This next interview would be the seventh candidate that I had to meet with today. And I was scheduled to meet with two additional applicants after this. And my HR director was being extremely inquisitive about how I selected the final list of candidates to interview amongst the number of otherwise qualified applicants who had applied to be my personal assistant.
When I asked whether or not I had broken any employment laws or regulations, he said no, but he couldn't help but notice that all of the candidates happened to be female, they were all in their late twenty's, they were all single, and they were all very beautiful. And, of course, they all had excellent work credentials.
"Bob, my PA will be an indispensable person to me. He or she must be intelligent and quick on their feet. Physically, they must have the stamina to keep up with me and you know the pace that I'm capable of setting. Being single, they are not burdened by the responsibilities that come with a marriage and children. We must be able to work long hours together and need to be able to anticipate how the other thinks. I must be able to absolutely rely upon them to carry out their assignments with little or no direction from me. These particular candidates just struck me as having the potential to be that person for me. Believe me, they will work hard for the compensation that they will be paid."
But the six candidates that I had interviewed so far had failed to light that spark in me. The spark that told me that here was someone that I could work long hours with. Someone who possessed intelligence, self-motivation, and intuition. Someone who shared my proclivities and outlook on life. Someone who could be pragmatic as well as sensitive to others at the same time. Someone who would complement me and not hold me or the company back.
"Sir," my secretary knocked on my door and interrupted my contemplation, "Ms. Keran is here for her interview."
"Thanks Cece." I replied. Cece had been my secretary for the past three years. But that was all that she was going to be. Nice, accurate, and efficient, and a hard worker. But that's about all that I've come to expect.
I rose to greet Hannah Keran, who walked in with a smile and a firm handshake. Standing at around five and a half feet, she was just a shade shorter than me in her high heels. Trim and slim, brunette, professionally attired. Good first impression.
"Welcome Ms. Keran."
"Please call me Hannah."
"Thanks. What do you know about the position that you applied for?" I asked.
"Well, based on what was contained in the position vacancy announcement, it looks as if you are looking for someone to be your go-to person. Is that right?"
I nodded my head. "Yes, but the position is much more than that."
"How so?"
I looked at her for a moment and decided to roll the dice. Her resume spoke of a high level of competence, a taste for excitement and new experiences. If she couldn't read between the lines then she wasn't the person that I was looking for.
"Hannah, I'm looking for someone who I can work with very closely. He or she must very highly intelligent. They must be able to take the initiative on things. They must be so closely aligned with me that they can anticipate how I think or feel about different things. Now, I know that some of that will require a lot of time spent working together. However, the successful applicant must be able to do so, and not just be willing to do that, but want to do so."
She nodded her head as she took in what I had to say.
"I travel a lot so the successful applicant must be able to travel with me. Sometimes without any advance notice. Their hours must be very flexible as there will be times when I will work straight through for days. Some of the deals that we do must be pursued relentlessly."
"Fascinating." She commented. "What sort of deals might that be?"
I thought for a second, "Well, I'm working on one at the moment that must remain confidential. If word of this were to leak out, not only would the deal probably fall through, but people's careers would be at risk. So no mention of what you hear. Do you agree to this?"
She nodded her head in agreement.
"This deal involves a large multinational company located in Hong Kong and potential customers in the US, however their product offering will eventually be marketed to a broader audience. It involves materials and technology transfers that could be construed to be against national interests if it had not been previously vetted by the Secretary of Defense. Politically it could explode if exposed prematurely."
"The Kokusai Venture?"
To say that I was surprised would be to put it mildly. "What do you know about Kokusai?"
"Kokusai has been working on next generation data manipulation technology from what I've read. There seems to be an information black out at the moment so it's plausible that they achieved a break through and are now looking for a suitable customer or customers."
I smiled. Hannah is fucking intelligent and well-read and could put two and two together from the smattering of information out there. Smart lady.
I nodded my head in agreement with her assessment.
She looked at me, "And you're the intermediary?"
I looked at her and said, "you might think that but I could not possibly comment."
She smiled, "Awesome. Beam me up Scotty."
Damn, another Trekky fan.
"Stand to Uhura, remember, discretion in all that we do."
She nodded her head but with a huge smile.
"Hannah, getting back to the job, the successful candidate must know me inside and out in order to anticipate what I might be thinking."
"Ok. But that will take a lot of time spent working closely together."
"Agree. And there will also be a lot of social events that we will need to attend together. A lot of our business is conducted at those venues."
"Isn't that usually the case?"
"Yes, but some of the social events might be off the beaten track."
"Oh? Like what?"
"Like, ..... ah, like, ........ um, fuck it. Like the annual San Francisco Bay to Breakers nude run."
"Nude run?"
I laughed. "Yeah, my college roommate dreamed that up when we were at UCSF. The run starts at 2am and runners have to be in shape to finish the run within 2 hours plus evade the cops."
She laughed, "No kidding? You guys actually do that?"
I smiled, "Yeah, we've been doing that for more than ten years. A large deal was handed to me at the run last year."
"Whoa, serious?"
"Yeah. Chinese fellow. First time we met him. He had petitioned to be let in. Quite the exhibitionist, he was."
"Wait. Was that Quon Lam Goo? The guy who is supposedly the photovoltaic king in the PRC? The guy who was arrested for streaking the entrance to the Forbidden City and later pardoned?"
I laughed. Damn this lady is very well read. "He is quite a character. But that's how I met Quon and we became his source of capital for his western market expansion efforts."
"You guys are weird..... Ok, but seriously, what would be my involvement in things such as ..... the nude run? Would I be in charge of donuts and trench coats?" And she laughed.
I smiled, "Probably not. I'd probably invite you to run with us in order to meet people like Quon."
She looked as if someone had dumped a pail of water on her head. She looked a little pale, "You're kidding."
