The In-Person Interview!

Beadraich - Well, now here was a day to remember. Woodsy and I had been selected for next step, the "in person" interview. So, we co-ordinated our schedules and chose December 5th as the day we went to Downsview Government Centre for the next step.

After waiting in the lobby for about 30 minutes, our group was called. We went downstairs to an area where they first made us check through show our passports and sign an authorization for them to do a background check on us.

Woodsy and I were seperated into seperate groups for this process, and I went off to the in-person interview, and Woodsy to the "training session". My interviewer was wonderful, she made me feel at ease with the process and soon we were laughing and carrying on as we awaited the moment where they switched groups. I must say that the questions seemed quite routine things such as "why do you want to volunteer", "how well do you ski" and "how would you handle this situation" were easily answered with the truth. So.... off I went to the training session, and Woodsy into the interview, where she had the same interviewer. (I think the interviewer liked Woodsy more than me).

The "Training Session" consisted of watching a video and then doing a Group Dynamic test. During the testing we were asked to put together an athlete package of souvenirs that met a budget and fit into a box. I know most of our group was focussed on the task, but I did notice the person hovering, watching how we interacted with others. There was one guy in the group, whom we had met earlier as he bragged about his experiences with alpine racing events. He was in my group, and his personality really came out during this task. He wasn't listening to others, really had no interest in what anyone's opinion was etc, so I did my best to build concensus. I'm really hoping he isn't a volunteer in Whister.

So, Woodsy and I left and came back to Guelph to enjoy a nice dinner as a celebration for having succeeded through another step. Now it was a matter of waiting to hear how we did... which took almost 8 months to the day.

(Photo is of me outside the Downsview Government centre with the Official Olympic Volunteer binder which we were pretty proud to have)