Howdy!

One of the coolest things I have participated in has been the interviews for the Innovation Pipeline manager! My first day of work, my boss told me we were headed to City Hall for the first round of manager interviews. Not only did I get to sit in on every interview, but I got to help grade the candidates! Pretty fun job for an intern.

One of the most intriguing parts of this process was seeing the depth and variety of the backgrounds of the candidates. From starting small businesses and running other business incubators to developing US and NATO policies and US Rural economic policies, these candidates had incredibly interesting professional backgrounds.

My favorite part of interviews was asking follow-up questions. There was a sheet of questions each interviewer took turns asking, but follow up questions were non-scripted. I appreciated being able to ask questions from a millennial’s point of view. The IP won’t just reach out to millennials in Tyler, but it was fun and encouraging to represent their voice in this process. Seeing how millennials fit into the whole community has been very eye-opening. Many students leave the East Texas area after graduating because there are fewer opportunities than in cities such as Dallas and Houston. Being part of an initiative to reach out to millennials in the Tyler community is very rewarding.

It’s also encouraging to know that the IP imitative won’t just reach to millennials, but also to other members of the community. Those who attended college and those who did not. Those who have great ideas and those who want to help build out those great ideas. There’s truly a desire to reach broad sections of the community and bring folks from many different backgrounds together in East Texas.

I also got to write the interview questions for the final round of interviews! Talk about a bit of pressure. These questions still had to be broad enough to cover previously discussed topics, but also more detailed and tougher to answer. I can’t wait until the management position is filled. It won’t be filled before my internship is finished, but the enthusiasm from the candidates was wonderful and I’m so excited for this position of leadership to spark some real growth in the community.

That’s all for now,

Megan