Looking at the paper you printed off of the computer, you try to find the street that you need to turn onto. You’ve been driving for about three hours now; the traffic up 95-N was worse than you had expected. At first your trepidation about the meeting is increased by your worries about being late, but then you remember that you left early enough to compensate for this type of situation. Driving up to another state for an interview wasn’t really desirable, but you need to look for another job. Getting this one through a friend, you had decided that it was worth a try, despite the distance and time it took to get there from your home. And besides, she works there as well, and it wouldn’t hurt to be employed in the same place as her.

There’s the street—but you pass it too quickly, distracted by the unfamiliar territory. You drive on a bit further to find a suitable place to turn around. Getting lost at this point won’t help you. The place looks a little bit seedy as well; but this is no time to panic either. Calmly placing the paper with directions on the passenger seat, you navigate your way back to the path you need to be on.

The late afternoon is marked by the sun colored a sharp redish orange in the cloudless sky. The interview had to be this late since you had work that day and they weren’t available on weekends. Thank goodness you were able to leave a little early; the people you work with also had to look for new job prospects and understood completely. After about an hour of maneuvering through the city, you find the street that held your final destination, a moderate sized office building surrounded by the typical semi-filled parking lot. You pull into an empty spot, turn off the engine, and sit for a couple minutes. The watch tells you that you are still a bit early. You decide to rest a little bit after the stressful drive, reclining your seat and closing your eyes as the audio system emits the sounds of your favorite CD.

A couple minutes pass by as you let yourself fall into a calm and relaxed state. It wouldn’t do to rush into the office looking sweaty and desperate. Glancing at the time, you get out of the car and walk inside the building. The first place you look for though is the restroom, of course. Once the duties are completed you glance at yourself in the mirror and straighten out your outfit: a dark blue button down shirt, black slacks, and a light blue neck tie. You fiddle with the tie a bit, to ensure it isn’t out of place and not too short and not too long. Confident in your appearance as well as your attitude, you stroll out to find the office.

It takes a couple minutes as you wander around… some of the offices weren’t marked with a number. You finally stroll down a long hall near the back of the building and glance inside one of the glass doors. There looks like a group in a meeting around a round table. You turn around and make your way back when suddenly the door opens and your friend pops out. She calls out your name, and you find yourself relieved that you finally found the place you were looking for. Pleasantries are exchanged and you then are asked to wait a little bit longer in the lobby. They’re still in a meeting it seems and that needed to be concluded before I was seen.

Coolly, you accept that fact and say that you’ll be sitting in the lobby, even though you are a bit annoyed that they can’t hold their end of the meeting time. Waiting, you mess around with your cell phone, go over your resume that you brought, and review the typical interview questions in your head. This has been your first interview since the one for your last job—practically over a year ago—and you feel the nervousness creep up again as well as the excitement of meeting people that you could possibly be working with in the future. A good fifteen to twenty minutes go by…

Finally someone is sent out to fetch you. As you enter the office, you glance around and see how make shift it is. It seems everyone shares that one big office space. You are greeted by your friend and then introduced to everyone. You desperately try to memorize names to faces, but you soon forget them. Then the CEO is introduced and you shake hands firmly and vigorously. You make eye contact and smile, thanking him for the time to meet you. He smiles as well and thanks you for coming all the way up there to see them. You are then passed on to the ones who will be interviewing you. One is some HR type and the other is their programming or technical director.

The three of you sit down at the same round table you saw earlier. You learn that the meeting was a bit longer than expected since the CEO had just returned from another country; his wife had just given birth there. So, of course, once he returned he had to catch up on the latest on what was happening. They apologize and you accept and say that you still appreciate their time to meet you. Then the questions and chitchat begin. You had brought your own notepad and pen to take notes, but you find yourself talking more and hardly writing anything down. You stumble on some of the technical questions about programming, but you find yourself able to recover in some way. You ask your own questions as well, hoping to learn more about what they have to offer and if they were really what you were looking for.

The interview flies by and you don’t find yourself as nervous as before. The idea is that you talk casually and confidently as if you were already working with them. If they are comfortable talking with you, then you know you can definitely be comfortable working with them. You share a few laughs, learning a little about their own quirks as well as exposing your own. Soon, all is said and done, and the three of you stand up and shake hands. You walk over to the CEO and shake his hand again and thank him again for his time. Your friend had left earlier to go home. You feel a little sad but you don’t blame her; she had been there the whole day and didn’t really need to stay any longer.

On the drive home, you try to remember everyone’s names to no avail. You conclude, however, that while they were nice enough people, it doesn’t seem like a right fit to work there. They are new start up company, and they didn’t have as many benefits as you had liked. Also, the commute would be insane. They didn’t have any type of relocation package, but they did offer some type ‘work from home on some days’ deal. That was fine though. You had an interview. You knew you needed the practice, and now you can deal with the questions you were unable to answer the next time.

It was now the early evening and the sun was beginning to set. Your return home is impeded by even more traffic. That doesn’t bother you at all anymore. You didn’t need to rush home. You were relieved to be done with the pressures of the day. Your tie has been removed, your shirt unbuttoned, and sleeves rolled up. The window is down letting in the summer air. You play your CD again, listening, relaxing, and not really thinking about anything at all…