Whose Faulty Vision

Interview Oops

I had that other second interview this afternoon. I think it went well, overall, but there was one little oops.

I was talking with the guy who would be my supervisor, if they hired me. He asked me to describe a current ad campaign that I think has a good strategy. That’s a standard question, and I have an answer ready–a campaign that I don’t think has a particularly good creative execution, but I think the strategy’s really smart. So I told him that, and started talking about the campaign. When I got to the name of the company, he said, “you’re not saying that just because it’s our work, are you?”

I hadn’t realized that they had done this campaign.

Now, I was in a bit of a bind. I didn’t want to seem like I was kissing up. And I had an airtight “alibi”, if you will–all I had to do was admit that I didn’t know it was their client. But then I’d be admitting that I didn’t do a good enough job with my pre-interview research.

Fortunately, I thought quickly. I said that if I’d just been looking to praise their agency, I wouldn’t have said that I didn’t think that the creative was great, would I? And fortunately, he agreed that the creative execution for that campaign wasn’t all that great.

So I think I pulled it out okay. I was nervous for a moment, though.

(And man, it was tough to tell this story without saying the name of the client or the agency. But in case the agency does turn out to be a future employer, I don’t want this post to be googlable.)