Dear lovely people,
“The
moon does not fight. It attacks no one. It does not worry. It does not try to
crush others. It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently
influences. What other body could pull an entire ocean from shore to shore? The
moon is faithful to its nature and its power is never diminished.” says Ming-Dao
Deng.
I left my house that morning
feeling on top, telling myself the interview will just be a formality why not?
I had prepared well for it and besides, it had to do with what I love doing. I
was first to arrive and settled into a sofa for the wait, savoring the beauty of
what I was confident and God willing, will become my office in a matter of
days.
Three well-dressed young men
joined me shortly looking as enthusiastic as I was. I could feel confidence
emanating from them. Each of them was probably telling themselves the others
were no match. Then this casually dressed and clearly uncombed man walked in
living trails of mud on the ground – you know Africa. I mean that you could see
the smiles on the faces of the waiting candidates fade out instantly. Noticing there
was no other chair in the room and that he was elderly, I offered my seat with
a smile. I could feel the anger from the other candidates pricking me for doing
such a gesture. That man thanked me however and sat down.
When I walked into the interview
room, I met with four smiling and elegantly dressed ladies. One could conclude
it was all a movie scene, they warmly welcome me, showed me to a seat and one
of them served me coffee. I sat down feeling a bit jittery you know the niceties’
were getting more than I was comfortable with. I sat down all the same and the
interview started.
Three hours later, four of us
were waiting for the results as we were informed. Only then did I notice the saggy
dressed man disappeared at some point in time. I told myself maybe he was just
there for something else. Looking over at my three contenders, only one
maintained calm as time went with time. I noticed sweat drops forming on the foreheads
of the other two even though the air condition in the room was at full blast.
Just like Sarah Dessen, “I
knew that in the silence that followed, that anything could happen here. It
might be too late again. I might have missed my chance. But I would at least
know I tried, that I took my heart and extended my hand, whatever the outcome.”
A door on my left swung open interrupting
my thoughts and three of the four ladies who interviewed us walked in. the
first of them warmly announced that two of the sweating candidates were first
and second while the other who appeared more confident was third. Guess what? It
meant that I was last. We were told to wait again for a few minutes for some
details. I got up, walked over to the winners and congratulated them in the
same order. I was telling the confident guy that both of us will have to try
better next time and the door swung open again and we in for a big surprise.
The saggy dressed man walked in
again but this time around in a three piece suit looking as elegant as any
contemporary CEO. I was mesmerized, before I could recover, he announced that I
was the overall winner and my confident friend the second best. Can you imagine
that!
Elliott Abrams says “First impressions matter. Experts say
we size up new people in somewhere between 30 seconds and two minutes.”
Then the rules were explained. From
the moment each of us the candidates walked into that waiting room, we were
being monitored and examined. The saggy dressing was part of the assessment,
our actions and reactions before and after the initial results all counted. From
their judgement, I was more qualified in terms of competence, mannerisms,
composure, professionalism and dynamism to name these few. The confident guy was
told that because of his performance, he was shortlisted for another position. While
the two sweating guys had to go home.
“Successful people do not come
with their values stamped upon them” says Maltbie Babcock
