Ina Garten’s Job Interview Advice Is Surprisingly Similar to What She Does on TV
TL;DR:
- A fan asked for Ina Garten’s advice ahead of a job interview with the Food Network.
- Ina Garten recommended, “be[ing] yourself as much as possible.”
- “Do exactly what feels right to you as if you were talking to a friend,” she suggested.
It turns out job advice from Ina Garten and tips for hosting a TV show are practically one in the same. The longtime Barefoot Contessa host once shared her tips for a Food Network job interview, and — spoiler — it’s essentially what she does on TV.
Ina Garten’s job interview advice: approach it like a conversation with a friend
Although she has plenty of party-hosting tips and dishes for making entertaining less stressful, Garten’s knowledge extends past the kitchen. Case in point: a conversation at a 2015 event in Houston, Texas.
The cookbook author sat down for an interview before answering questions from fans in the audience. One told Garten they had an interview with Food Network coming up and asked for her advice.
Garten’s reply? Basically, what she does on TV. “Be yourself as much as possible,” she said (via CultureMap Houston). “Do exactly what feels right to you as if you were talking to a friend, explaining to them about what you’re doing and you will be great.”
Ina Garten worked in the White House before leaving to run Barefoot Contessa and later host a TV show
Before becoming a Food Network star and cookbook author who stresses the importance of “good” ingredients, Garten worked at the White House. She had a job as a budget analyst during the Ford and Carter administrations working on nuclear energy policy.
But, in 1978, she made a major career change. One day she saw that the specialty food store, Barefoot Contessa, was for sale by way of a newspaper ad.
After some encouraging words from her longtime husband, Jeffrey Garten, the now-74-year-old took the plunge. She bought the store, which she’d go on to run until 1996. She sold the store, which by then had become a big success, to two of her employees.
In 1999, her debut Barefoot Contessa cookbook hit shelves with her own Food Network show following three years later in 2002.
The Barefoot Contessa admitted she didn’t put that much thought into switching careers
When asked what she was thinking when she switched careers during a Jan. 13 episode of Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? on HBO Max and CNN, Garten admitted she hadn’t put a lot of thought into it.
“I have no idea,” she began, saying that at the time, she “thought it would be fun.” Garten continued, recalling her first visit to the Hamptons to see the store and how chocolate chip cookies changed her life.
“I mean, I remember coming into the small town, West Hampton Beach, and it’s literally one block long,” she said. “And there was this little specialty food store. It was like the size of this table. And they were baking chocolate chip cookies, and I thought nuclear energy
budgets, chocolate chip cookies, I’d rather do that. Literally, it was that thoughtful.
