My first job interview was also my weirdest. In 1975, I had just graduated from Rider University with a B.S. degree in Management and a dream of beginning my marketing career. I had been answering classified ads in the Sunday NY Times and had several interviews with various companies in Manhattan.
It was great commuting to NYC via the Long Island Railroad and spending the day visiting employment agencies and filling out forms. I never did get any phone calls from any of those agencies but one day I did get a call after I had applied to a job ad in the Sunday Times.
Having just graduated, I was still living at home with my parents when the phone rang and it was for me. Someone from National Distillers and Chemical Corp. was on the phone to set up an interview for one of the job ads to which I had responded. We set the date and time and I hung up the phone.
My father, who was an executive with Sperry Rand at the time, said, “Wow, National Distillers is a Fortune 500 company,” and he explained to me the significance of their size and scope. Sperry was also a Fortune 500 company at that time, so my dad was intrigued.
I prepared for my big interview by doing pretty much nothing beyond wearing my best new suit and packing my briefcase or attache or whatever cheap imitation leather case I was using back then with a few extra resumes.
A few days later, I showed up early for my big day. I was not nervous, I was excited. National Distillers HQ was 40 Park Ave. and was between 40th and 41st St. Perfect! I was going to be working in Midtown and the Pan Am Building and Grand Central Station were only two blocks away.
I can still remember the HR guy who interviewed me. His name was Bob DiPietro and he seemed very positive and enthusiastic to see me. I remember the interview starting off with Bob saying, “Wow, Rider College, that’s a great school!” So I told him that Rider was known for its School of Business. We talked about that for a while, then he asked me about marketing and I explained that while I had majored in Management & Organizational Behavior, I had fallen in love with Marketing 101 and that had changed me. I told him how I had taken extra marketing courses and in my senior year, taken a 400 level marketing course where I learned so much about marketing and I knew that was what I wanted.
After a little more discussion, he made a phone call and sent me upstairs a few floors to interview Bill Hess. I was asked to wait and after a while, a secretary met me in the lobby and brought me in to meet Mr. Hess. This was getting easy.
We sat down and I quickly repeated a few of the things I had discussed with Bob from HR. I figured if it worked for Bob, why change things now? We didn’t stay on topic long, though. Somehow the conversation got derailed and Bill Hess was talking about his experiences in WW II. I guess he had a photograph on his desk or something that I asked about. I do remember he was talking about fighting in the Pacific on one of the islands of the bloody conflict. So, I started telling him about my Uncle John who also fought in the Pacific and had received the Distinguished Cross medal as well as several purple hearts. My dad was in the Navy but I don’t think Bill wanted to hear about my dad; he was more intrigued about Uncle John. So we shared war stories even though I had never enrolled in the military since I had been a college student with a low draft number. I decided maybe it was best not to share that piece of news. Mr. Hess went on a bit and reminisced.
After a while, he started telling me about the job, what he was looking for and he asked me if I thought I could handle the job. Seriously? We spoke more about WW II than the job requirements and now he wants to know if I can do the job?
The next day, Bob from HR called me to ask if I wanted the job and then we discussed start dates, benefits and all that jazz. I was in! Out of the few interviews I’d had since college, this was a company I could get into. I had interviewed with one company specializing in precious metals and a few other companies that are lost to the memory of time. But none had been a consumer goods company (my dream job) and certainly none had been a Fortune 500 company! My first real job, with a Fortune 500 company?
Needless to say, it was such a great introduction to marketing. After all, this was a company founded on great brands and brand marketing at that level is exciting. We often had models coming in to interview for magazine ads for our various brands. Yes, they were stunning: the models. The brands were pretty good too: Old Grand Dad, Old Taylor, Old Overholt, Old Crow (seeing any trend here?) among the bourbons we produced or owned; Gilbey’s Gin, vodka and rum; DeKuyper cordials, Ancestor scotch; Sauza tequila; and many other whiskies and other distilled spirits. It was a smorgasboard fit for a liquor cabinet.
Besides all the beautiful models running around to meet with various Brand Managers, another perk was the frequent tastings that were offered to employees. Every month there were at least a few tastings where the brand team would put two different whiskies or cordials or wines in a small paper cup in front of us with instructions to taste one, have a bit of cracker and sip some water “to clean your palate” and then proceed to the second cup. This was turning into Heaven.
Bill Hess and the team were kind and nurturing. I learned a lot about assessing the market, understanding brands and their trends up and down, and learning that what I really wanted was to be one of those Brand Managers who get to interview all those models and work with ad agencies and launch new products. That was the nut, what I really learned about myself, my strengths and my dreams.
But it would have to be somewhere else. As quick as I had learned and excelled, I began to realize that the Brand Managers were all part of an Old Boy’s Club, coming from Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth. After speaking with a few superiors (Bill Hess had retired about a year and a half after I started), I realized that while I was valued there, I was being put into a box. I wanted more opportunity and I was going to be a Brand Manager, no matter what.
That opportunity happened more than two years after I began working there. I received a great offer as Assistant Brand Manager at another Fortune 500 company. Sadly, I said good bye to my friends and associates at National Distillers. The job had given me a great start but didn’t provide a path forward.
In the new job, I was very fortunate. My boss left the company after I was there only three months, so they promoted me to full Brand Manager. My career was definitely taking off and I was only 25.
I wish I could thank Bill Hess now but I am sure he is long gone since he retired in 1977. I learned that interviews are funny things. It was all about the fit, his comfort with me although I never displayed any great wisdom on that interview. Somehow, he saw something in me and that was the start of my career. My interview with Bill was a long time ago: I retired back in 2020 after 44 years in marketing management, some sales and market research. I think he made a good choice.
Chris Ebel
10/2/21
Photo credit: @Mart1n