CougarGirl
Star
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2013
It was time to get out of the stifling atmosphere of my family home where at the age of 20 I still lived with my mother and brother, to break free from the claustrophobic mentality of this small Welsh town, to get somewhere more vibrant and exciting, to start living my life. It would take an effort to break away from this suffocating comfort of what was so familiar. The only way to do that was to get a new job, so I searched online and found one that appealed right away. I had all the skills required and, best of all, it was in London, 250 miles away and full of life and opportunities, its streets paved with gold. OK, I didn’t believe that last bit, but it had to be better than where I was. Anywhere was better than that, almost.
I was selected for interview at the firm’s headquarters. Dressed in a smart new business suit and crisp white blouse, I caught the early train for the two and half hour journey. This wasn’t my first visit to London, but as I was swept off the station by the flood of commuters I looked at it differently. I was no longer visiting as a tourist, rushing around packing in as many sites as I could. I saw the City through the eyes of someone who was going to live and work there. I imagined being part of the river of people who flowed out of the railway station and into the numerous shops and offices, like the huge glass complex where my future employer was based. They asked me to wait after the interview and told me before I left that they would like me to come for a second interview in a fortnight’s time. So far, so good.
Two weeks later, London no longer felt strange. I knew my way to the tube station and walked to the office as if I were just one of the commuters heading into work. This time I wasn’t asked to wait after the interview. They would notify me ‘in due course’ as they said, but I was confident that I would succeed. This job felt so right to me; they were sure to feel the same.
The letter arrived the following week. It was there on the mat when I got in from work. I held it for a while, alternately excited at the prospect of moving to London and nervous that it might tell me the worst news, that after all my hopes and dreams I hadn’t got the job. Eventually in the privacy of my bedroom, with my heart racing and my hand trembling, I opened the letter and read what it said.
"Dear Ellie Rogers
"Congratulations on passing your second interview. There is now one final stage in the selection process. We have outsourced this to specialist consultants who will test your initiative. The date and time of your appointment are attached, together with a map showing the location.
"Remember that this is a test of your initiative and it begins as soon as you arrive."
I checked the details provided. The appointment was for the following week at 3 pm.
What sort of test could this be? I surfed for details of initiative tests and found a lot about initiative and a lot of tests, but there were so many and they were so different from each other. In the end, I gave up; none of the results were any use. I just didn’t know what to expect and there was no way I could be prepared for what was going to happen. That, of course, was the whole point.
I was selected for interview at the firm’s headquarters. Dressed in a smart new business suit and crisp white blouse, I caught the early train for the two and half hour journey. This wasn’t my first visit to London, but as I was swept off the station by the flood of commuters I looked at it differently. I was no longer visiting as a tourist, rushing around packing in as many sites as I could. I saw the City through the eyes of someone who was going to live and work there. I imagined being part of the river of people who flowed out of the railway station and into the numerous shops and offices, like the huge glass complex where my future employer was based. They asked me to wait after the interview and told me before I left that they would like me to come for a second interview in a fortnight’s time. So far, so good.
Two weeks later, London no longer felt strange. I knew my way to the tube station and walked to the office as if I were just one of the commuters heading into work. This time I wasn’t asked to wait after the interview. They would notify me ‘in due course’ as they said, but I was confident that I would succeed. This job felt so right to me; they were sure to feel the same.
The letter arrived the following week. It was there on the mat when I got in from work. I held it for a while, alternately excited at the prospect of moving to London and nervous that it might tell me the worst news, that after all my hopes and dreams I hadn’t got the job. Eventually in the privacy of my bedroom, with my heart racing and my hand trembling, I opened the letter and read what it said.
"Dear Ellie Rogers
"Congratulations on passing your second interview. There is now one final stage in the selection process. We have outsourced this to specialist consultants who will test your initiative. The date and time of your appointment are attached, together with a map showing the location.
"Remember that this is a test of your initiative and it begins as soon as you arrive."
I checked the details provided. The appointment was for the following week at 3 pm.
What sort of test could this be? I surfed for details of initiative tests and found a lot about initiative and a lot of tests, but there were so many and they were so different from each other. In the end, I gave up; none of the results were any use. I just didn’t know what to expect and there was no way I could be prepared for what was going to happen. That, of course, was the whole point.