without a doubt, that I had the job…even though they had a few more candidates to meet with.
Not long after my interview, I did receive and accept the offer. I was soon making a trip to South Florida for a week of training and then to Boise, Idaho for two weeks of further training, before ultimately landing back in Pittsburgh onsite at Heinz. From that moment forward, packaging became a passion of mine and the science of printing still inspires me. If I didn’t end up at that interview, who knows where the road would have taken me, but I’m sure glad I went. It was the kickoff to a career that I truly enjoy… and I’m pretty darn good at it too!
So, a great big THANK YOU to Hassan Shareef and Jeff Randazzo for showing me the ropes with prepress and packaging and bringing me on-board thirteen years ago. I’ve come a long way since then and am still grateful for the opportunity!
