Andi

For the past semester I’ve worked at the Hillcrest Marketplace for Student Housing & Dining. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good job with amazing co-workers and superiors, but it was time for a change.

Over winter break I was browsing Iowa’s website for available student jobs. Quite a few came up, but I was pretty uninterested. But then one opening caught my eye; Rock Wall Attendant at the CRWC. I’ve been climbing for over 5 years now and it’s something I absolutely love. The risks, the sense of accomplishment when you complete a tough route, and just the people who also enjoy that kind of atmosphere. So needless to say, I applied immediately! I was nervous waiting for the email which would tell me my fate, but only a couple of days later it appeared in my inbox. I held my breathe when I opened it. I didn’t get the job… but I did get an interview!! I was ecstatic!

The interview was the Monday before classes started, and 6 other people were also being interviewed for the position. I hadn’t climbed in a few months so I was also quite rusty. I also did not own my own harness, which everyone else had their own personal equipment. I was feeling quite intimidated and slightly embarrassed. All the other applicants also knew many of the pre-existing staff members. At that point I was feeling really let down. The first phase of the interview was a skill check, to see if we knew how to belay, knew the proper commands, and safety checks. I felt like I did average. I wasn’t outstanding, but then again I was pretty rusty. After that we had rotations around different stations to ‘teach’ the current employees certain skills. I like to think of myself as a good communicator so I thought I did a good job. One of the rotations was also a very brief interview, where I thought I answered the questions with ease.

Once the group interview was over we had a lunch break, and then had to come back for individual interviews. We (all the applicants) decided to all get lunch together just because we could! I thought it was great getting to know my possible future co-workers.

After that I headed back to the CRWC for my interview. I was super nervous, but I felt a little more confident than before. The interview was very brief. A max of probably 3-4 questions were asked, and then there was a brief pause. My heart skipped a beat, and before I let myself be disappointed I heard the words “Congrats, we’d love to have you as a new hire.” I was so happy! I wanted this job so badly and I couldn’t believe I got it, and as it turns out all 7 of us were hired!

All the older employees were so welcoming and helpful on my first shift. I mainly greet and sign people in and help them fill out the proper paperwork and waivers in order to climb. It’s a simple job, but I couldn’t be happier!

Rock Wall at the CRWC!

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 2nd, 2013 at 11:17 am and is filed under General, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.