Shaky economy boosting growth

Thirty seconds into one of his first postcollege job interviews and Miles Munz had already blown it, tripping over the old standard, "Tell me a little bit about yourself."

He didn't get the job, which is just as well.

Munz's foul-up ("the rest of the interview was just a blur") led to a brainstorm - and then to a company, founded with his best friend and hockey pal:

Wouldn't it be great, they thought, if there was some way that college kids could practice their interviewing skills in advance?

In 2003, Munz and Randy Bitting, both recent college graduates, started InterviewStream.com, working from a spare bedroom in Bitting's mother's house in Lansdale.

You'd think that an economy shedding jobs would knock out a company that sells job-interviewing technology. But it may be that the wretched economy is helping the company grow.

"It's a very competitive marketplace," said Bitting, 27. "Interviewing and communication skills are very important."

"Most important," Munz, 29, chimed in.

Initially the friends, who met on a Willow Grove ice hockey team when they were 13, figured they'd market their iView software product to college career centers.

But in December 2007, just in time for the sagging economy, InterviewStream.com signed a contract with the Philadelphia-based outplacement firm Right Management, a division of Manpower Inc.

Its counselors use iView to help laid-off workers brush up their interview skills.

"Our candidates love it," said career counselor Marlyn Kalitan, senior vice president for career management for Right Management.

"It's a lot about their body movement," she said. "It is how they are responding, what their facial expressions look like. It's not just the skillfulness of their answers."

The product is a Web alternative to the old videotaped practice interview.

To start, Munz and Bitting contacted recruiters to get questions - some general ("Why should we hire you?"), some stressful ("What is your greatest weakness?"), and some very specific to a field ("How do you value a business?").

There are even a smattering of

creative

questions, like "If you were a cucumber in a salad and someone was about to eat you, what would you do?" (No kidding.)

An online interviewer in a business suit poses the question. As a Web cam rolls, the candidates have two minutes to answer, forcing them to be concise. By hitting the replay button, candidates can instantly watch, evaluate and practice.

Then candidates can e-mail the practice interview to their career counselor, who can provide advice on body language, the content of the answer, and how to diminish the number of

umms,

likes

and

you knows.

(An online counter keeps, like, track and gives, you know, a report.)

The company's iView software is in use in 230 college and university career centers, including MBA Career Services Center at the LeBow College of Business at Drexel University.

"It's a wonderful coaching tool," said Marilyn Tietjen, associate director of the center.

The colleges subscribe to the Web site, and students get a password so they can practice any time in their dorm rooms using the Web cam, now standard on many laptops.

"By the time they go out on interviews, they're generally getting offers," Tietjen said. "It is not only building content, it is building their confidence."

With more colleges coming on board, the company employs seven, including Munz and Bitting, who started drawing salaries in 2006. Revenue is just shy of $1 million and projected to top it in 2009, Bitting said.

Their sales grew despite a recent setback. In August, the Riverwalk fire in Conshohocken destroyed Bitting's apartment and the company's headquarters. Munz lived in a nearby building that wasn't affected.

"It was a mess," Bitting said. "I had to move back in with Mom." He now lives in Plymouth Meeting.

All their software and records were backed up, but Bitting lost everything. They moved their headquarters - at least for now - to a business incubator in Bethlehem, Pa. A few staffers work in a small office in Conshohocken.

Ever since their days on the hockey team, Munz and Bitting had wanted to go into business together, even though they went to different colleges. Family and friends initially financed them. They have also received venture-capital financing.

So far, they said, they haven't had any serious disagreements.

"Our personal relationships and our business relationships have all melded into one," Munz said. "But if we do disagree, it is always down to 'rock, paper, scissors, shoot' - best of three.

"Whoever wins, wins," Munz said. "And I can read him like a book."

Bitting laughed.

Tell us the good, bad or ugly about your job- interview experiences in this spiraling economy. How is the interviewing going? What was your weirdest job interview, either as a candidate or an employer? We will not print your tale or name without contacting you first. E-mail us at

workvoices@phillynews.com