Originally Posted by
gloopy
The GOTW's, lol nice.
Many of the "pebbles" you remove by going to those extremes are imaginary pebbles you put in there in the first place that never actually existed.
I'm a strong proponent of preparing for something like that. I can't imagine anyone not paying for professional app review, test prep and a nice fitting suit and stuff like that. I roll my eyes at some of the convos about which cheap janky hotel to get instead of just springing for a better and closer one. All that said, the (by far) least prepared pilot I've ever seen or even heard of got hired. I'm talking a red tag clearance suit, over ironed with shiny seams and a taped up helmet bag instead of a briefcase. Not only didn't prep for the knowledge test, but intentionally skipped (guessed) at all of the hard questions because the odds of missing those relative to how many there were was minimal. Big bloody steak and potatoes dinner with beers the night before the (at the time) NASA physical. Still got hired (and I'm glad he did because he's a great guy). Im obviously not advocating any of that. He jumped with a single chute packed in WWII and lucky for him it opened. I wouldn't make that jump without a nice modern square canopy with a reserve packed by a professional.
My point is that at a certain extent, stressing about and trying to joust at every imaginary logistical windmill becomes counter productive; those who stress over things like that to that extent typically fall apart with a light "bad cop" press to test or when any part of their overthought plan doesn't survive the first point of contact.
Its a BFD. Prepare for it by spending the time, effort and money. Dry cab runs and things like that are just silly. And if they aren't, then there is an unlimited amount of other things to stress about and you'll never get ready because you'll be preparing for the wrong things.
Okay so all of those words just to say that the prep that makes YOU comfortable is what should make everyone else comfortable? Minor logistical problems can have an outsized effect on the rest of someone's day; things can snowball. Not practicing how to tie a tie until the morning of can make you late to call the uber/walk over, which can make you late (or later than you wanted) to the interview location, which can make you sweat on the way over, which can make you self-conscious about sweating through your suit, which can affect your self-confidence. These "pebbles" like how to tie a tie, and how long does it take to get there, and what should I wear, and how many days beforehand should I get a haircut, etc, can absolutely mess with your head if you don't consider them and have a plan.
Your Donnie Dip**** example is neat for that guy, but not everyone will be able to pull off the CJO under those circumstances. Nobody is advocating to exclude professional interview prep in order to focus on dry taxi runs, but for some people, ensuring that the minor logistical details are suitcased allows them to focus on the things that really matter, like knowing your TMAAT stories and 5 minute intro, etc. Nothing wrong with that, especially in a time when iPhones and Google Maps didn’t exist.
You are right in that it's all for naught if you fall apart under a little "bad cop" or you go to pieces when one facet of your tightly suitcased plan doesn't come together, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't plan in the first place. All of that expensive interview prep can also be for naught if you don't consider the nuts and bolts of actually getting there on time, well dressed, and confident. Especially for mil guys who are out of their element and in a totally new environment and possibly really interviewing for the first or second time in their entire lives.