The thing that really impressed me about my first permanent job after college (at what we now call the Defense Information Systems Agency) was the approach that

The thing that really impressed me about my first permanent job after college (at what we now call the Defense Information Systems Agency) was the approach that the interviewer took. He started off by saying that he knew I had interviewed at a lot of other companies on campus, and that I’d probably heard a lot of positive things said about those companies. He said that I could assume that all those same things were also true of working for the government. What he then proceeded to spend his time doing was telling me about all the disadvantages of working for the federal government. I really, really appreciated that authentic and unvarnished (well, probably lightly varnished) approach. And for some reason, they decided to hire me anyway. Thanks, Mr. Brewer!