SLCC
Professional Career Interview Project
Eric Renderos
Raymond Bingham
Comm 1010
March 7, 2012
Professional Career Interview Project
CONTACT AND PLANNING –
My initial contact with Mr. Costello was a personal introduction at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, UT. During this initial contact I acquired the proper contact
information to get in touch with my interviewee. I called the interviewee of my choice to inquire if Mr. Costello would be willing to sit down with me to assist in this project.
He willingly accepted and showed interest. In the beginning we could arrange a mutual time to sit down for the interview. I was going to be out at the race track the
following Monday so we agreed that I would contact Mr. Costello and see if he was available that afternoon. Luckily he was and I was able to conduct my interview.
To prepare for the interview I arranged a few topics and several questions for each topic. The topics consisted of
-Intro to motorsports
-Career
-Future plans and advice
My plans for opening the interview were to basically describe the purpose of the interview and describe why I chose him for the interview. The question topics I chose
were career positions and future goals. The questions I asked were
-How was motorsports introduced into your life?
-How did you get your start in motorsports as a career?
-What different positions have you worked in in your career?
-What major challenges have you faced in your career in motorsports?
-What is the most impressive engineering feat you’ve witnessed in your career?
-What was your favorite personal experience in your career?
-What if any future goals do you have involving motorsports?
-What advice would you give anyone looking to pursue a career in motorsports?
In the interview after I presented the first couple questions most every other question I had after that was answered as the interview carried on.
The interview took place at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, UT in a shop called Tatum Racing. For the interview I didn’t change my appearance any different that any
normal day. In the beginning I was struggling to find an efficient way to document the interview. I decided to record the interview on my phone and document it afterward.
This made everything very smooth and greatly reduced my stress and anxiety about the assignment.
I do plan to have future contact with Mr. Costello both as a personal mentor and as an amazing and knowledgeable motorsports connection. I learned that I do get
nervous but I wasn’t apprehensive about conducting the interview. I was very much excited to sit down with someone who had such a large racing background
especially in Formula 1 as an American. Id have to say my interview style lacks aggression I do believe I could have speed things up a bit if my plan was structured
better. I also learned that the interview process is difficult on both ends.
E-portfolio Reflective writing prompts
· My thoughts as I learned about this assignment was nervousness I didn’t wanna step outta my comfort zone nor do I ever like to be told what to do but I was
very much excited because I knew which direction I was going to take this project
· My anxiety was at a minimal level during this all up until the few minutes before the interview.
· I used a good friend of mine as a resource since he works at the race track and has been involved in motorsports all his life.
· I chose this particular person because of there experience in Formula 1 which as an American is very rare.
· My pre-interview research was minimal a procrastinated and didn’t research my interviewee other than info I could gather from my resource used.
· This interview if anything encourages me more to pursue a career in motorsports. This experience was very inspirational.
· The life lessons I learned are NO dreams are to big.
· I will forever know the personal story of this incredible individual and will strive to follow his steps.
· Networking skills are important due to there ability to provide unlimited opportunity.
· The advice I would give to anyone given this opportunity is to look at the big picture is this project. Its much more that a grade.