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Geocaching And The Job Interview


fly46

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So today I'm interviewing for a new job (Bass Pro Shops) and before the interview I walked around the store to re-familiarize myself with everything. You know you're a geocacher if... Went straight to electronics first to see if they sell Garmin or that other brand.. So the interview starts off and she's asking me about what I do and stuff, so I said I cache and she - of course - hadn't heard of it, so I did a ten minute monologue about it. lol. She asked which section I wanted to work in, I said I'd like to sell Garmins. lol.

 

The worst thing is that I keep walking around the store thinking "ooh, that would make good swag" for just about everything... Not "Oh, I'd like that for me" of course not... "Oh, that would be a good item for a cache" lol!

 

Me thinks that fly's making a cache with paycheck#1...

 

(Good Cacher Vibes, too, btw... Second interview is tomorrow)

 

So lets share well wishes for me as well as more seemingly not related places that a geocaching story has suddenly cropped up.. and hey, lets throw in some You Might Be A Cacher Ifs for good measure (I know theres another topic of them. Let it die, be creative, make up new ones)

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Does that mean we will all get the cacher's discount at BPS now?

 

Hope you get it.

If you get the cacher's discount does that mean I'll get invited to Dinner some thursday instead of hearing about it later from Joe?

 

lol. Ask nice and I'll let you use it.

 

Just think... If I get this job, I can afford to go to Woodstock!

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Went straight to electronics first to see if they sell Garmin or that other brand..

 

We don't have any BPS in my area, so I just recently visited my first at Myrtle Beach earlier this month. I did EXACTLY the same thing.

 

My whole reason for visiting was to pick up a compass for caching because I had left mine in my other car.

 

Good luck with the job - seemed like it would be a fun place to work.

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Good luck on the job, hope it works out for you. One of these days I may have to go into one of those stores. The only one I know of around here is one I won't go into because it's in a shopping center I won't go into as a matter of principle (yeah, I know, it's childish, but they ruined a really good amusement park).

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Good luck on the job, hope it works out for you. One of these days I may have to go into one of those stores. The only one I know of around here is one I won't go into because it's in a shopping center I won't go into as a matter of principle (yeah, I know, it's childish, but they ruined a really good amusement park).

and that would be the particular one in question.

 

You are right they ruined a perfectly good park to build it. Sweet deal for Gaylord though, the lease on the property is for more each year than the park was supposed to make, if nothing went wrong. I do miss it though.

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That's the problem with eccentric hobbies, because the question always comes up at interviews and other get-to-know you things. That's part of the reason i still own a set of golf clubs and do emply them from time to time. I can honestly answer "golf" if I don't want to go into explaining geocaching, or why I watch birds or dragonflies or......

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That's the problem with eccentric hobbies, because the question always comes up at interviews and other get-to-know you things. That's part of the reason i still own a set of golf clubs and do emply them from time to time. I can honestly answer "golf" if I don't want to go into explaining geocaching, or why I watch birds or dragonflies or......

I play disc golf for the same reason - I just drop the "disc" part when convenient :D

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Went straight to electronics first to see if they sell Garmin or that other brand..

Let me give you a tip regarding your statement. It sounds like your are a bit biased.

 

Having been in the outdoors industry for over 30 years in all facets from sales, to managment and ownership. If you are on the sales floor and make nonprofesional comments to customers like this brand is junk you are going to lose credibility and lose sales. First you may not know who the person is that you are talking to, it could be a rep for the brand you are bad mouthing (I saw some one get fired that way once). It could be what is called a secret shopper that retailers hire to shop their stores to check on there employees. Even if Bass pro does not carry that other brand as you put it, they may have it on order. One of the basic rules in retail is "Sell what you own" If you are not familiar with a product, tell the customer, do not BS them, get someone to help you out.

Managment staff do not want to see sales staff that are bad mouthing products, even brands they do not carry It is non proffesonial and can cost a store sales. A person may come to buy a brand that you do not like for them selves or as a gift, once a cuctomer has made up their mind, you are not going to change it. Give them what they want. In retail there are slow seasons and busy seasons, went slow season arrives store look to cut corners (This means employee hours) The employees that handle them selves in a proffesional manner are the ones that do not get thier hours cut. And guess which ones get laid off when it is really slow in a store. Here is a tip that most sales people do not know about. When you see a customer do not say "Can I help you" it easy to say no to that question. If some one looking hiking boots say to them "What typ of hiking do you do?"

IF they are looking at a GPS display ask them "Do you want a GPS with or Without a map display"

 

Don't take this post as a flame, that is not the intention. Good luck with the Job interview. When you start the job. Try not to get carried away with the pro form purchases that are offered by manufactures-that is if Bass Pro allows them.

 

Once you have been there for a while ask the manager if you can do a geocacing seminar for the public.

Edited by JohnnyVegas
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Went straight to electronics first to see if they sell Garmin or that other brand..

Let me give you a tip regarding your statement. It sounds like your are a bit biased.

I think we're all a bit biased to some extent. Since this is an employer-free forum you can say whatever bias you want here. Consider the situation before going into a lecture. I doubt fly46 would be badmouthing the merchandise to their customers.

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Good luck Fly! I would think that caching would qualify you for the GPS department!

 

Wow! And I bet they have an employee discount! It could be hard to be a cacher working in a store that sells sooooo many things useful for caching! Spend the paychecks on outdoors stuff or life necessities? Sooo hard to decide! :(

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Good luck Fly. The first fellow cacher we met was MaMaBear who works at the BPS here in NY. We found her selling GPSr's . She uses a Garmin, but was quick to show me mapping software for my Magellan.

On the same trip to the BPS we did 6 caches in the area and they were all by her(we didn't plan it that way).

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Did an interview that went over my transportation background and then the interviewer noticed that on my resume under hobbies I had put..."I'm the Publisher of Today's Cacher"

 

Now they want to know why a publisher is looking for a job? Because it dosen't pay anything. Their question...will it? My answer.. Well I hope so. Their answer...O.k...thank you for coming in.

 

You people have ruined me! :(

 

El Diablo

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When I interviewed for my current job I had dinner the night before with the boss, sales manager and their wifes. It was an informal meeting with very little talk about the job. Dinner started at 7pm. Around 9:30 he asked about what I did in my free time. Of course one of the things I mentioned was geocaching. He asked if there were any nearby. My wife and I had planned on doing a little night caching and I knew that one was with .1 of a mile of the place we were having dinner. I asked him if he wanted to go find it with me. Anyway after a short walk on the trail we found the cache around 10pm.

 

The next day during the interview my future boss asked if I thought I could sell stuff. My response "I got you out looking for a tupperware box at 10 pm within 5 hours of meeting you."

 

I got the job. :-)

 

Anyway good luck Fly46

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Wow! And I bet they have an employee discount! It could be hard to be a cacher working in a store that sells sooooo many things useful for caching! Spend the paychecks on outdoors stuff or life necessities? Sooo hard to decide! :(

Blimey if there isn't a lot of truth in that statement!

 

One of my non-career jobs back in '96 was as a camera salesman at Central Camera Co. in downtown Chicago. I was at the peak of my photography phase. I tell you what, I nearly starved. I was in heaven and hell at the same time.

 

Be careful! Make up a budget for yourself before you get the job, hehehe.

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Wow! And I bet they have an employee discount! It could be hard to be a cacher working in a store that sells sooooo many things useful for caching! Spend the paychecks on outdoors stuff or life necessities? Sooo hard to decide!  :(

Blimey if there isn't a lot of truth in that statement!

 

One of my non-career jobs back in '96 was as a camera salesman at Central Camera Co. in downtown Chicago. I was at the peak of my photography phase. I tell you what, I nearly starved. I was in heaven and hell at the same time.

 

Be careful! Make up a budget for yourself before you get the job, hehehe.

Yep, that is why I have never in my life worked for a bookstore. I would be doomed!!!!! :rolleyes:

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First off to stay on topic... Good luck Fly, hope the interview goes better than well.

 

You never know what will come up in an interview and how it will impact.

 

There is a BPS near work and I stop in every now and again, I see interesting swag and lots of neat TB ideas. Luckily I manage to not spend too too much on any one visit.

 

On the other hand like Carleenp, I could never work in a bookstore, I have enought trouble just walking into one.

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Best of luck with the job. I met a fellow cacher from the NY area who also works for BPS and in the GPS department. I was looking for a new gps and looking for suggestions from fellow cachers and she was very helpfull in suggesting various models that I might like.

 

I think it would be cool to work there. They have such a variety of products to choose from and lots of swag.

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That's the problem with eccentric hobbies, because the question always comes up at interviews and other get-to-know you things. That's part of the reason i still own a set of golf clubs and do emply them from time to time. I can honestly answer "golf" if I don't want to go into explaining geocaching, or why I watch birds or dragonflies or......

Couldn't agree with you more! And you've struck a nerve with me that leads to this:

 

Corporate America "things considered acceptable by most, that you do in your free time and reasons why you need to leave work on time most days":

 

- Family commitments

 

- Church commitment (ever seen anyone have their boss give them a hard time when they have to leave on time for Wednesday night choir practice?)

 

- A tee time

 

And then by contrast, Corporate America "things that some would make a negative value judgment about and frown upon you if you disclosed that this is why you need to leave work on time most days":

 

- Bowling league (despite the fact that you've been doing it 20+ years, have a financial and personal commitment to your team, and are NOT just going there to drink and be loud like the "casual Saturday night bowler") (can you tell this is a LONG TIME hot button for me!)

 

- Geocaching (although you could (and I do) say "hitting the local hiking trails for some much-needed exercise and relief from the stress of the workday around here" and this WOULD be considered acceptable by most...go figure: "hiking"=good and acceptable, "geocaching" (i.e., hiking WITH A PURPOSE) considered "weird", "eccentric", and "not a good enough reason why you need to leave work on time today")

 

-Dave R.

Edited by drat19
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Best of luck with your new job! And it's funny you mentioned it, because I mentioned geocaching on my resume when I applied to a few jobs recently! :( Honest.

In all seriousness, I'd LOVE to feel comfortable to mention Geocaching as part of a corporate job application process. Sadly, though, it's not in the same mainstream as family/church/golf (i.e., where they're evaluating you and are not saying, "He's weird, he's not like us.")

 

Yet another reason why it's time for me to get the h*ll out of the corporate rat race and into a new line of work! (seriously)

 

-Dave R.

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That's the problem with eccentric hobbies, because the question always comes up at interviews and other get-to-know you things. That's part of the reason i still own a set of golf clubs and do emply them from time to time. I can honestly answer "golf" if I don't want to go into explaining geocaching, or why I watch birds or dragonflies or......

This guy I know told me once that whenever he interviews somebody and they mention golf, he makes a point to ask them what their handicap is. If their handicap is too low, the interviewer would consider that to be a negative because it might be an indication that the interviewee spends too much time on the golf course, and not enough time working.

 

If anybody ever asks me during an interview how many finds I have, or how many posts I have in the forums, I'll have to keep this in mind.

 

Oh wait, I don't have that many of either.

 

Nor am I much of a golfer.

 

Hope you get the job!

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This guy I know told me once that whenever he interviews somebody and they mention golf, he makes a point to ask them what their handicap is. If their handicap is too low, the interviewer would consider that to be a negative because it might be an indication that the interviewee spends too much time on the golf course, and not enough time working.

Heh, that's why I don't mention my 20-years-in-the-making, quite-a-bit-higher-than-average bowling average to anyone anymore, either! (Although as I stated above, unless your boss is also a league bowler, bowling is always a no-win to talk about in the corporate world...still carries the unfair "blue collar", "not like us here in Corporate America", "you must only be in it for the beer" stigma.)

 

-Dave R. (still on-topic but also off-topic here)

Edited by drat19
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When I was downsized several months ago, I was hired by another cacher. Tell me there ain't no support network out there! :(

Here's hoping that's the case! I'm going to be interviewing in another month or so! Any advertising people in NYC need a good worker with caching experience? :(

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Good luck on the job, hope it works out for you.  One of these days I may have to go into  one of those stores.  The only one I know of around here is one I won't go into because it's in a shopping center I won't go into as a matter of principle (yeah, I know, it's childish, but they ruined a really good amusement park).

and that would be the particular one in question.

 

You are right they ruined a perfectly good park to build it. Sweet deal for Gaylord though, the lease on the property is for more each year than the park was supposed to make, if nothing went wrong. I do miss it though.

In all the years I visited here before I moved down, I never once went to the park. I'm sorry they demolished it to put the mall in, too, but from what I heard they were losing money with the park, so they closed it. Mills malls are a chain of theme malls. I don't know if they were in the plans when the mall went down or not.

 

Let me give you a tip regarding your statement. It sounds like your are a bit biased.

Perhaps I should rephrase it for you. :( I looked to see if the product that the store I wanted to work at used the items I was familliar with and used myself. I do not use a Magellan, so selling one wouldn't exactly be right. How can you tell a customer why they should shell out hundreds of dollars if you don't use that particular product?

 

Interestingly enough, until I checked what BPS sold, I had never even SEEN a Cobra GPSr.

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I think it would be cool to work there. They have such a variety of products to choose from and lots of swag.

That's my problem. I was looking through the store thinking "Ooh, that would make good swag when I get my first paycheck".... All I can think is thank god I don't also hunt or fish or anything like that.

 

Although if I get this job, I will have to buy my tent for GW3! And sleeping bag. And cooler. Because I don't have any of that stuff.

 

The second interview is in 2 1/2 hours. I'm nervous - sure sign I really want this.

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The reason they gave for closing the park was that it wasn't making ENOUGH money, not that it was losing money. Did a check on some issues of the Tennessean from that time.....seems that the profit from the park was down to about two million a year, and Gaylord wanted more and Mills convinced them they could do more. What it boiled down to was, in my opinion, just corporate greed on the part of Gaylord.

 

Nevertheless, I sure hope you get that job, and wish you the best of luck in the interview.

 

Hank

Edited by BigHank
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Please tell me you're talking about Opryland! Holy cow!

 

They built that when I was a teenager. They declared the wonderful old Ryman unsafe and used that as an excuse to build Opryland. Then, once it was done, they opened the Ryman to tours (unsafe! Ha!). I've always resented the old Nashville establishment for making faces at the Opry for all those years, until it looked like it might be something profitable.

 

I worked one whole dreadful Summer in Opryland, in the Dixieland section. They played the same short dixieland tape loop over and over, except once an hour when a live dixieland band sauntered through the streets. It was like having a perpetual New Orleans funeral in my head.

 

To get back within spitting distance of the topic: best of luck to you on the job, Fly. And if you get it, please jump up and down on the spot a few times, just to make sure Opryland is good and dead. Do it for your old Auntie, 'k?

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I did quite a bit of work with Opryland when it was still here, including the Bass Pro Shop's preview center in the park. The original plan was to build the BPS and some other anchors outside the park and have the park still there as part of a shopping/amusement destination to supplement the convention destination hotel. Mills Bros. was involved in this plan. They made an offer to lease the themepark property for 29 years at a figure that was larger than the projected profits for the park. Gaylord agreed and turned the property over to Mills, who tore down the park and built the monstrosity that we have now. 23 years or so from now the buildings will be depreciated out and the property will go back to Gaylord.

 

The park was making profits, but the culture that had recently taken over the top spots at Gaylord were tasked to "make money, not PR". It is working, gaylord has made a metric load of cash out of this deal.

 

On the other hand, there are several caches hidden on the property now, that would not have been available inside the park. So I guess that is worht something.

 

To be OT, relax Fly, I am sure you will do well, just be polite and comb your hair. You will do just fine.

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