The Ultimate Job Interview

Imagine going through a 16-week job interview on national television!

Kelly Perdew did it and came out on top. His previous military service and business experience armed him with the skills necessary to beat out 17 other finalists, and win the gig of a lifetime.

Kelly was online to discuss how he trumped the competition to win season two of "The Apprentice."

To learn more about what Kelly's been up to since the show, visit www.kellyperdew.com

The transcript follows below.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

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Kelly Perdew: Hello Everyone!

I'm glad you were all able to come today and I look forward to answering as many questions as we have time for.

Let's get started.

Best,

Kelly

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Washington, D.C.: Kelly,
Congrats on the win. I thought you handled yourself great. In the last boardroom, when Trump asked you your thoughts about Raj, I thought your response was excellent, "after this task I am a fan of Raj." I felt this was the difference between you and Jennifer, rather than attack someone who you may have disagreement, you presented the positive. Is that the way you see it, another wards Jennifer's attack mode just to strong for Trump?

Also, I gave you credit for picking Elizabeth for your team in the final task. After her performance, Trump seemed surprise you picked her, but, in the end, she was a great benefit to your team.

Kelly Perdew: Thanks for the kudos.

Elizabeth was (and is) awesome. I'd highly recommend working with her. I knew she was strong, but had not performed well when she was the PM. I thought that would increase the likelihood of her being excited to do well on the final task.

I typically try and focus on the positive!

Best,

Kelly

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Washington, D.C.: Good afternoon, Kelly. Throughout the show I was regularly impressed with your performance on each task. I was particularly overwhelmed when you sketched an idea for a women's clothing design. How on earth does a guy from West Point find himself developing haute couture? Best of luck - Cassandra

Kelly Perdew: Hi Cassandra:

That was a crazy task... I just started getting frustrated that we were really falling behind and felt is someone didn't start performing we were going to be disqualified for not having the required number of designs. I had watched the designer sketch one so thought I'd give it a whirl. I tried to imagine what I'd want to see my fiancée wearing and it worked out! :-)

Best,

Kelly

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Columbia, S.C.: How demanding is your new position in the Trump organization? Is it mostly a PR thing, or do you do a lot of actual work within the company?

Kelly Perdew: It is pretty demanding so far! I'm working on several projects:

1. 40 Wall Street - 1 million square feet of commercial office space in downtown Manhattan. Phenomenal building and I'm just learning about commercial real estate.

2. Trump Tower Tampa - 52 story residential condo in Tampa Florida. I will be assisting with the promotion of this property. It is a great project.

3. Trump Ice - Yes, we are going to explore blowing out Trump Ice as a national branded water.

4. Apprentice Promotion - Don't let anyone kid you, a part of this job is promoting one of Trump's great properties -- The Apprentice.

Yes, there is a lot of "real" work involved!

Kelly

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Arlington, Va.: Kelly:

What kind of preparation did you do just for the t.v. show? Did you read any books, watch the earlier season, or got a coach?

Kelly Perdew: I didn't do any preparation at all. I was busy running two businesses and didn't have time to prepare. My friends and family members convinced me it was a great opportunity and that I just needed to go be myself.

So I did... and it seemed to work out.

Kelly

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Bethesda, Md.: Kelly, first off let me say thank you for your service to our country.

Clearly your military experience helped you rise above the competition on "The Apprentice." What were you able to take from your military experience and implement on the show to beat out your fellow competitors?

Kelly Perdew: Thank you very much!

My military experience helped immensely. The low-level stuff that is obvious -- time management, attention to detail, etc... -- all the way up to fundamental strategy for winning the tasks and leadership training for managing the teams. I've written a lot about this and will continue to do so in my forums on www.kellyperdew.com.

My hat is off to our service men and women everywhere that are protecting our freedom.

Best,

Kelly

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D.C. metro area: Hi Kelly, congratulations on your win first of all! You deserved it and we rooted for you!

My question is how did you decide to choose "The Apprentice" as a medium for an interview with Donald Trump?

I'm sure Trump Organization hires at the executive level in traditional ways, so I am wondering what may be the motivation behind a typical contestant's participation in such a public test of character. Thanks!

Kelly Perdew: In any other format it would have been unlikely I'd even had a meeting with the Trump Organization. I'm a start-up business guy, not a real estate guy. The show allowed me to demonstrate my leadership and problem-solving capabilities that are really applicable to any business environment. Once you demonstrate those for anyone, they'll want you in their organization.

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Alexandria, Va.: I've enjoyed both seasons of the Apprentice, and I thought you were a worthy winner.

My question for you is, aside from the fact that you won, how effective do you think the Apprentice's process is at demonstrating who would be the best for the job the Mr. Trump is filling?

For example, it seemed to me that the process tends to encourage personal conflict for t.v. dramatic purposes, and that some of the tasks you were given, like the several street-selling tasks (dog-washing, ice cream vending) don't have a lot to do with the corporate business world.

Kelly Perdew: Thanks for the kind words!

I do believe the process really gives people a good idea of who you are, how you think, and how you work with others. And there are fundamental business principles in every task (even the dog washing!) so it is important to remember those as you execute. As you pointed out, it is also a t.v. show so some of the more dramatic stuff is played up.

All-in-all, I'd say Mr. Trump and his team got a pretty good picture of who people were.

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Denver, Colorado: What is the role of luck or chance in your success?

Kelly Perdew: Lady luck always has an impact. My grandfather says he'd "take luck over skill any day," and I acknowledge that it sure is good to be lucky. But I've also heard that luck is when opportunity meets preparation (in other words, the more prepared you are the more likely you are to succeed). As an entrepreneur I've had to fight upstream for so many things. I've been successful sometimes and other times not as successful. The important thing is that I've learned in that process. As long as you keep working hard and learning, I think you'll make your own luck.

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Atlanta, Ga.: Kelly,

What happens when your "apprenticeship" is done next year? Do you get a permanent position with Trump? Whose call is that?

Kelly Perdew: I think we'll treat it just like any other business deal. Near the end of the term you examine the relationship (pros and cons) and both sides make a decision on whether it makes sense to continue, adjust the terms, or part ways. I'm trying to focus on the 11 months ahead and learn as much as possible.

Best,

Kelly

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Potomac, Md.: So who's running your two businesses now?

Kelly Perdew: www.coreobjects.com - high end outsourced software development company. We have a very strong management team and I handed off my responsibilities as President to the rest of the team and am still on the Advisory Board.

www.motorpride.com - portal for car, truck and motorcycle enthusiasts. My business partner and I hired a general manager and we're just starting to market our services next month.

A critical aspect of growing any company is attracting and retaining good people. I've tried to do that will all of my businesses.

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Washington, D.C.: Is your current job really the gig of a lifetime?

From my vantage point, the losers (Troy, Kwame, Amy, Raj, etc) seem to be more in the press and are cashing in more on their experience than the winners (Bill and you).

"The Apprentice" winners seems to be just working. Your thoughts?

Kelly Perdew: I'm certain everyone is taking advantage of their opportunities and I'd expect nothing less. I've got a full year of working very closely with Mr. Trump and his organization. I plan to make the most of it -- not just in learning about real estate, but in networking with the amazing people he knows and interacts with on a daily basis.

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Millbrae, Calif.: Where do you currently fit within Donald Trump's organization? Do you report directly to Donald Trump? If indirectly, how many levels separate you and Donald Trump?

Has your performance with the Trump organization been formally reviewed since you were hired? If so, what was surprising about the structure of the review? If no, when will your performance be reviewed, and who will do the review?

Kelly Perdew: I report directly to Mr. Trump, but also work closely with others in the organization.

I have not had a formal review (geez, give me a sec to catch my breath! :-), and anticipate that will occur toward the end of the 12 months as we determine what will occur going forward.

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Anonymous: Has Donald ever yelled at you?

Kelly Perdew: Not yet! :)

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Gaithersburg, Md.: A lot of people suspect that Mr. Trump is only out to hire good looking, smart, white males to hire for his business and that having Kwame and Jen in the finals was only delaying the inevitable. Have you had people tell you this? What is your take on it?

Kelly Perdew: I strongly feel Mr. Trump selects the person he feels is most capable (of course I'm biased, eh?) and can say that is also what I see inside his organization. He is 100% about execution. If you perform, he'll reward you. There are people that have been with him 20 and 30 years. That is amazing in this day and age of job-hopping and is a testament to his leadership and loyalty.

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Gaithersburg Md.: Congrats on the new job. Do you feel it made the show easier or harder for the applicants having more corporate tasks like the Pepsi task, amazing bar task, etc... over more of the tasks seen in the first season and the hotel task from last week? I enjoyed watching the less corporate tasks of the first season much more.

Kelly Perdew: I am all for the big corporate tasks. As a contestant, one of the best parts of the show was interacting with the senior executive at Fortune 500 companies. That is an amazing opportunity. For instance, I was able to lead a team that had the chance to pitch our product and marketing plan to the entire Pepsi Marketing team!! That is the kind of activity that will attract very high caliber people. Did I have fun washing dogs? Yes, but for a serious businessperson, the large corporations provide great tasks.

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Ithaca, N.Y.: Kelly -

Congratulations, I thought you conducted yourself with dignity and poise and showed yourself to be the only reasonable choice.

Having both experienced the thing as well as watched it on t.v., what aspect do you think was least represented on the shows? Put another way - what would surprise viewers the most about the real-life experience that (for whatever reason) wasn't portrayed on t.v.?

Kelly Perdew: The tasks were incredibly difficult and that does not come through for viewers. For instance, selecting empty space, cleaning it, setting a menu, making the menus, buying all the food, utensils, equipment, drinks, "ambiance," and then seating/waiting/washing/checking 40+ customers that give you a Zagat rating in a restaurant all in less than 2 days is very, very hard. All the while have little to no sleep and monitoring every single penny... The tasks are much more difficult than they appear on t.v.

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New York, N.Y.: Which of your fellow contestants, if any, would you consider hiring someday, and why would you hire them?

Kelly Perdew: Kevin - Incredibly driven, strong across the board.
Ivana - Creative, hard-working, funny.
Sandy - Hard-working, honest, not afraid to get dirty.
Maria - Highly intelligent, marketing expert, hard working.
Elizabeth - Intelligent, thoughtful, creative.

There were a lot of strong people on the show.

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Washington, D.C.: Congratulations a well deserved win! During the finale Trump stated he had some reservations for hiring a "military" educated executive, b/c he didn't think it would work in his business world. Do you think you have changed his mind about that assessment? I, for one, think it's an asset.

Kelly Perdew: I believe those comments were for dramatic pause. I don't think Mr. Trump or anyone else has any doubt about the fundamentals of the military applying to the corporate world. The list of very successful corporate leaders that have come from the military is huge.

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San Francisco, Calif.: This season's "Apprentice" is book smart vs. street smart. Did you feel there were strong differences in performance between those of your competitors with advanced degrees vs. those with only a BA or less? I thought Sandy was one of the stronger, more creative performers (not to mention personally successful outside the show) and she didn't have a college degree. Same for Troy in the first season.

Kelly Perdew: To me (and to Mr. Trump I think) it is really about performance. Performance in terms of actual execution as well as performance in terms of problem-solving, leadership, how you handle yourself on your feet in the boardroom, etc... I don't think you can say without meeting someone and seeing them in action that they are (or aren't) qualified based solely on their academic education. We're talking about business here and that requires interaction with others -- sometimes confrontational. I personally don't care if someone has a degree or not. I care about whether they pull their weight and do what they say they're going to do! Sandy was fantastic on the show and as far as I can tell, Troy is a pretty amazing individual. I did not notice strong differences in performance between advance degrees vs. BAs or less.

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Arlington, Va.: Quick question - your thoughts on George and Carolyn?

Kelly Perdew: Both of them are pretty amazing.

It wasn't pleasant to tangle with either of them in the boardroom! However, I've been lucky enough to get to work with George on some of the projects I'm on. He's got an amazing amount of experience and has been kind of enough to make himself very available to me. Carolyn also really knows her stuff and is quite impressive.

I'm happy to be working with them.

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Herndon, Virginia: First of all, big congratulations on your victory. I own a small company that works on large-scale telecommunications projects for the U.S. government and a few commercial companies. We have had a hard time securing funding to work on a non-contract basis, and I was wondering if you had any input on Mr. Trump's views of supporting startup companies. Does Mr. Trump invest in new technologies, and if he does how does one go about getting in touch with his organization?

Kelly Perdew: I have not seen where the Trump Organization has invested in technology companies.

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Kelly Perdew: Thanks everyone for some great questions. Best of luck in all your endeavors and don't forget to contribute on my business forums if you have any start-up issues!

www.kellyperdew.com

Best,

Kelly

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