Human Resources: Part 2
Mololuwa eventually
returned to the mini office the following day, to fulfill all righteousness and
convince herself that she had all the self-control in the world to do the right
thing; who knows, luck might just shine one her.
The reception room was
very busy with people this time, unlike the previous day when she felt
important enough to get the job, being the only one that had showed up for the
interview. Now she understood why she was told to return the next day. There
were youths and even grandpas present there now, all eager to get hired. They
had on desperate expressions, especially the men. Mololuwa could not breathe
freely anymore for the air had been choked with nervousness, desperation,
anxiety and every other punitive feeling one could think of. The security guard
was quite friendly this time as he smiled at her and told her not to worry
about the day’s register but to go straight into the office space with the
other pack of wolves who wanted the same bread for survival as she did.
They trooped into the
room in an orderly manner and sat on the chairs that were neatly arranged and could
only accommodate few of them while the not so early comers were told to wait
outside. Chioma, the youfront desk agent, welcomed them all and gave
Mololuwa the look of “I know you were here yesterday” before she checked
through their CVs. She was led into the mysterious office with another lady whose chubbiness was
intimidating, to be interviewed by the now-present Head of HR.
There were two people in
there; a handsome man in his early thirties and a bold-like-scary woman in her
early forties. Mololu considered herself lucky for being interviewed by the man and
not the woman. “Women had a way of making their sex appear inferior, she thought.”
“Please sit. So may we
meet you?” This was the part she was used to. Having attended more than 10
interviews, she had mastered the art of introduction but she pondered why he
used the plural pronoun “we” when he was the only one in front of her, asking
the questions. “I am Mololuwa Thomas, 24 years old from Lagos state and a
graduate of Philosophy.”
“Ok. So what do you do
at the moment?” he asked.
“I write for a blog but
I don’t get paid. I just do it because it keeps me busy. I actually write about
fashion and entertainment and that’s what I’ve been doing since I concluded my
youth service program.” He hesitated a little, looking straight into her soul
and she struggled to keep her cool, to act mature and sustain her smile as long
as she could. And then he asked; “are you afraid of a crowd? Can you speak in
front of so many people?”
What had that got to do
with anything now… she thought. “No sir,
I am not scared of a crowd and yes, I can stand in front of people to speak
anytime, any day.” She hoped that was convincing enough for she had given her
best.
It took him more than a
heartbeat to respond. This left her weary with the fear of being sent out or
rejected. She wondered when something good would finally happen to her. Her
thoughts were cut short by his assertive voice when he asked her to collect a
white paper from him and follow the poker-faced man outside the office to where
she would have to write a test. “A test!” She thought. “Even this micro office that
I still don’t know what they do must conduct tests!”
There was no need for
anyone to show her the way to the assessment room as it was just three steps
away from the previous office. The interior was a forced one decorated with
square like shiny ribbons extending from the side end top of the wall to the
other end. There was a brown curtain that covered the view of the street and
close to the curtain was a television set, smaller than the one Mololu had in
her house, with the broadcast: Welcome to Prime Platform Resources. Beneath the TV set was a mini laptop that was used
to reflect the aforesaid words. The second window was covered with a blind,
invaded by dust. It only moved when the standing fan by the corner rotated its
way. Mololu took notice of the cobwebs and wondered if the room, the size of
her house room, had been abandoned for a year and was just recently needed for
the test purpose. But it still didn’t have to be decorated with cobwebs. There were
four opposite rows of chairs, properly arranged and she was the first person
that was directed to sit by a curry-favor-looking lady who wore a tight short
sleeved white blouse on a tight knee length grey skirt and black heel covered
shoes. Her hair gave her away as not being prepared for the whole program for
it was not in place even with the scarf like band she used to hold it down. And
then she spoke:
“Hello good morning.
You can sit anywhere you want on the first row. I will give you a preferential
treatment for being the first person to come in here. Please make yourself
comfortable.”
“Good morning. Thanks
but I’m fine right here” Mololu replied. She had picked the first seat on the front
row, close to the window covered by a blind and that was when the dust became
profound. She was not too bothered because she had on a brown colored dress. It
would hide the dust if needed… There was an invisible tape playing in the
background, turned down very low but still audible. It was a pastor speaking, who
sounded like a Ghanaian, talking about ceasing every opportunity the day had to
offer and being confident that nothing was going to stop you from “Making it.” It
was strange writing a test in such circumstance. When she had sucked in her
environment, she glanced at the white paper given to her and noticed it
contained 10 questions with limited dotted line spaces to answer them. She
filled in her name, the date and her discipline before she tackled answering
the questions that followed.
1.
Introduce yourself in one sentence
2.
What are the core values of PPR?
3.
Do you consider yourself a leader? If
yes, give reasons why.
4.
A number multiplied by 10=100. 100
divided by 10 will give you what?
5.
What would be your contribution to this
organization if you are employed?
6.
Have you thought of any entrepreneurial
skill to delve into if you are not employed? If yes, what would it be?
7.
What do you think about skill
acquisition and its effect on the society?
8.
Differentiate between unemployment and
underemployment
9.
What is the solution to unemployment?
1. What can you do to change the statuesque?
Mololu knew nothing
about the core values of PPR plus she had to turn over the paper to use the
available un-dotted space available. But the rest of the questions she answered
with speed and was the first to finish. When she called on the supervisor to
collect her paper, she was asked to wait as everybody would submit at the same
time. It was already 9:45 am. An unstable “guy” came in late and was led by the supervisor
to sit beside Mololu. He kept on shifting and whispering and bending as he
wrote the test. Maybe he was used to writing on a table or a desk but hey, no
one was comfortable there yet they wrote silently except this guy…she thought.
It was announced some minutes later that they had 10 more minutes to round up
and Mololu was shocked when this guy declared that he was through! “Did he not
know most of the questions asked or was he pushed here by his parents or maybe
he too did not want a ramshackle office without an air-conditioner” she
thought. He just kept on whispering/grumbling to himself while the papers were
being collected from everyone. It was now 10:00am.
The supervisor’s name
changed when she introduced herself to everyone in the room as Ese. She spoke
aloud and assured that all she said and asked made sense to everyone seated.
There was this “trying to please my bosses” air in her speech that was biting
to Mololu for Ese had declared that PPR was all about working with one another
and not working for… She spoke about Core Competence, Human Capacity Building,
Business Management and Intelligence, Agro-preneurship, I.T and Digital
Marketing, and Safety Health and Welfare. She asked questions and demanded a
responsive audience, quoting Albert Einstein or Barak Obama. She asked one of
the grandpas a question about welfare and was pleased with his answer. She asked
a young lady about the most important thing she had learnt from the session and
the lady said “Human Capacity building” and Ese went: “hmm, I like you and I
hope to work with you after today.” Ese ended her long speech or lecture or
presentation that were too shallow for comprehension for they were like words
lifted from a skill acquisition book written by an expert in business studies
and the like. She sounded abstract and acted like she was a professional after
boasting of her prior work experiences with companies she had worked for and
not worked with and how she left them just to work with PPR and how they were
lucky to be called for an interview and how the future would be bright for the
chosen ones. Mololu took her first yawn as Ese continued with her quotes from
different successful humans, raising the pitch of her voice to make her words
believable enough and when Mololu thought the bumpy ride would be over soon,
Ese rounded up her session by introducing her role model of PPR; one Onyeka
Onyewueze, who was described as a strong, strict and knowledgeable woman. They
were all implored to give the second speaker a round of applause which they did
reluctantly. Onyeka took to the front of the room and began her own session of
educating the job seekers on the Core Values of PPR with the acronym called
FACT:D.
“Please let’s give a
round of applause to Ese. She did a great job telling you all you need to know
about what we do here. My name is Onyeka and I’m proud to tell you that I work
with PR. We are a people that want to progress. We love positivity, we love
respectful cohabitation and we love those who can think outside the box. So
today I will be speaking on the core values of this organization. The first one
is FOCUS. You know, a man without focus has the tendency of being poor, true or
false? (No response). Oh! Are we all sleeping or tired? Please I need you to
respond quickly so I can be assured that there are human beings here with me.
When you don’t have focus in life it simply means you do not have where you are
going or coming from. You do not even know where you are at the moment…” As she
spoke, Mololu recalled that this was the same woman she was thankful did not
conduct an interview with her. She also could see that the two speakers had
similar registers. They quoted and quoted other people and ended ttheir sentences with the "true or false" syndrome and their mannerisms
reminded her of those men of God who persuaded their members to donate funds
for the construction of a new found location for the sake of giving God a
befitting dwelling place. She took her third yawn now and hoped the whole show
would come to an end in no time.
“The second one is ATTITUDE.
What is your attitude toward life? Are you one of those who give excuses for
their failure? Do you have a positive mindset or a negative one. When you wake
up every day what do you say to yourself or what do you command the day to be
like? Do you sleep from 9pm to 11am and expect manner to fall from heaven?
These are the questions we should ask ourselves today. There is this new
Ghanaian pastor in town I don’t know how many of you had been listening while
your test was going on. He encourages us to build an attitude of confidence,
hard work and determination…” Mololu now understood the reason for the tape
being played. She wondered if the brain washing was working on them all for why
were they still there listening to motivational speakers when they should be
demanding for their scores or their fate on getting a job or not. She waited
still, on the little patience left in her mind.
“The third value is CONTINUOUS
LEARNING. It is said that a man who fails to learn learns to fail. Here in DPR,
we learn every day, in fact if you are not the reading type then you have no
business being here. What do you even read when you read? Is it the newspaper, educational
books, articles, or social media posts and love novels? What you read reflects
in who you are and will eventually become, true or false? True or false!?” she
quoted a scholar who talked about learning, relearning and unlearning. “If you
cannot unlearn bad habits then there would be no space for innovative ideas to
come into your brain. Are you ready to continue learning today?” This was becoming outrageous now. Some facial
expressions from the little crowd portrayed this and Mololu took to looking out
of the blinds to find solace from this unnecessary talks. "What did it all mean?" she wondered.
“The forth one is TEAM
WORK. Working together is important for no one is an island. When Bill Gates
visited Nigeria for Dangote’s daughter’s wedding, and was implored to give
advice regarding the state of the country, he said that investing in our
resources is the best way to boost the economy. We all know that we are the
resources being referred to and if we work together, we can achieve a lot. A
famous proverb says that if you want to go fast go alone but if you want to go
far, go with others…” Mololu noticed that two persons had vacated their seats
but she could not find their boldness to do same. She wanted to know the end of
this story now… she would wait…
“The last but not the
least is DISCIPLINE. I will conclude by saying that discipline is the ability
to do the right thing at the right time. You have to be accountable for how you
spend your time and how you plan your future. I will leave you now to face your
next and final stage; this is where your fate will be determined. I am going to
call a very important person, a man of prestige, one who is taking this firm to
a higher level. Please welcome David!!!”
This was the last
straw. Mololu thought that this was all a charade while she watched David take
the stage. He looked different. He was not the same person anymore who had
welcomed her to sit while he interviewed her. Now he was a cocky young man who
told tales about becoming a man at the age of 15, how he watched his brother
die in his arms, how he sponsored himself through school and how he took care
of his 6 sibling, being the first child from an Eastern background. He came
across as one who had come to throw their unemployed status in their faces. He
criticized the test scores of some participants and degraded their show of
knowledge portrayed on their CVs, calling them Lai Mohammed. She wished it
would rain only on his head at that moment, soaking his zebra like up and down
native he wore with a pant barely reaching his ankles, on brown freestyle
shoes. She wished his black cap that balanced so well on one side of his head
would wash out its black color while the rain drenched him right there. He was
not handsome anymore; he was rather a pathetic fellow who found self-acclamation
by criticizing others all in the guise of encouraging them to be better,
independent, self-employed, working WITH and not FOR others. They were all the
same; the three speakers, with different rank of insanity. Mololu figured they
probably attended the same church, same front row but gave different offerings
and tithes. Ese debased herself as she made comments like “ride on sir,
exactly, true, oh yes!” just to show how attached she was to David’s talks and
how relevant they were on everyone’s behalf. Mololu felt sorry for her now.
Maybe her promotion lied in her performance. Maybe she liked him and wanted him
to feel the same about her. Or maybe her pastor had bestowed upon her a
disadvantageous talent. Whatever the case was, Ese was definitely out of her
mind, for never did this David see that awkward Goliath in Ese called NOTICE
ME.
It all ended when David
said “I need people who are hungry for success, who are not stereotype
thinkers, who can make Nigeria a better place on my team. I am not the head of
this business but I am the second in line so I have the power to select ten
people out of the present 35, to work with us here. I am going to make a
statement and your reaction would determine who’s going to be the first person
to make it through. If you know you want to be the first person to be selected
today, STAND UP!”
The room trolled around
in Mololu’s mind. It was like there was a mist in the air making her lose touch
of the goings on around her. She noticed how those grandpas stood up with such
agility, how some ladies struggled moving their bags on their laps to make the
list of the first person to be employed and how others nonchalantly stood up.
She was all alone on her seat now; deliberating what was going on and trying to
find the best answer to her questions. Was this really a criterion for
employment now, was she mad for not standing at all, or was David and all who
had danced to his off tune the stereotyped souls camouflaged as intelligent
people? Why weren’t they told if they had passed or failed the written test? If
only one person would be the first to stand then there would be nine more
processes of imbalanced selection.
She was brought back to
reality when the high and mighty David showed her the exit door with a pathetic
expression on his face. She presumed he pictured her future dark and
unsuccessful all because she never stood up to take a first position in the
race he had created by himself. She stood up with pride that she later wondered
where it had come from, looked him straight in the eye, telling him a
sarcastic “thank you,” one freeing her from an eccentric mentality. She met
Ese’s gaze as she opened the door; it was one of surprise mixed with confusion
and it made the make up on her face dingy. Onyeka was seated at the reception
area, pressing her cell phone when Mololu walked past her toward the door.
She had to return to appreciate Onyeka’s speech on discipline and when she was
asked why she was leaving so soon, Mololu stated that she was sent out for not standing, or wanting
to be the first out of ten people who would be selected. She liked what she saw
on Onyeka’s face. It was a sign of defeat. Maybe Onyeka would redefine the
visions of PPR, maybe David would find humility one day and Ese would become a
pastor’s wife. For now, she would be disciplined enough to stand at the right
time and walk away at the right time. Life would be better, knowing her honesty is not a
luxury.
One of the participants who responded to most of the questions asked
in there bumped into Mololu outside the building, shouting and calling all the
speakers fools who thought people had nothing to do but to listen to cheap
talks. She smiled at him and remembered his name. Mubarak apologized to her and
wished her all the best while he walked on perhaps regretting why he had wasted
his human resources coming to such a place filled with ridiculous people all in
the name of getting a job… It was already 1:00pm
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