My suit/tie combo on Thursday

Two days. A fascinating, amazing experience, and I got to meet some great leaders of local government.  This was the Phoenix Management Internship program interviews.  Let’s jump in.  I’m going to describe the two days and offer a few summary thoughts.  I have specifically not included some names, in case they do not want to be mentioned in the personal blog of one of their candidates.

A quick background.  The Phoenix Management Internship has been a dream of mine for quite a while.  It’s one of the best programs of its kind in local government, partly because of the size of Phoenix.  (Phoenix is the largest city with the council-manager form of government.  It has 15,000 employees and a 3.4 billion dollar budget.)  The program has been around since 1950, and each year they select between 2 and 5 candidates.  In recent years, it’s been 3, and last year and again this year, they are accepting two candidates.  Interesting fact: in 1950, the program did not allow women to apply.  To everyone’s benefit, that has of course changed.

I ended up deciding to buy the suit from Express, and wearing it with a light blue shirt and a thin steel grey Calvin Klein tie.  You can see them in the image above.

Thursday

Thursday was a whirlwind of movement and conversations. It went by like a flash.  We started the day by meeting at city hall at 8:30am.  After having a chance to talk to the other eight candidates and hearing more about our day, we went to meet with David Cavazos, the City Manager of Phoenix.  He was an intern in this program many years before, he is involved in this year’s process, and was even in our interviews on Friday.  We meet with him and asked him questions about Phoenix, his experience in the program, and his view on various current issues in local government.  He offered words of wisdom to us, and I really was struck by two things he said.  He said, “The magic of Phoenix is in city services,” and, later, “Criticism is the breakfast of champions.”  Then he made a legitimately funny joke.  Mr. Cavazos really made me feel at ease from the beginning, and we were off to a start.

Next, we meet with the budget director and human resources director to get a broad overview of the city.  Again, they both were so engaging and welcoming.  It was calming to this candidate’s nerves.  I was feeling great, energized, and as excited as ever.

One of the most interesting facts was about public safety spending.  In 1990, roughly 50% of the city’s general fund spending was on public safety.  Since then, there have been a series of budget cuts and two dedicated taxes for public safety.  Now, public safety spending is 70% of the general fund budget.  That’s a substantial increase proportionally, and it reflects the decisions of city councils and residents along the way.

Next, we went to the written exam.  I probably cannot reveal the exact question, but we were asked to write a letter from the city manager to a citizen addressing the citizen’s complaint.  We were given the scenario, facts that we would have discovered after the call, and 30 minutes to write, proofread and print the letter.  I’m not sure how I did, but I tried to be concise, informative and compassionate.

Next, after a quick scheduling change, we went to lunch.  Seven of the eight candidates ate together at a pretty good sandwich/salad place called The Hero Factory.  I had a great salad, but I was still so excited that I wasn’t hungry.  After lunch, we toured Civic Space and the Phoenix Convention Center.  I have a history with Civic Space park, so that was a chance to hear and learn even more.  The convention center was fascinating.  We got a tour from the operations manager who showed us amazing things about the convention center.  It’s an amazing facility, city owned and operated, and it has the potential to land some of the best conventions in the US.  It’s really great.  And our graduation is there too!

After the tours, we returned to city hall for a reception with department heads and former interns.  I learned so much about others’ experience in this program, city operations, and so much more.  It was fairly relaxed, and it was great to run into people I used to work around all the time.  Now, I was returning in a suit, interviewing for such a grown up position.  I even felt like a grown up, which was funny and awesome.  Anyway, then about 20 of us (former interns and candidates) went to dinner at Oaxaca, another great opportunity to learn more about former and current interns.  And then I returned home.  It was 8:45 when I got home.  For those counting at home, that’s a 12.5 hour day.  Phew.  I came home, talked to Kara for a long time, ate some ice cream, and passed out while watching Law & Order (my fave!).

Friday

On Friday, I woke up and prepared for the interview.  My time slot was at 11:30, so I had some time.  After reading the cover letter I sent in January (yes, that’s how long this whole process has been), I started the thank you note process by writing some drafts on the computer, printing the envelopes, and putting stamps on everything.  On Friday, I wore a black pinstripe suit, a basic white shirt with a two-tone fabric, and a grey/silver/pink tie.  It was awesome.  After dressing, I left for the interview.  I was actually not nervous at all, until I sat down in the interview room.

The interview went by in a flash.  It was about 30 minutes, and they asked eight questions.  One of the questions we had in advance, and it was about which subcommittees of the city council we would most and least want to staff.  I said the one I would most want to staff is the Finance, Innovation and Efficiency subcommittee because it would give me the most opportunity to learn about the budget situation and what can be done to overcome it.  For the one I would least want to staff, I had the best answer; I said I would least want to staff the Seniors, Families and Parks subcommittee because that was the subcommittee that the Youth and Education Office most often presented to, and I used to follow that subcommittee’s business when I worked at the City.

There were seven other questions, mostly typical interview questions.  One asked for an off-the-cuff response to a citizen calling to complain about the noise of the sirens from firetrucks coming from the station near her house.  Another asked, “What do you bring to the program, and what do you think the program could do for you?”  Most of the others I am blanking on now because I was so in-the-moment.  After finishing the interview, I visited with a few people and then went home and crashed.  Even now, Sunday night, I am still recovering some.  The strain and excitement of it all was so draining.  It was a long week, that’s for sure.

Next?

So what’s next?  I should hear from the city in the next two weeks or so, so I am expecting by graduation on May 14th.  If I do get the position, you better believe I will be insanely excited.  And if I do not, I will still be very excited to continue working for SLHI.  They have some awesome plans, and I would be trilled to be involved with those.  So, either way, I am happy.  And I am even happier that the interview process is over.  It’s out of my hands now.