Circle of Trust

Shared a story of an interview that I did last week with a Chemical Engineering student at the University of Wisconsin.  Due to Covid-19, we were unable to go to campus to perform interviews which is a bummer on lots of different levels.  Not only do I love going back to campus, but being able to read the non-verbal cues from a candidate is very important to me to assess motivational fit within our company.

The student I spoke with is currently a sophomore and carries a 4.0 GPA.  Right from the get go it was clear that she is very intelligent, clear on the type of company she wants to work for, and probably a little nerdy (this is a term of endearment, as I resemble this 😊.)  What truly stood out about this candidate to me was her willingness to make herself vulnerable and describe how she is actively searching for ways to improve herself.  I will give a couple of examples:

• I asked her to give me an example of a time which she challenged herself.  You would have assumed that she would talk about taking a difficult course or when she felt like she went over and above on an assignment.  Instead she shared with me how proud she was to take the leap to leave the dorms after her freshman year.  She shared that at times she finds it difficult to quickly form meaningful relationships.  Last November when people were signing leases, she made the leap of faith to move out with the friends she had made in only a couple of months of school.  In hindsight, she let me know this was one of the best decisions she has made.  She loves the time that she is able to spend with her roommates cooking and eating together and overall just hanging out.  This has really stretched her to invest the time to build long lasting, meaningful relationships.  If she would have stayed in the dorms, the strength of the relationships she has built would not have been nearly the same.
• I asked her to give me an example of a accomplishment that you are very proud of.  She shared with me that growing up she was a “theater kid.”  Up until her junior year in high school she was on stage performing and then realized that she was a much better fit to behind the scenes on the production staff.  This allowed her on opportunity to harness her strengths but also mentor others who were performing based on the experiences that she previously had.  When she got to Madison, she was looking to continue this passion and also find an avenue to meet others like her.  She ended up joining the Wisconsin Union Performing Arts group as a stagehand.  This year an opportunity came up to help with designing and executing the stage lighting for 5 one act plays.  She had zero background in lighting and as terrifying as it was she knew in her heart this would be a great fit based on her technical abilities and her drive to make a positive impact on others performances.  By studying the reference materials, working with those more experienced, and through trial and error she was able to take on this task and excel.  In the end, she received excellent feedback from the performers and experienced lighting technicians.

After my phone interview with this student, I immediately called my wife.  I told her about the interview that I just completed and how I wished I would have recorded the conversation.  My oldest daughter is a freshman in high school and has struggled with self-confidence and a willingness to push herself based on a chance that she will fail at something.  I so wanted her to hear this great example of someone who recognizes her fears and insecurities but is willing to hit them head on because she knows it’s the only way she will expand her comfort zone.  One of my favorite analogies is that as humans we are rubber bands.  When you stretch a rubber band it never comes back to its same size.  As we stretch ourselves, our comfort zone increases and continues to expand as we are willing to push our boundaries.