Lincoln Park Zoo Interview

Location: Lincoln Park Zoo Administrative Building

Date: Tuesday, April 08, 2014; 12:30-1:00 pm

During the volunteer orientation session at the ‘Lincoln Park Zoo’, I had realized that scheduling my interview was going to be a challenge.  I had tried to convince them to schedule me early on a Saturday, but that did not work out.  So I called Jen, the volunteer coordinator, while at the TSA security line at the Airport and mentioned that we had to find a way to make this work.  I realized that some adjustment would be required and so decided to go for an interview during lunch time on a Tuesday.  Considering that the commute from my office to the zoo and back would take a longer time, I decided to work from home, which would be a much faster way for me to get there.  But getting there was just a start, since they had asked me come prepared with a short presentation.  When I asked on what, they said that it was totally up to me since all they wanted to do was evaluate my public speaking skills.  Aah well, I could talk about my presentation on ‘PJM Capacity…Unpacking the Issues and Developing Cost Management Strategies’, that I had delivered at a conference a couple of months ago, but perhaps that would have been an overkill!  I spent way too much time thinking about this and at one point thought about doing a presentation on why ‘The Lion King’ is one of my favorite films, but then decided to go with a recollection from my childhood – a visit to a zoo.

The beautiful Administrative Building

In the morning I received an email from Jen saying that the location of the interview was not the place where I had gone for the orientation, but an administrative building outside the zoo.  I arrived right on the dot and was immediately impressed by how good the building looked from the outside. I checked-in at the reception and then Jen came and handed me a form to fill out for background check.  One of the things they ask for is your residence for the past 7 years, meaning I had to use Google Maps to get the zip codes for some of my past addresses!  Shortly thereafter I went inside to interview with Jen and another lady, Betsy.  They asked about my volunteer history and I went over the list of some of my usual organizations.  Then they asked why I volunteer – a question which is not the easiest to answer – and I told them the story of how I had moved here and spent a year not knowing many people, and so got involved in the community.  Next up was my presentation and I said that I was going to talk about an incident from one of my earliest visits to a zoo.

I must have been 5 or 6 years old and had gone to the zoo with my parents.  I remember getting close to a Monkey’s cage and on display was a younger one, who was looking to play.  That meant that he reached out and grabbed hold of my hair in both of his paws and wouldn't let go for a long time.  I honestly don’t know if my dad was worried or amused at this but my mom definitely freaked out.  It ended well since the little one was just trying to say hello, but considering I was a kid myself, something like this could have scarred me…but it didn't.  Betsy and Jen enjoyed this story and I guess this covered my “presentation” requirement.  I told them that my mom always said that being the dominant species means we have a responsibility towards the others and that’s what people at zoo’s do.  Jen said that the zoo is not just a collection of animals on display, but it also helps with endangered species and several other conservation efforts that people have never heard of.

Next they asked me why I was interested in volunteering for ‘Lincoln Park Zoo’ and I said that to be very honest, while I liked animals, I did not love them.  So that was not the reason why I was there.  But I did want to learn more about the other species and this was a way to do it.  Plus, I loved immersive volunteering experiences and this one would definitely be one of those.  They asked what role I wanted and I said that while education role was an interesting one, the commitment was a lot in terms of the upfront training.  Also, the retail job would be fun since I would love to see kids try and convince their parents to let them buy plush animals.  However, I said that I would stick to guest relations since it covered the entire zoo.  Jen said that she agreed and it would be a good fit for me.  Next steps were scheduling two additional rounds of training and I knew that I would need to move things around for those.  Plus, Sunday’s from 1-5 pm was when I would be working, meaning that I would miss out on the afternoon ‘NFL’ games.  But I think I am going to enjoy doing this one, and know that I will be amongst some really nice people…and animals.