Interviewing Patrick

I arrived at the office at 10:50 a.m. The young receptionist barely looked up at me. “Yes?”

“My name is Vera McGill. I’m here to interview for the personal assistant job.”

She looked me up and down with a show of disdain. “OK, Mrs. McGill, you’re early. Take a seat and Mr. Devereaux will see you when he’s ready.”

She was already back to her busy job of ignoring me, so I stayed where I was and said “Ms.”

A slight frown crossed her heavily made-up features. “Come again?”

“It’s Ms McGill, not Mrs. McGill. Can you tell Mr. Devereaux I’ve arrived?”

I saw the beginning of a sneer, before she put on a customer service smile and said “I’ll let him know at 11 o’clock.”

I returned the fake smile and said “Thank you” before taking a seat and scrolling through the messages on my phone.

A door opened behind the reception desk, and a smartly dressed man in his thirties walked in. He looked around the reception area, not even stopping to notice me. Then he walked up to the receptionist and put his hands on her shoulders, giving her an unsolicited shoulder rub. I saw her give a brief twitch of annoyance, which she quickly smoothed over, turning to him, and coquettishly addressing him. “Oh, Mr. Evans, you surprised me!”

He smirked, saying “You looked as though you needed to relax, Carole. You can always ask me to come out and help you take a break.”

She gave another fake smile and distracted him by indicating me. “Oh, Mrs. McGill here has come to interview for the PA job with Mr. Devereaux. Has he finished his previous interview?”

Evans looked at me without making eye contact. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear. She sniggered at whatever he said. Then he turned away, casually moving his hand so it seemed to trail across her breast. “I’ll go and see,” he said. “We’ll catch up later.”

He disappeared the way he had arrived. I looked at Carole to see if we could talk about that, but she was back to ignoring me. I checked the time. It was 10:55 a.m.

The elevator doors opened, and a young woman stepped out. She saw me and nodded, then walked to the reception desk. I was pleased to see that Carole showed no more interest in her than she had in me. She coughed gently to get the receptionist’s attention, then said in a bored tone “Izzie Denton, here for the PA position.”

Carole sniffed. “You’re very early. This lady is ahead of you. Take a seat and wait. She won’t take long.”

I didn’t react to the insult aimed at me. I’m too old and too secure to fall for that. As Izzie settled down and picked up a magazine, a distinguished-looking man in his fifties appeared. He smiled at Izzie, pausing a moment to admire her, then briefly glanced at me before turning to the receptionist.

“Carole, it’s 11 o’clock already. Did my interviewee call to say she’d be late?” He sounded irritated, as though he’d been kept waiting. Carole looked flustered. Good.

“Oh, Mr. Devereaux, I thought you were still in the previous interview. Mrs. – Ms – McGill is here for the appointment.”

He swung around and made eye contact with Izzie. I stood up and held out my hand to shake. “I’m Vera McGill, Mr. Devereaux. Pleased to meet you.”

Reluctantly, he shook my hand. “Please call me Patrick, Ms McGill. Come with me and we’ll get started.” He flashed a scowl at Carole and led me to his office, waving me to a seat facing his desk.

I sat calmly, waiting to hear how he wanted to conduct the interview. He sat in a large leather chair behind the desk and made a show of picking up my resumé and browsing through it. Dropping it back on his desk, he made fierce eye contact with me and barked “What do you want from this job?”

I sat up straight and returned his unblinking stare. “I’m recently divorced, and I need an income that doesn’t depend on my ex-husband. I was an accountant before my marriage, so I have all the skills you are looking for, and I’m motivated to make a success of it.”

I closed my mouth and looked at him expectantly. He seemed to be reassessing me. I had dressed neutrally for this interview. I had no idea what the firm was looking for, and I didn’t want to give any particular first impression. Patrick’s gaze softened a little. “Life is tough for a recently divorced woman,” he noted, “I’m sure it’s hard to start over in your career. Here at KDG, we like to think of ourselves as family. We enjoy molding our employees and helping them reach their goals.”

I nodded and sat back a little. “That’s good to hear. I was afraid that you’d be looking for someone younger for this role.”

Patrick smiled. “As a PA, honestly, I think you’d be wasted. Your job would be to look pretty and impress visitors, take care of personal things for me, and so forth. However, I could see you fitting in with our accounts team. Tell me about your accounting experience.”

Of course, it was well-documented in my resumé, but that’s the way of interviews. I patiently repeated the highlights of my accounting career, while he continued to watch my face closely. “You know, I think you could be very good for us. I’d like you to stick around for a while. My accounts manager won’t be in until this afternoon, but I’d be happy to take you to lunch after my next interview, and we can get to know each other better. Would that work for you?”

I smiled gratefully. “If you’re sure you don’t mind, I’d be happy to stick around. Should I wait in the reception area?”

He stood up and took me by the elbow, steering me back to reception. Izzie and Carole were still there. Leaning in a little, he murmured quietly in my ear “I’ll make this as quick as I can. Just make yourself comfortable.”

I went to sit down, and he turned to Carole. “Is this lovely young thing my next interview?”

Carole nodded. “This is Izzie Denton. She’s your last interview today.”

Patrick walked over to Izzie and leaned down. “Izzie? I’m very pleased to meet you. Why don’t you follow me to my office? Carole, please get us a couple of cups of coffee. Oh, and get one for Ms McGill while she waits for me.”

I stood up. “I’m sorry, Patrick, I’m afraid I’ve changed my mind. This company culture seems rather predatory. Neither I nor my daughter will be working here. Come on, Izzie, let’s go home.”

As we waited for the elevator, Patrick was standing with his mouth open, while Carole was trying hard not to smile. She did meet my eyes for the first time, though, and when she was sure he couldn’t see her, she gave us a small salute. I checked my phone. I had saved my daughter from a horrible first job. The time was 11:20 a.m. A very productive half hour.