Change

For a long time I worked in banking, office, dress code, 9 to 18, in a word, the standard. It would have gone on like that if one day, while being late for work, I hadn't crashed my old car, and I didn't have to borrow a friend's car. It was much better and more modern than mine, and I thought that it would be a good idea to buy one of those, but after a price check I realized that I could not afford this toy. Of course, I wondered how a man I've known almost all my life, such opportunities.

I didn't beat around the bush, and asked him directly what he did for a living. I heard nothing new, he had his own small business, 11 people, almost all common acquaintances, started with what is now called "Startup", then got a grant, raised a couple of projects, and now are engaged in industrial design. After a little more chat I learned that there is a profession "interviewer", and also learned that a good interviewer is very difficult to find, but if someone still manages to do it, they hold on to him like a drowning man to a straw, and most importantly, he is well paid.

The decision was obvious, all that remained was to understand what and how to do in order to become an interviewer. My performance at work was creeping downhill, because most of the time I was reading articles, watching videos, and putting together some sort of basic skills package that I would need at a job interview. So I made it to vacation, I was all set, and I was looking forward to the first day of vacation and the first interview. I was applying for an interviewer position at the Slavic Watch staffing agency. I spent almost the whole evening studying my "instruction manual", practicing in front of the mirror, choosing my clothes...

Morning put everything in its place, I overslept and was late, in order to save time, I wore the first thing that came to hand. I had given my car back to a friend a long time ago and sold mine for parts. There was no time and no desire to wait for a cab, so I took public transport. After a good jog from the subway to the agency office, I ran into the office and asked the girl at the reception desk, where they were having the interview. The girl said that the interviewer hadn't arrived yet, and told me in confidence that it was his thing to "pickle" the applicant. After drinking my coffee, I sat back in my chair and was about to go over my manual again, but then I discovered that I had forgotten it. At that moment a casually dressed guy of my age entered the office, looked me over with an appraising glance, chatted about something with the girl who offered me coffee, and went to the office at the end of the corridor. After a couple of minutes the phone rang at the reception desk and I was invited in for an interview.

The guy was sitting at the table sprawled out in an armchair, I did not see a chair in front of the table, so I took the one that caught my eye and put it so that it was convenient to have a dialogue. For a while everything went according to plan, or rather, everything went according to the instructions, except that it was the kid who asked the questions, not me. I had to answer them, but the questions were standard, and I didn't have to tell them anything new about myself.

The interview was already coming to its logical conclusion, when the guy asked me a question about what I had been dissatisfied with at my previous job, and what was the reason for me quitting. It wasn't that I wasn't prepared for this question, or that it was somehow new, I was just thinking a little differently, I was expecting questions like, "Where do you see yourself in a year?" and so, instead of giving a normal answer I asked the guy myself, "What happened to my predecessor?" An awkward pause hung, the guy laughed and said I was accepted.

Later it turned out that this very turn and decided my fate, before this guy was going to "call me back", because my predecessor was exactly him.

Now I work in another firm, quite successful, I make good money, at least I now have a better car than my friend. But, sometimes it seems to me that soon it will be necessary to change this occupation...

I want something new.