Story continued...

So after waiting another eight or nine days I receive another email asking when would be a good time to call me for a lengthy phone interview. I reply anytime is good. A couple of days go by and I get the call. The recruiter is very nice and polite. She asks me series of questions and asks how I would handle different situations and so forth. Call lasted over an hour. She then said she would be in touch and would like to set up a in store interview. I think things are looking good.

Now another two of three days pass and I receive a email asking if the following Friday would work for me. I agree. The recruiter informs me that this would be a panel interview and suggests that I study up on CarMax, it's history, the positions responsibilities, and of course have some questions of my own.

That Friday comes and I am prepared for the onslaught that awaits me. I put on my good business suit. Shine those shoes and get there fifteen minutes early. Over the next six hours I am interviewed five times, given forms to fill out about back ground checks, credit history, driving history, blood type, hair length, and who my best friend was in the first grade. I was given computer tests as well. Each interviewer asked basically the same questions, and the last interviewer was the Purchasing Manager. He was a very nice and cordial person. We talked for fifteen minutes and he basically said things looked good... BUT! Ah the old but!. I would need to meet with the RVP... Regional Vice President, who approved every hire. They would send me to Phoenix to meet with him. No problem I said. Whats another six to seven hours of my life and three hundred miles round trip? They decided the following Wednesday would be good.

So that Wednesday comes up. I don that suit, shine those shoes, and remove all the pug hair from my accord thanks to my killer attack pug that sheds more than a hundred dogs combined. I drive to Phoenix and meet with the RVP. The meeting lasts an hour or more. He asks the same types of questions that the others asked. I was feeling good and positive. I was asked to give a urine sample there too. That was interesting. But I digress. I felt I was the best candidate for the job. Twenty years of management, sales, HR duties, and everything else under the sun. Willing to give my life to prove myself to a company. I was the man.

We the left the meeting with the understanding that he would contact that purchasing manager in Tucson and the recruiter in Virginia. They would notify me that afternoon or the next day. I made that long trip back home. As the day finished out, no call came, no email arrived, and no carrier pigeon made its way to me.

The next day came and a few hours later I received the email.

Thanks for applying and we liked you BUT!... we liked someone else even more.

Poof!!!! Thirty four days later, nine interviews, four hundred miles, thirty emails, and enough stress to ruin my stomach for years to come. The best guy for the job fell short.

So here I leave this part for another day...