My Boeing Days – Campus Interview
Blog 2 of 10
Photo: Interior of Boeing factory, Photo credit details at the end of the blog
Summary
This blog tells two different stories about people facing career challenges.
The first story is about a graduate student who suddenly lost their research funding. It talks about how tough this was for him. The student continued to get rejections in job interviews and felt low after every rejection. Finally, he had to make some hard choices, giving up things he liked. The story shows how he learned to be flexible, accepting the new situation and finding ways to move forward.
The second story is about an engineer dealing with job rejections. Unlike the first student, this person kept a positive attitude. Even though he didn't get the jobs he interviewed for, it didn't let it shake his confidence. The engineer held onto his self-respect and stayed optimistic.
By sharing these two stories side by side, the blog shows different ways people can react to setbacks in their careers. It's interesting to see how one person had to adapt and make big changes, while the other focused on staying positive and confident. Both stories give something to think about when one faces career challenges.
A New Beginning
The
elections were over. The results were out. The new government was in full
action. One of the first policy changes included budget cuts as a measure of
controlling inflation. It was late January 1981. I was a student at the
University of Washington with only one thing in mind, and that was to pursue my
research towards a PhD. I was working in the Bioengineering field, in the
electrical engineering department. The news came that our research funding from
the NIH would not be approved. My advisor called me into his office and told me
the news. He suggested that I was better off attending interviews on campus and
trying to get a job.
I
had not appeared for any interviews on the campus since I was determined to do
research at the University. Reluctantly, I went to the placement center on
campus. I looked at some of the notice boards to find out the companies
visiting the campus in the next one or two months. My attention was caught by
the openings at the Lincoln MIT Labs and the Stanford Research Institute. I
applied to both places and some more research labs in the US. One by one they
came, I interviewed, and they told me that they hired only PhDs. None of the
research labs was interested in hiring a candidate with only a master's degree.
I was very disappointed.
I
sent job applications to some small to medium-sized companies, but still, it
was tough to get a job in control systems. Then there was an ad from Boeing.
They were looking for control systems engineers. I applied and got a call for
an interview.
On
the day of the interview, I went to the placement center on the campus early. I
was looking at various magazines. There was one Time magazine issue with a
picture of the Boeing company's CEO, T.A. Wilson, on the cover page. It was an
old issue full of information about Boeing as well as the CEO. I hurriedly
browsed through it to get glimpses of the CEO's personality. There was not
enough time, and sure enough, I was next.
Two Boeing managers were sitting in the conference room. After exchanging pleasantries, they started looking at my resume. After seeing references to Bioengineering in several places, one manager tried to clarify to me. He said, "I want to let you know that we do not work in the Bioengineering area. Are you aware of that?" I had expected this question. I also had an answer ready for it. The answer was: It just depends on where 'I' go. I can be in the fourth place to make it 'Boe'i'ng' or I can be in the second place and make it 'B'i'oeng', short for bioengineering. It doesn't matter for me. But I thought that I could get labeled as a smart aleck. I just said, "Yes, I am."
The next question was also as expected. "So, tell me about why you want to work for Boeing?", one of the managers said. I quickly decided to answer based on what I had read in Time magazine about T.A. Wilson. I said, "I read the interview of Boeing CEO, T.A. Wilson, in the Time magazine. His picture was on the cover page of the magazine. Mr. Wilson started as an engineer in the company and rose through the ranks. What impressed me about T.A. Wilson was his simplicity. He still lives in the same small house that he used to live in years ago. He still uses a small, 15-year-old car. It is very impressive. I would like to work for the management that is built by such simple people and learn from them."
Needless to say, I got the job offer in 3 days. There was just a weekend between the receipt of the letter and my joining date.
'The Company Values My Worth'
Around the time I joined Boeing, there were 3 to 4 other engineers who joined too. One of them, Ed, became my lifelong friend. We shared many things as fresh engineers. Even today we are good friends. I remember one of our early conversations on the Boeing flight line. We were waiting for the airplane to get ready for take-off. It was late at night. We started sharing how our college days were. Then came our favorite topic of how we did in campus interviews.
I
told Ed how badly I wanted to join the research labs and I could not get in.
Then I casually mentioned that after many interviews and rejections, the Boeing
team came on the campus. I further told him how the interview was pretty simple
and how I could easily convince the interviewers. Ed looked at me and said,
"There were many companies that came to our campus. After every rejection,
I said to myself that that company did not recognize my worth. It's their loss.
Then came Boeing. They selected me, and I said to myself that this was the
right company that deserved me. The company values my worth; I will show them
that they were right." I was speechless. There was a north and south
difference between what I thought and what Ed thought. Ed had a confident
mindset. Ed had self-respect, confidence, and eagerness to work hard to show
his worth. I was very impressed with Ed's way of thinking. It all happened
40-plus years ago. Ed certainly devoted his talent to Boeing and was a
Designated Engineering Representative, a highly honored and respectable
position between Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Photo:
Interior of Boeing factory, Photo Credit: Meutia
Chaerani / Indradi Soemardjan http://www.indrani.net,
Creative Commons Attribution 2.5
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