BreathlessAnt's Blog

Chapter Two THE INTERVIEW

Uh, Oh! Kavita caught herself tapping her fingers on the steering wheel as she frowned at the other cars that had come to a grinding halt. The run from her flat in the sleek new Piper’s Place near Bandstand, past Mahim Causeway and over the series of fly overs on Tulsi Pipe Road had been surprisingly smooth. But here she was held up in the traffic jam just about 5 min from ground zero! Luckily for her, the cars got moving again pretty soon. At exactly 9.50 am, she turned into the gates of the old Mills complex.

Weaving through the ultramodern jungle of steel and glass towers, she found the visitor’s parking lot outside Peninsula Chambers. She had been asked to be present on the 16^th floor for the job interview in the new company. Glancing at her face in the rear view mirror, she checked that everything was in the right place, and stepped out. The executive bag firmly on her shoulder, she pressed the autocop to lock her car, dropped the car keys into her purse, and headed past the dancing fountains towards the massive entrance foyer. She noted that ‘Rainbow Dreams’ occupied four entire floors of the building.

Stepping out of the elevator on the 16^th floor, she headed straight for the sleek doorway embellished with the pink, lilac and emerald logo. Pushing open the glass doors, she walked towards the brightly lit reception area. She noted that at the far end of the room was a sunken seating area, peppered with decorative palms, where were seated a handful of other hopefuls. Smiling at the receptionist, she took out the call letter from her purse and handed it over to her. The girl glanced at her name, her wristwatch and smiled as she said “On the dot, Ms. Kavita. Please proceed to the Meeting room.” Her newly curled hair bounced gently as she moved with purpose yet grace towards where she was being directed - the door in the far corner. She knocked on the door, paused a second and then entered.

Her eyes swept over the room as she walked towards the vacant chair she was being waved into by the dignified grey haired lady heading the panel. She noted that in addition to Lady Grey, there were four men in the interview panel. Smiling her thanks to the Lady seated at the centre (obvious head) of the semi circular table she was facing, she wished everyone “Good morning” as she set her bag on the floor next to the chair and her purse on top of it. Her mind was busy assimilating and analyzing the situation as she reached into the outer pocket of her bag, took out her folder and placed it on the table before her. Lady Grey asked her to tell them all something about her educational qualifications and past work experience.

Kavita watched their ex-pressions as she ran through her well practised spiel. This was the part she loved the best - the obvious reason being her comfort level about her qualifications and achievements. As she spoke, she opened her folder and took out copies of her resume highlighting salient information and passed them around to the panel. There were many questions from those on the panel, which she comfortably and competently answered. Each of the panelists was taking up a different area and seeking to test her knowledge in that area, gently guided by Lady Grey! Two of the men were very knowledgeable - the younger man (mid-30s perhaps, impressive looks - yet needlessly stern!) obviously the go-getter, the older totally bald man tempered by experience and age. The other two were most probably the chair fillers and asked very perfunctory questions when prodded by the Lady.

Soon she reached the tail end of her presentation, where she mentioned the Award she had won for being Best Employee in her present job. Mr. Handsome stopped her abruptly and asked “Don’t you think it’s unfair on your part to leave that job?” She paused, smiled wryly and told him frankly, “Being young, open to new ideas and unafraid to take risks, I have suggested many innovative approaches to solve some of the dead ends in our work areas. These innovations have led to the recognition of my sincerity as an employee and brought me that award. But my creativity is being curbed strongly by my immediate superior - who probably feels threatened. I want to be in a place where I get the freedom to put my ideas into practice under the active mentorship of someone with a wider world view! Besides if I as an individual employee grow, so surely will my company?!�”

She noted that Mr. Handsome had the grace to look embarrassed yet pleased with her answer. The others, on the other hand, seemed quite taken with her reply. They had in front of each of them a sheet of paper on which they had been scribbling something intermittently. They passed their sheets across to Lady Grey. She took a moment to go through them, smiled and looked across the table at Kavita and, without any preliminaries or hang-ups, asked her “How soon can you join us, Kavita?”

To be continued

  share this

Post a Comment