This job is child’s play
You need more than a résumé to score a spot at the new FAO Schwarz
WHEN you think about it, job interviews are a kind of song and dance. But the folks at FAO Schwarz decided to take that a step further: For its new Rockefeller Center flagship, opening in early November, the fabled toy store asked prospective employees to perform — sing, dance, do magic tricks — on an actual off-Broadway stage. “FAO is such a theatrical institution,” says Anthony DiAmbrosio, whose official title is flagship experiences manager. “We’re looking for fun, theatrical employees.”
At last count, 1,700 people applied for 140 positions, from cashiers to (toy) race-car mechanics and doll doctors. Of those, about 500 recently strutted their stuff at the Triad Theater before DiAmbrosio’s team. Here are a handful of those hopefuls.
Eric Brown
Age: 31 Home state: South Carolina
Superpowers: close-up magic tricks with everything from ribbons and coins to Sharpies: “I can make them all disappear or seemingly go into my eye sockets.”
Latest gig: freelance magician for corporate events, private parties and off-Broadway’s “Monday Night Magic” Favorite childhood toy: K’nex. “Most people were Lego kids, but I liked K’nex. You could build almost anything with gears and rubber bands, and even make a Ferris wheel spin!”
Lakeisha Thompson
Age: 28 Home state: New York Superpowers: “Helping people and giving good advice. I can’t sing, but I can dance.” Latest gig: home health aide Favorite childhood
toy: “To be honest, I really loved my brother’s toys more than mine. He had Hot Wheels. I played with [them] more than he did.”
Teneil Maxwell
Age: 36
Home country: Jamaica Superpowers: entertaining her four children, ages 18 months to 17 years.“I like to read to them and become the characters and do funny faces,” she says. She also knows all the words to Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” Latest gig: nursing home aide Favorite childhood toy: a Cabbage Patch Kid. “It was so chubby and cute, and I loved its hair!”
Stella Almblade
Age: 31 Home state: Arizona
Superpowers: A contemporary and modern dancer and a pilates teacher, she can play “Chopsticks” and “Heart and Soul” on a floor piano while snapping her fingers.
Latest gig: teaching dance to kids around the country with the Ad Deum Dance Company Favorite childhood toy: “The pool in my backyard. And a deck of cards my family used to play with when we went camping.”