Sandi entered the office building with the confidence of a 34 year old woman who knew that she was as prepared for today's interview as she could be. Even though she had not been in the working world since she left in 1978 to have her babies, now 6 years later they were both at school and she could go back to work and was looking forward to it.
For the interview she had bought a new blouse and a suit comprised of jacket and pencil skirt with a slit on the side just big enough to allow her to walk but not so big she looked like a slut. She was trying to portray the 'yuppie' look of a professional woman who was confident in her abilities.
Sandi took a seat in the reception area after giving her name at the desk and looked around her. There must have been about 20 other women waiting there with her, ranging from young girls just out of school to a couple of ladies in their 50's. Looking at the competition she knew the fight for the position of legal secretary was going to be tough today.
Precisely at 11 o'clock a door opened and two people walked out, one was a man aged about 40 in a striking pin stripe suit, under which Sandi could see red braces. Accompanying him was a woman who was dressed in a skirt and jacket very similar to what Sandi had chosen today.
"Ladies!" The man spoke in a loud voice, "would you all come through please."
The assembled women stood and followed the couple into the next room which was a large hall, in the centre of the hall were wooden desks and chairs, reminding Sandi of her days at Grammar school.
"Please find your seat as quick as possible," the man told them as they filtered in one at a time. Sandi found her desk and took her seat, on the desk was a pad of paper and a word processor. She had only ever used normal typewriters when she had worked previously, but she had read about these new machines and felt she would master it.
"Thank you ladies," the man said. "My name is Mr Norman and it is my job to select the right candidates for the vacant position today. This is my assistant, Miss Ellis," he said indicating the lady with him.
"The selection process is made up of different parts and only those that pass will go throw to the next stage. If you are unable to pass one section for whatever reason you will be asked to leave."
Sandi looked around and saw everyone else nodding affirmation.
Mr Norman continued, "the first stage is an aptitude test. Miss Ellis will pass around a document that each of you must copy exactly on the word processor infront of you." Miss Ellis walked around the hall, her stiletto heels clicking on the hard floor as she dropped of a sheet of paper on each desk. "This is not a speed test as such, accuracy is more important. Having said that, we expect it to take no longer than 20 minutes to complete. Any piece that is not completed in that time will be classed as a fail.
When all the candidates had received their document the test began. Sandi was surprised how intuitive the machine was and was working it out to produce the copy. 5 minutes into the test one of the older women stood up from her desk in tears as she found it impossible to use the word processor. Miss Ellis escorted her out of the hall. It took Sandi 15 minutes to complete her copy noticing that although there were some candidates faster than her, there were still about half that were still typing.
At the end of the 20 minutes time limit most of the candidates had finished but Sandi could still hear some keys going. It turned out that another three women were lost because they had not finished in the 20 minutes.
Mr Norman addressed the 16 candidates that were left, "well done for finishing your work. We will now take a few minutes to check your copies and prepare the room for the next stage. Would you please wait in the reception area once more."
Sandi joined the other ladies as they left the room, she found that she was sat next to one of the more maturer ladies. The lady smiled at her and said, "hello my name is Jean."
"Hello, I am Sandi."
"First time Sandi?" Jean asked.
"Yes it is, have you tried before for a job here then?"
"Oh yes I have been through this more than once."
"You must really want to work here."
"Something like that," Jean replied with a smile and Sandi noticed a couple of the other ladies smiling too. There was a sense of expectation amongst the ladies that were left as they waited to be called in to the hall once more. Before that happened though Miss Ellis came out and spoke to one lady and told her that there was a mistake on her copy and she was asked to leave. Miss Ellis then invited the remaining 15 back to the main hall.
The room was totally different to when Sandi had left it. Gone were the desks there were now just three rows of 5 chairs set out in the middle of the room.
"Once again ladies please take a seat," Mr Norman told them from the front.
"Come sit next to me Sandi," Jean said, and the two of them took a seat in the back row.
"Congratulations for making it past stage 1," Mr Norman began again. "Now we move onto stage 2. The fitness examination."
Sandi looked at Jean and mouthed the word 'fitness?'
"In preparation for your examination you are required to undress down to your underwear please. You will find a basket under your chair for your clothes."
Jean looked at Sandi and winked as she took off her jacket. Already three women had their hands up, and when Miss Ellis went to them they were asking if this was necessary. When they were told that it was an absolute requirement, two of them withdrew from the process. One was one one of the young girls from just out of school, and the other was probably in her 20's. The third decided to stay and started to undress.
Sandi took off her jacket and folded it neatly and put in the basket, but now she was in a quandary. Next to her Jean was already out of her blouse and Sandi saw she was wearing a black Playtex Cross your Heart bra with the pink flower on the cross over. "Everything ok dear?" Jean asked Sandi as she saw her hesitating.
"I don't know," Sandi said. "The thing is I am not wearing a bra." The truth is Sandi had not worn a bra since about 1969 when she was 19 and had become involved with the hippy movement. She had not even given it a thought when she dressed that morning, sure that the jacket would hide any evidence. Her breasts were still firm despite their size to not sag or require lifting up.
"Well in all my interviews here I have never seen that happen," Jean told her, "but I should not worry too much, if you get past stage 2 you will not be the only one."
"Really?"
"Yes. But I would get a move on otherwise they will think you are dropping out of selection," Jean added as she unbuttoned her skirt and let it fall and folded it up. Jean was wearing a black corset with suspenders holding up her stockings.
Sandi looked around and saw that she was the only one left with a blouse on. The different styles of bra the others were wearing were as varied as the btreast sizes amongst the women. The older women, like Jean were wearing the more traditional heavy material bras, whilst the younger ones were wearing the newer underwired bras. Many of these bras were of a sheer material and Sandi could clearly see their nipples and areolas through the thin material.
Taking a deep breath Sandi began undoing the buttons on her blouse and with them all done she took the blouse off and bent down to fold it into the basket, very much aware that Jean was watching her and the way her tits hung down when she bent over. With that over she just had to continue with her skirt, leaving her in just her tights and panties.
