I was sooo close to ditching the Meltwater interview. Standing in a hallway high in a center city Philadelphia hotel, I was pretty sure I didn’t want to work for anyone who made me wait around for 20 minutes—I didn’t even know why I was there in the first place.
After graduating from Cornell in 2002, I bounced around a little, but had most recently worked as a Project Manager for a pharmaceutical start-up. My desired career path was typical of any highly ambitious, but maybe a little clueless, guy in his mid-20s. I wanted to come in off the street, show off how smart I was, get promoted half a dozen times, make enough to drink Pappy three times a week, drive a (German) station-wagon, and generally dominate life. I figured the best way to do that would be through a nice East Coast B-School, so I dutifully bought some GMAT books and scheduled my test times…
But, I figured, why not just stop by the interview anyway. Can’t hurt, right?
In the group interview, I was barely able to maintain a healthy cynicism through the company presentations. Here was a company with incredibly high ambitions, a strong track record, and people I wanted to work with. I even remember telling one of the hiring directors, Jonas, during the break that he should check out Monk’s Café that night, and wishing like a school-girl they’d invite me to tag along.
That said, I knew better. A lot of promises are made in interview settings, but the things they talked about (no outside capital; always positive cash flow; accelerated promotions) got my heart fluttering. Then the old skepticism kicked in—what did I know about them? There was zero press on the company. They were all so…young.
Meltwater challenged everything I thought made sense from a corporate standpoint. (Sample Q:“ Why don’t you advertise?”, A: “So our competitors don’t know we’re coming.”).
In that group interview, I was pretty comfortable. I’ve done plenty of speaking and presentations, and am taller than average—so people generally assume I’m capable. I wasn’t surprised to get a call (albeit at 10pm) asking me to come back for the individual-round interview taking place the following day—I fully expected it., but I would come prepared. If I were to spend any more time on this, I was going to get some answers.
I came in the next day with two pages of legal pad chock-full of my own skepticism. About half an hour into the 90-minute panel interview, I had worked my way through my questions, and could see that patience was wearing thin on the other side of the table.
Bottom line: I couldn’t back up my confidence (cockiness?) with any good reason these guys should hire me. I’m smart, well mannered, and nice enough, but did that qualify me for anything other than complaining about how I deserved a good job?
Jorn Lyseggen, our CEO, pointed this out to me rather bluntly. He said (and I quote), “Chris. Has anyone ever told you that you’re pompous?”
They hadn’t. And, that’s still tough to hear.
That night my wife and I went out to dinner with my grandparents and I couldn’t stop thinking about how ridiculous I must have looked. I hadn’t proven ANYTHING. I thought I knew EVERYTHING. I felt exposed, and realized what a false sense of entitlement I had.
This was the first time anyone had ever seen through my overconfident pose. And I really appreciated it. I decided that if these people—intelligent, charismatic, successful—believed that I could do this job, then I would believe it as well. I also felt that I was willing to trust anyone who had the integrity to call me out like that.
But I also knew that I’d been exposed in a sense…that I’d have to earn it. Everything I promised about my drive and my smarts and my character in the interview, now I’d have to back it up. And it was exhilarating.
Ultimately I wanted this job for the opportunity—to grow, to be challenged, to excel in something I’d never tried…but also to prove to myself that my confidence wasn’t misplaced. I think I’ve held up my end of the bargain so far. I’ve worked harder than I thought I could, I’ve made more difficult decisions than I expected I’d have to; I’ve delivered concrete results; I’ve developed strong people into managers. Meltwater has held up its end as well. I was given the chance to run this office over a year ago. I’ve traveled to Sweden, San Francisco, Norway, Jamaica… And more than anything else, I’ve been humbled and challenged in ways that have made me a much better asset for this organization. I can only imagine what the next few years will bring!
Chris celebrates his first contract:
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