Bisola Peters is a 27 year old graduate of International relations with a Masters in Human Resource Management. She lost her parents 4 years ago and has been taking care of her brother’s welfare by the profits she makes from selling lady wears. She completed her Masters two years ago but has been job hunting. She is very optimistic about life. She lives with her brother (who is always in school, a 300 level student of Accountancy at University of Port Harcourt) in a self-contained apartment.
While going through one of the dailies, she saw an application for the position of an executive assistant in a reputable firm with top notch clientele. She wondered however, why the company did not indicate their name in the ad. Nevertheless, decided to give it a try.
A week later, she was called for an interview. On her way to the interview, luckily for her, there was no gridlock. The time slated for the interview was 9am. It was a quarter to nine and she was almost there. A she was about to make her turn to get into the compound, the car in front of her refused to move. She kept honking but the car was blocking the way. She got down from the car, walked up to the driver of the shamrock green 2017 Mercedes-Benz G500, all tinted in black.
She got to the driver’s side and tapped the glass. The driver rolled down the glass and asked what happened? She was so furious. How dare he? “He is even claiming rights” she thought to herself and responded “Sir, you are blocking the way, I have been honking my horm but you obviously didn’t hear because the music playing in the car is loud”. The gentleman at the back seat, who was on the phone rounded up his conversation, tilted his head forward towards the driver and asked the driver to leave the road for her to pass. She saw his face briefly, and walked back to her car.
She quickly parked and walked briskly into the office. It was an oil and gas company. She looks at the clock on the wall and it was 9am on the dot. She saw 6 seats and 5 were occupied. She walked to the receptionist and informed her of the reason she was there and she said to her “You were the last person we were waiting for. Luckily, you made it on time.”
They were all ushered into a room and they took their seats. One after the other, they were called into another room and were all interviewed separately. Each one asking the other how the interview session went when they got back to their seats.
The Human Resource Manager , who was part of the interview process, came back to meet them 30 minutes after to inform them that they all did well but only one person would be given the position of being the executive assistant while the others would work in other departments within the company. They were all excited about the news and couldn’t contain their joy. She later informed them the MD/CEO would like to have a brief meeting with them and asked them to remain seated.
Five minutes later, the door opened, the Human Resource Manager led the way and the next person that followed was the man at the back of the seat in the G500. Steve Balogun is his name. As he stepped in, looking dapper, the Ermenegildo Zegna bespoke suit was royal blue, sharp-looking, and well-fitted. Cut to exactness, bold across the shoulders, the perfect inverted triangle. Complementing the blue suit was a plain white Tom Ford shirt, accompanied by a Charvet white tie with fuchsia pink polka dots scattered all over the tie. The pocket square was fuchsia pink, correctly folded in and taking a peep outside the square. He looked spruce! He spotted Bisola and turned his look away so fast like he never saw her. He sat down, straightened his broad shoulders, attuned his tie to a rakish angle, and said in an engaging voice that took over the room. “Good day everyone”.
By this time, Bisola was sweating profusely despite sitting not too far away from an LG Floor Standing Air Conditioner (92000 Btu/h). She began to shiver. She actually wanted to get up, open the door and run faster than her legs could allow. “I am done!” she muttered beneath her breath “I am finished! Same man whose driver I harassed…but he was blocking my way…was I rude?…but I wasn’t…I merely asked his driver to leave the way…was my tone harsh?…NO, he did not really see me…” she almost went nuts thinking and revisiting the matter in her head. She was certain she was about to experience the brutal reality of first impressions. She had no choice but to pay rapt attention like everyone did. Half of the time, she was looking above his head and he did not for a second look towards her direction.
“Does anyone have any questions for me?” he asked just as he ended the welcome speech. Only two people asked questions and he responded brilliantly after which he said “Thanks, the HR Manager will be with you shortly”. He got up and left to his office. Immediately he left, Bisola thought to run out instantaneously. “There is no way on earth I am going to get this job” she thought to herself and after 10 minutes , as she got up to ‘escape’, the HR Manager calls out to her and informs her that the MD wanted to see her. “Ehmm…Ma, do you mean me?” she asked and the HR Manager responded “Yes you Bisola”.
There was nowhere to hide or run. She fearfully and reluctantly got up but when she realised the others were looking at her and wondering why she was acting strange after such an enviable call, she adjusted herself quickly like nothing happened. As she drew closer to the MD’s office, her heart beat was almost visible. The HRManager opened the door, she walked in, the HR Manager turned around, shut the door and she stood there utterly confused. Steve was not facing her. He was looking for a document in the drawer behind his seat. “Bisola Peters, how are you?” he said as he turned his seat around and this time he was face to face with her. Observing she was petrified, He got up, opened his windows and wittily said “…or you want to jump out of the window?” and Bisola managed to fake a smile. So he continued, “I have told the HRManager to give you the position…” “What?” she exclaimed and he responded “Oh!, so you can speak?… Interesting!” And she said in a shaky voice, “Uhmm…I am sorry sir, I did not mean to exclaim, I was only shocked sir”. He gave a brief smirk on his face and continued “I am not a lion Bisola and I don’t eat people so relax. You are starting your job next week. You can leave now” to which she responded “Yes sir, thank you sir” and as she turned around rapidly to leave the office, walking towards the door, she heard his voice say “Onomatopoeia!” she knew he was definitely talking to her even though he did not mention her name. So she turned back and he said “Onomatopoeia is when a word’s pronunciation imitates its sound…`while speaking to my driver, you said ‘Honk the horn’. That is an example of Onomatopoeia…by the way, you should work on your temper, it will help you always.” “Thanks sir” she said and left so fast because she wanted to ensure there was no reason for her to turn again.
When she got out, they all looked at her like “how did it go?” and she responded openly to their thoughts “I got the job!” And as they all congratulated her, she said to them “the congratulation goes to us all after all, as we have earlier been told, you all have jobs in different departments in same organisation”.
Bisola started a week later. Jittery at the initial stage but soon found out that her boss was one of the easiest persons to work with. Very meticulous about his work but truly an inspiration to her on work ethics, dedication to duty and integrity on every level. 18 months and counting, Bisola has no plans to change jobs….yet!
Kemi Ajumobi
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