Talking with a stranger but I felt at ease

September 03, 2022

Honestly being a loner is one of my best masks whenever I'm with a crowd and it made me feel at ease when no one's talking to me as I always felt nervous whenever someone instantly walk right to me and started talking, but it made a huge change yesterday during one of my job hunting.

I have a scheduled interview and assessment yesterday morning and the nervousness I felt whenever I have interviews always came back to me the moment I arrived at the place where I will be having my interview.

It was located on the 5th floor of the building, so I need to take up the elevator, as I was waiting for it to open a bunch of youngsters probably senior high fresh graduates were with me in the elevator. They kept talking regarding the interview, so I expect we were going to the same direction.

As we enter, we were told to fill up the attendance sheet and to sit on available chairs as there were ahead of us already having their interviews. I roam my eyes and my guess that it's an agency by the looks of it. I look over to the one having their interview only to be shocked that they were not interviewed individually but they were four of them being interviewed in one go. I fiddled with my hands thinking what the other reactions will be if we will be interviewed together, I don't want to stutter but I guess it's a given in my state or so I say. The interview went well, and we were told to go back to our seats and wait to call our name for another individual interview. It's the nth time already that I have engage in interviews and I still stumble on the words I utter. The interviewee then told me that they'll be the one to recommend us to other companies base on our background.

When I was called to take my assessment, I was really nervous, and I remember the past assessments which I failed because of my nervousness. I need to reset my mind and think of the words my sister told me, to have a positive mindset, and let my mind do the work.

The moment I sat on the separate chair for the assessment I was really laughing at myself. I've been through this many times so no need to be on edge again, so I answer the first set with ease but when the voice test again this little voice really made me feel like I am not really fit for the job. After it was the typing test, I have my confidence on my typing skills but not with my hands being heavy. Tapping the keyboard faster and it's really noisy that the other applicants near my seat look my way lol!!! Can't blame them for I am really noisy when it comes to typing.

After the assessment I went back to my seat and wait for the staff to call my attention again. I sat beside a woman maybe on her twenties and she kept looking everywhere like a lost cat. I didn't mind them and just look at my phone.

" Is this your first time applying in a call center company?"

I thought the woman next to me was talking to the guy on the back but when I look up, she was looking at me.

" Yeah, it's my first time"

She then smiled and went back to checking her files, I was also scrolling at my phone gallery. But then she taps me again and ask if I'm an anime fan or have been watching anime on my spare time, I didn't get to answer back because she told me she saw my screen saver which is Levi Ackerman of Attack on Titan. And since it's a first for me to encounter a person who had the same taste with me in anime and also an EXO fan that I was able to talk to her.

Talking about anime and also EXO and then we were called to be transfer to the main recruitment pub. We were both selected alongside three others for the final interview. We kept talking about anime and our favorite characters. I forgot that I finished Naruto and her talking about their characters remind me of the time when I was crying over Master Jeraya's death lol!!

The queue of the applicant in the main hub is quite many and the process took longer but we didn't mind waiting as we were enjoying our conversation.

FYI, we never get to introduce each other but she really did share some of her personal struggle and I ask why she is sharing such an important phase in her life to a stranger. She just shrugged and told me that she felt at ease talking with me, same with me too as I feel at ease even though we only met that day.

After the interview, I told her that I will be leaving first as my Boss was waiting for me at the office for some files. She then thanked me for the time we talked, and she didn't feel lonely being a first-time applicant as she get to talked to someone, I also thanked her for her time and for the laughter.

This is really a first for me as I mostly don't talk to anyone especially on first encounter.

Talking to a stranger makes me nervous but me meeting and talking to that person really made me feel at ease and I conclude that it's not that bad talking hehehe.

Thank you for reading!
@mommykim