She was a mass of jangled nerves. Sweat ran down her back under her business-like blouse. She felt sticky and dishevelled and completely unready for this interview. While the security guard checked her identification and papers, Sarah shifted restlessly from foot to foot, craning her neck to see the clock on the wall behind him.
'Fuck!' She bit her lip to keep the word in. She hated being late and had deliberately splurged on a cab to avoid the hassle of having to find parking downtown. Not that it did any good...the cab had cost her the same as a pair of three-inch heels on sale, and it sat in traffic for so long that she had run the last two blocks and was late anyway.
Receiving her pass and instructions to the 19th floor, there was no time to stop in the restroom and pull herself back together. 'Why isn't it standard practice to have a mirror in the elevator?' she thought, as the only other passenger got off on the 7th floor. She did a visual check, tucking here, tugging there, adjusting the once-crisp pink top under a good charcoal suit that decorously went to mid-knee and dragging the stockings tops up.
As the chimes sounded and the elevator doors slid open, Sarah hoped she looked marginally more collected and strode to the reception desk.
"Sarah Jones for Mr. Kerr. I had an appointment for 1:30. I'm a little late." Sarah tried to look calm. The receptionist looked up "I'm sorry, Ms. Jones, Mr. Kerr is interviewing and can't be disturbed. If you like to wait?...."
Nervously, Sarah twisted the longest strands of her shoulder-length brown hair as she assessed her options. She couldn't afford to write this interview off; she needed a job badly and had liked the sound of this one. "Yes, please," she told the receptionist. "I'll wait."
The receptionist indicated a group of chairs around a low table; Sarah turned toward them. Pausing, Sarah had a thought. She turned back and asked "May I use the washroom while I'm waiting, please?" The receptionist smiled and said 'Certainly. It's down the hall past the elevators and around to the right. Take your time," she said." The interview just started. He'll be a while."
Sarah's low heels clicked on the tile down the hall towards the restroom. She pushed open the heavy door and almost collided with a woman on her way out. Startled, Sarah pulled back and allowed a tall, cool-looking blonde in an expensive suit to sweep past her, a cloud of pricey perfume trailing in her wake. She felt a bit steamrolled as the woman stalked by without even muttering 'excuse me'.
Sarah was relieved to find the washroom empty and, pulling a comb and cosmetics from her bag, touched up her hair and makeup, washed her hands and tried to feel some of the confidence she'd had looking in the mirror at home -- when she'd been on time. "C'mon, Sarah," she told herself. "You can do this. You got top marks in your class. You've got good references from your freelance jobs. You know how to write. You just need to ace the interview." Staring into her hazel eyes, she willed herself to believe. She knew in her heart that she could do the job if she was given the chance. She was good enough.
Returning to the reception area, Sarah sat on a hard chair and flipped through some of the publications that showcased the firm's work. She tried to project an image of professional detachment, calm and poise, not to fidget and bite her nails as she longed to do. The hands on the clock crawled.
About fifteen minutes later, a petite brunette came hurriedly down the corridor, heels clacking fast on the tile floor, colour high in her cheeks. She stabbed the elevator button and shifted from foot to foot, not looking at the receptionist or Sarah. "Are you sure you won't reconsider?" asked the blonde that Sarah had bumped into as she came down the hall. "No!" said the woman waiting for the elevator. "No, thank you. I don't think this will work out at all!" The elevator arrived and the woman got on, pressing the 'door close' button quickly. The blonde smiled and shook her head. Turning to the receptionist, she said "Not a one, Daphne. We struck out."
Daphne smiled at the blonde. "Not yet, Ms. Shaw." Nodding towards Sarah, she continued, "Ms. Jones was late but she was pleased to wait in case Mr. Kerr had time to see her."
The blonde spun on her heel and walked towards Sarah, extending her hand. "Oh, he has the time! I'm glad you made it." Smiling, she looked more approachable than she had in the washroom and Sarah decided she had just been distracted.
She smiled back and shook hands. "I'm so glad. I'm sorry I was late."
"Not at all! Daphne tell Mr. Kerr that Ms. Jones is here and I'll show her to the office." She ushered Sarah down the hall and around the corner to an unmarked door, knocked sharply and opened it saying "Mr. Kerr, your last interview is here." She put a hand on Sarah's back and gently prodded her into the room, stepping back and closing the door behind her.
Sarah started, looking over her shoulder at the closed door. For some reason, she'd thought the blonde was going to be in the room too. She looked at the tall, slim man behind the desk as he stood and put out his hand. "Good afternoon," he said. "Please sit down." Noting her backwards glance, he added, "Alicia will join us in a bit. I like to meet the candidate and do the first part of the interview on my own."
Sitting back down, Mr. Kerr assessed her frankly. "I'll be honest with you, Ms. Jones. This won't be your run-of-the-mill interview. You've made it through a rigorous screening process that we apply to all our candidates. We've read samples of your work and spoken with your previous employers. This may seem backward to traditional hiring methods but we find it saves time to see only candidates that meet our strict criteria. So, you've already been assessed for knowledge and abilities. However, we've seen 12 applicants over the last two days and it seems that the combination of aptitude, experience and willingness to learn that we are looking for is a difficult collection of qualities to find. So, let me outline what our company will do for you and what we need to see if you'll fit the bill, eh?" Mr. Kerr leaned back in his chair and looked her in the eye. "You want a permanent position as a technical writer. We offer a competitive salary, match the pension contributions of our employees and offer an above-average package of medical and dental benefits. We believe in work-life balance and, when overtime is required to meet deadlines, we compensate our employees in a variety of ways. That's what we have to offer you. Let's talk about what you have to offer us...You have a good portfolio of freelance articles. I can see you are used to working on your own. How well do you work in a team?"
Sarah brightened visibly. She could answer this! "I enjoy working with others. The exchange of ideas and experience makes working on project teams dynamic and, I think, leads to better products. That said, I have no problems working on my own and meeting deadlines. I don't rely on others to motivate me."
"Well said. You know that writing ultimately comes down to putting words on a page and no team can do that for you. We have a good group of people here, however, and it's important that whomever we hire fit in well and get along. We have several projects underway that require good team players." Mr. Kerr named three well-known companies and Sarah was suitably impressed.
Nodding, she said, "Those are big accounts! Do you handle all their work?" They chatted back and forth about industry requirements and dealing with multiple deadlines. Sarah was electrified. It all sounded so exciting! She wanted very much to be part of it.
Mr. Kerr smiled at her and leaned back in his chair. "I like discussing this with you, Sarah. And I really like your enthusiasm. You have a fire in your belly, a real love of the work. That impresses me." Sarah beamed and wriggled a bit in her chair, happy that she was impressing him.
"Let me tell you where our difficulties lie right now. You see, Sarah, while there is a market for quality technical manuals, it is small and many companies are now producing them in-house to cut costs. We still have those three regular clients, clients who need what we offer and can't match the product doing it themselves. They are satisfied with our work and recommend us when they have the chance."
"However, to keep doing what we love and stay solvent, we've been forced to branch out into other markets. We've gotten a bit, hmmm, resourceful and are working outside our usual range. This is a challenge for our team and we are using all of our creativity and innovation to succeed in this new field. I'll admit it's a bit outside our comfort zone but, so far, we're pleased with our progress and it's making us money."
"I have to say that I admire that, Mr. Kerr," said Sarah sincerely. "I believe finding those out-of-the-box solutions can make an organization really pull together and it's good for the individuals as well as for the company."
"I'm very glad you think along those lines, Sarah. Let's bring Alicia in and discuss this further, shall we?" Mr. Kerr pressed a button on the phone and spoke, "Daphne, please have Alicia join us now." The cool blonde must have been hovering in the hallway because Daphne had barely said "Right away, Mr. Kerr" when the door opened and Alicia came in. She smiled at Sarah. "I guess we're ready to discuss the new product line, now?"
