When I walked into the conference room the first thing I noticed that there were mostly women with only a sprinkle of men seated in the rows of chairs. I found a seat on the third row next to an older woman and sat down. We nodded to each other but didn’t speak. I was so nervous it wasn’t even funny.
To be sure I would be there on time I had woken up at five in the morning and between then and nine when I had left, I had had at least ten cups of coffee and my hands and arms were now shaking; bad idea.
“Hi, and welcome to this assessment day. My name is Laura and I am the coordinator. With me are Peter, Jenny, and Jason. Thank you so much for coming. First I will give you a brief description about the company, followed by you guys presenting yourself up here. We will then do a group exercise followed by individual interviews after a break,” said the overweight blond who had appeared at the podium.
Fuck, I hated standing up there, I felt my hands go clammy and a film of sweat broke out on my forehead. But there was nothing to do; I needed the job so I had to go through it all.
The woman went through her speech and showed us a few videos while droning on. I almost zoned out because of the heat in the room but managed to stay awake, mostly due to all the caffeine in my body. A few people behind me asked questions and then it was time for the presentations. Lucky me it wasn’t by row, you simply stuck up your hand and went up front.
The majority of the people who spoke all had similar experiences within the hospitality industry that I did and that wasn’t good. Their ages ranged from late twenties to early fifties, which made me be in the middle at thirty-five. I tried to look interested but I wasn’t really, not until a blond woman walked up.
She was tall, maybe around five-nine with blonde hair but you could see the dark roots. She had a heavy makeup with bright red lips and loads of mascara. Even though, she was very beautiful and dressed similar to me, a skirt down to her knees and a dark blouse. Mine was white.
When she opened her mouth her voice was deep and had a sexy accent which I couldn’t place at first, not until she told everyone she was from Serbia.
While she spoke our eyes met and I couldn’t take mine away from hers. It was like she was talking only to me and I felt like I was drowning in her gaze.
When she finished she went back to her seat which I realized was right behind me.