Confessions of a Serial Interviewer by Steven Ra Ga

2013-2014- Post Film School – Finding a job in Vancouver was hard, everyone wanted you to work on a commission, with no benefits, or perks and a low percentage.

The one interview I went to was for a gig selling digital animation solutions, the company got famous for their big contract with an Internet Provider doing this little characters to help sell the wifi capabilities. They company wanted to branch out and make more capital off other companies and need a sales man to help make that happend.

The interview was strange. It was in an old building outside of the main downtown area in south Granville. When I entered the building all the lights were off. Kind of like entering a haunted house in a horror film. I had to turn the flash light on my phone to just see the floor. When I would past an office the door was removed and a man was sitting behind a desk with only the blue light from his laptop on him. Talk about spooky.

There were about 5 rooms like this with 5 different people. After a bit of walk one of them inquired as to who I was “Excuse me, can I help you?” One if the men from one the rooms said.

“Yes!” I responded. “I am looking for Jim, I have an interview.” I said. The man then said “Up the stairs and too the right.” He quickly got back to his computer work.

I started to ascend up the stairs as they creaked.

The upstairs lights were on, thankfully. The hallways looked like they had been frozen in time since 1979.

I peaked in the doorway and said “Jim? I am Steven, I am here for the interview.”

Jim looked up from his giant monitor, “Steven, great to me you come in.” Now Jim didn’t bother to even turn around to properly great me, he looked at me from an angle while I stood in the doorway.

He went on to explain the business and what they are looking for, and the position was commission but the catch was I would have to develop everything on my own from scratch. To some Salesmen this position would be their unicorn to me it was horrifying, not only did I not have money or time to waste on something like this but to me at that time it was rather insulting. To work 100% as a contractor means the company you are employed by resolves it’s self of responsibility to you, they are some what removed from the process.

The classic line is “you keep what you kill” employers love to say that but it’s far from true.

It’s more like, you get to keep 2 to 4% of what you kill, give half to the government in taxes and what’s left goes to your expenses plus debt you have accumulated in between your sales… unless of course you are that rare breed that’s an over achiever.

I recall after leaving calling my Dad to see what he would say and his response was my response. Keep applying.