"What about my background made you think I"d fit in at Doc"s Place, Mr. Marriott?"
"The award-winning alumni magazine you edited was impressive," he says, frowning as if he hadn"t expected the question, "but no, it was your graduate research. You convinced the Salt Lake City Chief of Detectives to let you interview homicide detectives for your master"s research." He shakes his head and says, "Incredible." After a moment he says, "I"m also interested in your work for the graduate school of business. Tell me about your work with MBA students."
"The coursework requires each MBA student to make two business presentations per quarter. The Dean paid me to videotape each presentation," I said. "Afterward, I met with the individual and critiqued his or her presentation compared to specific criteria for quality performance—eye contact, engaging body language, no distracting behavior and so on."
"The school of business had been measuring graduate students" presentations for ten years," I tell him, "Thirty-three percent consistently met the specific criteria. After the first video critique session, the average rose to fifty-five percent and after the second, it rose to eighty-five percent and remained there."
Nodding once, he says, "I"d like to ask something personal, Jill. As you answer my questions, you speak without hesitating or interjecting the usual "uh" or "I think," and so on. Will you tell me how you learned to do that?"
"It's not relevant," I tell him, watching for a reaction. When I see none, I say, "This position is two jobs in one, Mr. Marriott. Please expand on that."
"The open objectives are to publish the employee magazine and provide executives with communication consultation. The hidden objective is to keep secret Ferro"s intent to sell Doc"s Place for eighteen months despite fifty percent layoffs and remodeling," says Peter. He waits for my response.
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