On a rainy morning, I was running as fast as I could. I had a job interview to attend. Sweat and rain drops are scattered on my back, but I kept running because I was going to arrive late, and they might cut me some slack if I arrive a couple minutes late.
Upon arrival, I told the man at the front desk who I am and that I was there for an interview. He handed me a form to complete. I sat down and filled the boxes. I returned the form, then he led me to a small room and told me to wait there. He closed the door on his way out.
A couple of minutes went by before someone turned the doorknob. A woman walked inside the room and introduced herself. We shook hands and she handed me her business card. She then said "let's start by introducing yourself."
"Well, I was born at a young age. I don't remember much about what I did when I was little. Then I started school at around five. I spent the next fifteen years or so as a student," I replied.
"Can you put it in more detail?"
I responded by saying that I spend most of the time playing when I was in kindergarten. Then I gave her a brief overview of what I did during grade school. However, before long she interrupted me and said "that's enough." She then proceeded to say "I would like to know what you are like. What personalities do you have? And so on."
I thought about the question for a moment, then I said "most of us spend our entire lives trying to find out who we are, and our personalities may change over time. So I am afraid I may not be able to answer this question at this time,"
She then asked "so what have you been doing after you left school?"
"I spent most of the time searching for work, sending applications, and attending interviews."
"Have you done anything else besides those?"
"I would like to, but since I have yet to land a job, this is the only thing I am able to do."
She nodded and looked at my application. "All right. Let's talk about something else. Why do you think this job is suitable to you?"
There was a brief moment of silence, as I was trying to gather my thoughts. After that I said "I do not have much experience in this industry, but I am willing to try anything. I am ready to learn and take on new challenges. I also needed the money."
"What skills do you think is needed for someone to be successful in this job?"
I gave her a list of skills that I believed were essential for someone to succeed in the job that I applied to. After I finished, she said "but those skills are required for practically every job. Can you be a little more specific?"
"I can give you what skills are needed for this position at this time, but the requirements and the nature of this job may change in a month. By then the skills needed for this job may be different. So I don't think I can answer the question."
"Moving on, in what ways can you contribute to this company?"
"From my previous experiences, I know I work well as part of a group or individually. I also have plenty of ideas in my head."
"Can you give me some examples?"
"I can tell you what those ideas are, but I don't know if you are going to claim those ideas as your own later on. So I would rather not tell you any at this moment."
She gave a sigh, then asked "do you have any questions?"
I tried to come up with a question, but I was not able to. "No, I don't think I have any question at this moment."
She stood up and said "thanks for coming today. If you are selected for this job, we will contact you in a few days." She opened the door and I walked towards the exit. That was when a man rushed towards her and whispered something to her. She seemed to become nervous and I thought I heard her yelling "right now?"
As I was walking away from them, I could not hear what they were saying. I walked out the office door. I was waiting for the elevator when she ran towards me and said "thank goodness you are still here."
I was a little surprised and asked "why is it?"
"I just found out there is a new vacancy and, based on the interview, I think you would be perfect for the job."
"When can I start?"
"Right now!"
I tried to hide my excitement when I asked her what the post was. She did not say anything other than ask me to follow her. She led me towards a door. When she opened the door, I was surprised to see a podium. A few reporters yelled her name upon her entry into the room.
She took me out of that room and closed the door. Then I asked "so what kind of work am I going to do?"
"Your job is to deal with those reporters. There have been quite a lot of negative news surrounding our company lately and some have accused us of committing crimes. Your job is to deflect their questions, evade the issue, and frustrate them by giving answers unrelated to the questions asked, just like what you did in the interview."
Before I can respond, she pushed me back into the room and locked the door before I was able to reach for the knob. I looked at the reporters and tried to figure out what had just happened. Five minutes earlier I lost all hope of working for this company, now not only was I working for this company, I became the person in charge of diffusing the company's crisis . Feeling confused, I walked towards the podium and wondered what was going to happen next.