Interviewing for a internship or full time position at Roundpeg is like everything else we do; high energy, lots of interaction, a mix of serious and silly and a series of unusual questions.
When I came in for my first interview at Roundpeg, I had practiced the answers to typical interview questions, but Lorraine asked several questions no one else had ever asked me in an interview. Reassuring me there was no right answer, she simply wanted to get feel for me as a person, who I was and what I was passionate about. Funny thing is, it only took her four words…
“Words, pictures, or numbers?”
On the surface, it is a simple enough question, but the answer runs much deeper. Depending on which of the three elements you gravitate toward, you see and interact with the world in three completely different ways. For example…
Allison is a classic words person. She reads and writes voraciously giving her such a broad vocabulary, she often sends the rest of us scurrying to a dictionary to keep up. She’s passionate about words. It’s precisely her passion which makes her so good at what she does; writing informative and engaging content and copy for our clients.
Taylor sees the world differently. With a strong picture-orientation, he intuitively understands what makes compelling visuals. Spending time with Taylor, as he looks for just the right photo, color or font is like seeing the world with a completely different set of glasses. I am routinely amazed at how he takes rough ideas and turns them into images.
People who meet Lorraine always assume she is a words person. Her skill for public speaking, teaching and story telling would seem 6o make that a safe bet. However, there is something only those of us who spend a lot of time with Lorraine know, deep down she is a numbers person. She actually enjoys opening up and working on spreadsheets. It’s a relatively rare find in marketing, but goes a long way toward contributing towards our success.
So what am I? In my first interview, I was absolutely sure I was a words person. Unlike Allison however, I’m a talker rather than a writer. As time has gone on my opinion on myself has changed. I’m starting to think there might be a fourth option: people. I love meeting new people and creating relationships. While I enjoy the challenge of creating a functional website, I enjoy training our clients and doing seminars. And I look forward to doing much more of that here as time goes on.
Everyone at Roundpeg is encouraged to do what their passionate about. Do you have the same philosophy at your organization? Before answering that question, make sure you answer this one: words, pictures, or numbers?