Stearns and Company

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Our company had grown quite large, with offices in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C. and Atlanta publishing investment advisory newsletters commenting especially on the economies of the western countries, Europe, Japan and the U.S.A. and the growing economies in the developing world.

In order to keep current on developments in Great Britain, it was decided to open an office in London, and I was selected to manage the new office at least until we had a British employee who could take over after a period of orientation on our policies and methods of doing business.

We had an English outfit advertise for applicants and forward any resumes received for our consideration and further action.

After a short period they reported that they had quite a few which they shipped to us for review and consideration.

Those that were considered appropriate were stuffed into my briefcase as I flew to London, and set up in a hotel where I would conduct interviews. Knowing little about London, we knew we needed local talent to recommend locations and get us started properly.

We had responded to the resumes, telling the applicants where we would be, and asking them to call and make an appointment.

 

[peckeridge]

Dear Sirs,

Thank you for your recent letter confirming I would be able to interview with you. Unfortunately i have not been able to reach you by the telephone but I am very much interested in working for your company. Please do let me know when I would be able to interview.

Kind regards

Hazel.

 

[catlover]

Frank

The several responses were varied. Some conformed appointments at our hotel conference rooms.

Others requested additional information, and one caught our eye because it asked for a response directly from Stearns and Company, rather than from our English contact who had published the ad and given us advice as to a Piccadilly Square convenient location to conduct the interviews. Thss was a little unuual, but out of curiosity, we responded telling her where we would be, and assigning an appointment time asking her to confirm by telephone message to an unlisted phone number we had acquired for such a purpose.

We hoped it would be convenient for the woman, named Hazel because her resume was of interest to us, and we looked forward to meeting her.

Arriving in London at the Heathrow Airport, we made our way to the hotel, the Claridge, and upon checking in, I inspected the conference room we had reserved, and reread all the resumes so I was prepared to meet with the applicants at the assigned time.

On Monday morning, I was ready. Our first appointment was with a young lady named April. I was enthralled with such a pretty name, and she was just as enticing, but a little too young to be my administrative assistant. I told her we were interested and wanted to hire her, but we needed a little space since she was the first interview.

I gave her sample copies of our recent publications and told her to read them and call me tomorriow for a further appointment.

The next applicant was a lady named Hazel, who had written our company directly. We couldnt quite figure out how she learned the name of our firm since we had advertised through a London outfit, but she must have been pretty persuasive to get the necessary information as to our company and its address, and I looked forward to meeting her.

When she arrived, I stood and gently shook her hand and came right out and asked her how she was able to get that information.

 

[peckeridge]

As I walked into the Claridge I started to feel nervous, this was a big oppurtunity for me. I have been an administrative assistant for 2 years now and I have made many friends along the way, some who owed me a favour or two. I called in one of those favours and managed to get the direct details of Stearns and Company, which i must say I was delighted with.

However as I stepped into the interview room and shook the hand of the man infront of me I was not expecting him to ask me directly how I had aquired that information.

His grip on my hand was a gentle one, but i felt some sort of power in him when he asked me how I had be able to get this information. Should I lie? say that I had done research into the ad and asked a few cheeky questions or should I smile and inform him that I was owed a favour and I called it in. Would he think I was sly, or pleased that I could aquire such information.

I decided to go with a confident smile and tell him, that as an administrative assiatant it was my job to aquire information and use it wisely.

I then asked him " may I sit down"? The killer heels I had chosen to wear were already starting to hurt me, and they were the last things I should be focussing on when I had a big interview ahead of me.

 

[catlover]

Frank

I was about to point to a comfortable chair across the table from me, but from what she said I was read to hire her on the spot.Anyone with that sort of moxie was exactly what I was looking for.

Besides, looking at her was a treat as well.

I went and slid another chair up beside mine on my side of the table.

Please sit here, I asked, and then inquired as to her schedule fior the rest of the day.If she had other commitments I needed to know, before I was able to use her in the way I desired.

She said her day was free, so I told her that I wanted her to sit here with me in order to interview additional applicants, to get her reaction as to whether theymight be suitable for our firm.

Handing her a set of our recent publicatins, I asked her to please read them and if she had any questions I would be glad tio answer them.

Thirty minutes later our next applicant arrived, promptly on time. Her name was Nadine.I had shown Hazel her resume, and we were oprtepared to interview her.

When she entered, I introduced myself, and then Hazelas my administrative assistant, and her smile lit up the room knowing that she had the position been seeking.

 

[peckeridge]

When Frank asked me to sit next to him on his side of the table, I was thrilled but trying to remain calm. I was hoping that this meant I had done well and maybe the job was mine but I didn't want to get too ahead of myself.

30 mintutes later when Nadine walked in and I was introduced as Frank's administrative assistant I could not of been happier and I couldn't hide my smile from him.

We sat side by side as Nadine was interviewed, she was sweet and charming and I admired the way she carried herself even though she was slightly nervous. I am not sure if it was because I was so happy but I felt quite powerful, like I had always belonged next to him. Nadine was pretty and had a very perky, full pair of breasts, I wasn't sure why I was looking at them......was he also looking at them?

 

[catlover]

Frank

I was quite impressed with Nadine. So far, three interviews and all of them quite successful. Of course we had already weeded out the resumes of applicants obviously not suitable, but either we did a great job of selecting applicants for interviews, or everyone was a winner.

Hazel seemed pleased as well, so I handed Nadine a sheaf if our publications as well, and told her to read them and if she was comfortable with what we would be doing we would like to have her join us. I gave her my card and asked her to call me here tomorrow

I turned to Hazel and said that she was more in tune with salary levels here in Great Britain and I would appreciate her input. Of course what I really wanted to know was how much salary Hazel was going to get, but this was part of the job I had hired her for.

Nadine departed and Hazel and I were alone. I looked into her eyes and I just wanted to kiss her. I already felt comfortable with her and was edging toward being in love with her. Again I inquired as to her schedule for the day, because we had interviews scheduled up to 4PM and she had told me she was from Birmingam, and I had no idea what that involved in commuting time or cost.