She walked into the reception’s office and greeted the receptionist who welcomed her with a friendly smile,
“Good afternoon, I’m here for the interview.” She spoke slowly.
“Okay, write your name here seat over there. You’ll be attended to shortly.”
“Alright, thank you.”
As she moved towards the seats provided, she noticed a man who had arrived earlier sitting at the far end of the phone. He had not looked up since the time she arrived as he kept scrolling through his phone. She made an attempt to exchange pleasantries with him, but she soon discovered that he wasn’t in the mood for such. She sat down and began to brood over her life’s problems. From the moment she left her house, fear had overpowered her. This was the first she would be going for a job interview since she graduated. She had no idea on what to expect, and she wasn’t sure her internship experience would be enough to grant her a job.
She only hoped that she would get the job. Her friend had messaged her about the job opening, and she seized the opportunity and applied for it. A month after her service, she was beginning to get tired of her parent’s continuous ranting about her lazing around at home while her mates were getting jobs in reputable companies.
Although they seemed to be saying the truth, she had hoped they would be more careful with their words when addressing her. Before she finished her service year, she had already begun to apply for various jobs. She wished she got one in the state she served so she wouldn’t need to travel home. She received no positive response from them, and in frustration, she returned. At home, she decided she was going to take some time to recuperate before launching out again. Before she knew what was happening, her parent had started to ask questions and demanded some changes. She was frustrated and tired of life all together, and their bickering wasn’t helping her in anyway.
Just then, another interviewee walked in, but her thoughts were only on her personal problems. He greeted her, and all she could do was respond with a smile. At this point, she was able to understand why the man sitting behind wasn’t responsive to her own greeting. To her greatest surprise, when the new man hollered at him, he responded with a loud voice. This action made her to intentionally turn around to look at him, just to be certain his mouth was actually moving. Before their eyes could meet, the man was back on his phone again. She chose not to react to his bizarre actions as her thoughts quickly snapped back at her.
She had always fantasized about how she was going to act once she got a job. There will be no more sitting around at home, and thinking of ways to get busy all day long. She would have to wake up early; dress formally while she’s leaving the house, in her work shoes and a good bag to fit. She also thought of the stress that would follow after her work each day, and if it wasn’t a job that she had a passion for, “Oh, how depressing that would be!” There was also one thing her parent was repeatedly talking about that had just skipped her mind. In a flash, her mind made the connection, “Of course, marriage. What is it about marriage talk all the time?” she thought, frowning deeply.
“Did I say something wrong?” the new interviewee who sat next to her asked, bringing her out of her thoughts. Apparently, he had been speaking to her.
“Sorry, you said?” she asked a little confused.
“I asked for your name,”
“Oh! My name….. my name….” she searched her brain for what her next response ought to be, “That would be Hannah,” she said unsure. “Yes, Hannah.” She affirmed confidently.
“Are you alright?” he asked, observing her closely.
“Of course, I am alright,” she faked a smile at him.
“Is this your first time doing an interview?”
“Yes, it is,” she stated nervously.
“Alright, I’ll just get you a bottle of water. It will help calm your nerves.”
He brought the bottle of water and handed it over to her. She collected it, thanked him and was about to down the whole bottle when he cleared his throat. She stopped herself in time as he spoke,
“Erm! I think you should take just a little. Like take it in small sips. It will help better, and you won’t have to be so pressed during your interview.” He smiled genuinely.
She nodded and tried to heed his advice. After taking a sip, she asked,
“What’s your own name?”
“I’m Mercy,” he said with a smile, “and this isn’t my first time doing an interview. So, how long have you been here?”
“It’s just a few minutes before you walked in. I think he came here first,” she said referring to the man sitting behind them.
“Does he even look like an interviewee? I think he just came to observe us?”
“Do you think so? I was just wondering why he chose to be such a snub,” she responded disgustedly.
“Why do you say that?”
“Before you came in, I greeted this man and he didn’t even bother to look up, let alone respond to me. See the way he responded to you like he already knew you somewhere, yet we’re all seeing one another for the first time. I don’t know if he just has a problem with ladies or it’s just me. He’s definitely a snub.”
“Well, you don’t really want him to hear that,” he said whispering.
She smiled looking down at the bottle. “Well, thank you for the water. It’s really calming. Where did you learn such trick?”
“Oh! I saw it in a movie. Actually the person was given tea to drink. I just thought water should be helpful too.”
She nodded, already drifting back to her thoughts, she wondered where she had stopped. Soon, another lady walked in and they exchanged pleasantries. Immediately she sat down, she turned over to them and was getting ready to start a conversation. Hannah was partly relieved as she wouldn’t need to think of more words to say to the gentleman who sat beside her. He would answer the questions while she brooded.
“Oh! She’s Hannah,” he said, interrupting her thoughts again.
“Hannah, what did you study in school?” It was the new lady that was asking this time.
“Oh! I studied Business Administration.”
“Hmm! Not bad. I studied Economics.”
Hannah wondered if it was better to join the conversation and push her fears aside just for the main time.
“I was researching through possible questions that they might ask during the interview, and I came across these,” she continued talking, bringing out a big book from her bag, “you know, I like to write down stuffs.”
At this point, Hannah was surprised to see the book and suddenly became curious about it, pushing her thoughts aside. At least, if she felt a little confident, it would help her during the interview. She collected and checked through the interview questions, and was more confused than ever.
“Are they really going to ask these questions?” she began to fidget as she turned to Mercy who was also reading along.
“I doubt that they would,” he said, studying her, “I don’t think you should read it. It’s making you more nervous.”
Hannah stared at him unsure if he was her guardian angel sent to watch over her. He closed the book and returned it to the new lady.
“Why don’t you just tell me why you chose to study Business Administration?” he stated, diverting her attention from what she had just read.
“Hmm! From when I can remember, I was always curious about how the sellers got their profits. I enjoyed following my aunt to her shop. She would ask me to look over her shop while she went to deliver some goods to her customer. From there, I got interested in everything business and accounting. When I got to school, I didn’t get the cut-off for Accounting, and the closest thing for me was business administration. So, I chose it.”
“How was it in school?”
“It was good, I think. I really did not miss out much even though I didn’t study the ‘Almighty Accounting’ as people call it in school,” she grinned, “I did learn how to manage an organization’s resources, time and people. It was quite similar to what I learnt from my aunt, but in a larger aspect, you know what I mean?”
“Of course, apart from learning from your aunt, were you able to train somewhere else? Like doing an internship somewhere?”
“I couldn’t. Stuffs happened at home, and I had to take care of my younger brother. He’s dead now though so I won’t be busy with him.”
“Oh! I’m so sorry about that,” he said sadly.
“It’s fine,” she forced a smile.
“Let’s assume you were given the job,” he continued, “what do you plan to offer them?” he inquired.
“You know, before I came here, I checked through their website, just to have an overview of what the company is about. I discovered something strange. Their services are great and helpful to people as they say, but I couldn’t find any feedbacks from any of their customers.”
“Oh! Really?”
“I shouldn’t be saying this,” she said, lowering her voice, “but I think their customer service sucks.”
He opened his mouth in amazement, while she nodded in confirmation.
“I think they would need a good business administrator who would help them handle their daily businesses, and also work with them on their relationship with the customers. A new customer would not want to do business with them because they are not sure if their services are really that good. They say it is, but there’s no evidence from any of their former customers. With feedbacks from their customers and adequate referrals, the business would boom.”
While discussing with him, she had completely forgotten that they were both interviewees. He could just take some of the things she had said and include it during his own interview to make his presentation better. He would be given the job and she would lose out. As they continued to discuss, the receptionist called the new lady forward, and told her to go in for her interview. She soon noticed this, and drew her new friend’s attention to it,
“I don’t understand,” she stated, “We got here before her and the receptionist told her to go in first. Why is that?” she asked confused.
“I don’t know. Maybe she is connected to one of the bosses or something.”
“Does that mean we don’t even have a chance at getting the job? Why did they even put out the advertisement in the first place since they’ll be giving it to someone else?” she asked, getting annoyed.
“Well, that’s the way Nigeria works,” he shrugged.
“If we continue like this, how will the country move forward?”
Mercy didn’t bother to give a response as he assumed it was just a rhetorical question. “How much would you want them to pay you?” he asked her.
At this point, she began to wonder why he kept asking her questions like an interviewer. Is he planning to use her responses for his own benefits. It soon occurred to her that she had probably divulged everything she was going to say at the interview to him. What was she going to do? Has she already failed even before she got in there? She stared at him regretting ever speaking to him in the first place.
At that moment, the receptionist called her, and told her to go in for the interview. Fear gripped her from her head to toe. She struggled to get up from her seat as her thoughts began to swirl around.
“Good luck,” he said, smiling generously at her. She couldn’t even look at him, or bother to respond to him as she thought of how badly she had been deceived. She took her time as she went to the board room forcing herself to think of other reasonable responses to give during the interview.
Upon entering, the first person she saw was the man she had referred to as a snub. She didn’t even notice when he left them at the receptionist office. The way he sat down with confidence made her think he was the head of the organization. She didn’t know when she began to shake. Shortly after she was told to sit down, her new friend walked in and sat with the interviewers. “What’s going on?” she thought. This time, she was certain she had failed.
Minutes later, she stepped out of the board room looking dazed. She stopped at the door as she processed what had just happened in the room. Her friend had looked at her with his usual smile plastered on his face as he told her she had been offered the job. She couldn’t believe her ears as he continued to highlight the benefits she was going to enjoy while she worked with them. She didn’t even know when she actually began to shed tears as he spoke. It was the best news ever.
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