My job search in Washington D.C. was marked by mornings at a coffee shop in Chinatown.
August
I am barely in town a week when I first visit Compass Coffee on F Street. It’s August, muggy, and I am already sweating in the suit that I bought the day before.
Orientation hasn’t even started for the Georgetown LL.M. program, but I am already interviewing for externships. The law firm is in Chinatown, so I decide to metro to the area early and camp-out at a coffee shop. That way, I’ll be on-time and avoid the crush of rush-hour metro traffic.
I spend an hour at Compass Coffee before my interview — reading up on the firm, associates, and making sure I have my LL.M. schedule memorized. I’m sure it is obvious to the regulars that I am prepping for an interview — and that I am utterly unprepared for D.C. humidity (always blame the humidity, not the nerves.)
The interview at the law firm goes alright — I am never sure about these things — however, I don’t have time to dwell on it because I have another externship interview that day with a Big 4 accounting firm downtown.
I receive both offers at the end of the day. I accept the law firm’s offer, and start my Georgetown tax law LL.M. program with an externship already secured. ✨
January
It’s January when I return to Compass Coffee. I already have a semester behind me and the D.C. humidity has morphed into a surprisingly warm winter.
This time I’m back in a suit for second-round interviews at the law firm. I had a lot of fun with my fall externship, and apparently they were hiring!
I repeat my traffic-avoiding trick of going to the coffee shop before the law firm. I sit down before I realize that my table is next to one of the mean gays from Georgetown’s J.D. program.
I ignore him and dive into interview prep.
I go to the restroom about 25-minutes before my interview start-time. I am washing my hands and adjusting my tie in the bathroom when my belt breaks!
I am mortified.
Side story: The same thing happened to me last year when I interviewed at The Dallas Morning News. I am getting out of my Uber in Dallas when my belt snaps in two! I tried to fix it in the bathroom before that interview, but couldn’t. My interview at The News was also a day-long event that involved a lot of walking around the building — so I spent the entire time making sure that my suit-jacket didn’t pop open to reveal that I didn’t have a belt on.
I ended up getting the job at The News, so I guess no one noticed (or cared) that I was going sans-belt, however I had an additional problem at Compass Coffee this January: I bought new suits for my externship interviews back in August, but I lost weight during the fall. This means that my suit pants are now too large to stay up without a belt!
It’s now 20 minutes before my interview and I have no idea how I’m going to avoid mooning the entire coffeeshop. I attempt a quick fix on my belt, but it bursts once I take two steps out of the bathroom.
I rush back into the bathroom, rejig the belt, and quickly grab my laptop/bag from my table while avoiding eye contact with the mean law school gay.
After leaving Compass Coffee, I walk around Chinatown while holding up my pants in my pockets and wondering where the hell I am going to buy a belt — there are tons of restaurants and Ann Taylor Loft, but no men’s stores.
I end up walking into Urban Outfitters and asking the pierced teen cashier where the belts are.
“Upstairs,” he says.
Of course the belts are upstairs when your pants are falling down.
So I rush upstairs while the teen cashier wonders why some guy in a suit is at Urban Outfitters.
Upstairs, the only thing I can find is this ridiculous lime-green cloth belt that’s way too large. It’s now 10 minutes before my interview, so I pay, run to the changing room, and make it work.
I arrive at the law firm on time with a lime-green belt hidden under my suit jacket. There’s also no way that suit jacket is getting unbuttoned.
Thankfully, the second-round interview at the law firm was a video-conference with partners in different cities, so I didn’t even have to stand. The interview was alright — again, I am never sure of these things — afterwards, I scurry home with a determination to burn both my broken belt and the lime-green monstrosity that replaced it. 🔥
April
It’s the beginning of April and I am back at Compass Coffee. This time I am not in a suit — just in office-casual attire — because firm extended an Associate position and is starting me early during school as a part-time law clerk.
This means that I’ve now survived two job interviews after belt fiascos. However, I am not taking chances anymore — I now carry a back-up belt in my laptop bag because lime-green belts are not (and never will be) in my fashion wheelhouse.
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