020

Carl entered the office with a big smile as he said: "Guess what I'm bringing to you, Harold? A potential newcomer! Ahahah! Well, Ron, this guy here is our HR director, I'll leave you in his care. See you around"

And Carl left after Ron thanked him.

Harold Walker was the HR director. Human resources director to say it in full. He was the one tasked to hire people. These days, he was in a pinch. He needed to find a new engineer but it was close to impossible. Their company wasn't offering enough to interest the fully fledged engineers. He was at his wit's end. And the other workers always teased him about it while the owner kept screaming at him to do his job… It wasn't his fault that the company was stingy!

And to add insults to injuries, his colleagues began to play a game that involved bringing unqualified people to interview… This time, it was Carl. And this idiot wasn't even trying to make it seem real. The kid he brought had a low-quality suit on and, well, it was a kid. How could this kid be any worth? Nevertheless, he had to do his job correctly and was forced to remain polite at all times. There were laws in place protecting the job searcher. If he fucked around, he might end up being sent to court for not having been impartial as a recruiter… What a damn pain though.

He sighed and moved his hand towards the seat in front of him to indicate the kid to take a seat. Then, he introduced himself: "Harold Walker, HR director for what it's worth. So, what kind of job are you looking for, kid?"

…

Ron found this Harold far less friendly than Carl. He reminded him of John in the way he acted. Fortunately, he knew the magic word to change the situation. As he took a seat, he introduced himself: "I'm Ron Morgensen, I was sent here by the job center after telling them I was an engineering student looking for work"

As soon as he finished his sentence, he saw the crumbled face of Harold change. His frown turned into a friendly smile. And he quickly said: "Oh! An engineering student! We are indeed offering a position as engineer at the moment. Well, did Carl give you a tour of our building already?"

Ron was smugly smiling. As expected, 'engineer' seemed to be a magic word to change people's opinion about you. This was great.

He answered Harold: "He showed me some"

Harold got up excitedly and said: "Bah! I'm sure he skipped the important places. Why not let me show you around our factories and tell you more about our projects? Or maybe, you would rather have some coffee first?"

Harold was a little anxious at the moment. He didn't expect an engineer to fall on his lap like this. Sure, it was just a student but that was more than he could get at the moment with the incentives he could provide. He needed to recruit this kid if he wanted to keep his own job. He probably wouldn't get a second opportunity like this one.

Ron had no idea how a recruitment was supposed to be like so, he decided to just go with the flow and agreed to both.

Moments later, Harold and Ron were walking through the building with coffee in hands with Harold excitedly speaking about the work they did at the company. Ron understood even less things than when Carl told him stuff but the coffee was good so, who cared?

He even dared to ask for a refill as they passed by a coffee machine at a different floor. Of course, Harold obliged thinking it was a subtle way of the kid to say he was interested and wanted to learn more…

They spent an hour touring the building before settling down in a rest area to discuss further. Harold decided not to go back to his scruffy office and instead, he picked a more relaxing and comfortable space. He made sure to place a warning sign to not enter after closing the door behind him. He didn't want a random colleague to fuck him up this time.

As they sat, with Ron already on his fourth coffee, Harold asked him: "Well, Sir Morgensen, what do you think?"

Ron thought he asked about how he found the coffee so he answered: "It's really good"

Harold beamed. The kid took an interest in the company! Maybe, he might really be able to hire this one. Harold dared to venture further: "So, Sir Morgensen, why don't we discuss the contract now that you have learnt more about our company?"

To Ron, contract meant being hired, and that meant making money. He was very pleased and nodded positively. Both men were grinning, unaware that they were both misunderstanding the other one.

Harold began to enounce the requirements and benefits he could provide: "We are in need of a chief engineer to resume the work on project 753 which is a new flying car design. Do you have knowledge in flying cars, Sir Morgensen?"

While he needed an engineer, he couldn't pick a random one either. He needed to make sure he got one with at least some capabilities. A bad apple was worst than no apples at all.

Ron decided that it was best to show proof than speak for hours. He took out his official university identification paper and showed it to Harold as he said: "I do"

Obviously, he didn't know shit except from what he saw of them. As an engineer? He knew absolutely nothing!

But the papers were real. Harold could easily see that. It was a true engineering student and from one of the universities of this very city, a good one at that. In order to be allowed in, he would have had to ace difficult tests. This was proof of his ability as well. Hard cold real proof. There was no need to test him further, he was good enough.

There was still much to discuss though.