Stay Prepared for your Opportunity

By Robert Comradd

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Be Prepared for your Opportunity
In 2007, I applied for an electronic technician job and a year later, they finally respond with a call. It was the Department of Transportation. They wanted me to come to the Dallas office for an interview. My goals had already changed. I spent years looking for a job in electronics. The few I had found paid a whole lot less than what I was making changing light bulbs as a maintenance man. My goal now was to become a Motivational Speaker. Confuse as always, I said maybe Electronics is my calling. I might as well go to the interview and see what happens.
I didn’t want to miss an opportunity so I went. I wore starch kakis and a dress shirt with a tie. When I arrived, they escorted me to their conference room. I sat there for about five minutes and then three men showed up. One of the men was black and the other two were white, therefore I felt as thought I had a fair chance of winning the position. I thought the interview was going to be your typical interview. I was wrong again. Their first question was an electronic question and for the life of me, I could not give a correct answer. My brain was on lock down. They ask me to draw a diagram of a transistor. I said, “Sir, I can explain it to you but I forgot what it looks like. After that, one of them handed me a map book and asked me to locate a certain intersection on the map. I told them I left my glasses in the car and I could not see anything. One of the men offered me his glasses. This had to be the worst interview in history because I could not locate anything from the map book. They gave me two minutes to find it and I was totally lost. I said, “Sir, I know I can read a map but for the life of me, I cannot find the exact intersection.” They asked me one final question, “Sir, using current and resistance, how do you find voltage?” Finally, it was something I knew; it was ohm’s law. I replied, “Sir you multiply current and resistance to get voltage.” I apologized for not knowing the other answers. They said, “Well at least you know the ohm’s law.”
Well, you know the results; I did not get the job. When I was leaving the interview, I remembered what Les Brown said, “It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one then have an opportunity and not be prepared.” I am living proof that this statement is true because I was not prepared.