Director of human resources – Susan Jones

Hello, my name’s Jones, Susan Jones and I work as director of human resources for an international firm. 
I am going to tell you some funny anecdotes about some job-applicants I interviewed recently.

Did you know that one in four job-applicants fails because of their unsuitable appearance and behaviour? The other day I was interviewing a young man and he was eager to make small talk with me. I guess he was just trying to make a good impression, he was looking at my stomach, you know I have been putting on some weight, age doesn’t help, does it? Any way he had the nerve to ask me ‘When is it due?’. I guess he thought I was pregnant, how humiliating!

What a cheek! Well, will you believe me if I tell you about that young guy I interviewed last week, he looked filthy, smelt awful and had those dreadful dirty fingernails. I suppose he had been gardening over the weekend, let me tell you it put me off straight away!

Only last week, a friend of mine was telling me about that candidate who went for a drink before the interview, he probably needed it to calm his nerves, but the thing is, he arrived drunk for his interview as a bus-driver, can you imagine?

Well, I’ve been thinking about all that and this is my conclusion: schools do not give young people adequate preparation for the world of work. For example they don’t realize how important it is to be punctual! It’s a terrible shock to the system of many young graduates to realize the difference between the way they have lived as students and the discipline necessary in the cold world of commerce they want to join.