Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: FEET (01/17/19)
-
TITLE: Adroit in Detroit | Previous Challenge Entry
By Corinne Smelker
01/21/19 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
Almost before the client finished his sentence, I said yes and replaced the telephone receiver with an unsteady hand.
“I got the interview,” I exclaimed to my husband. “Wow. I really got it!”
“Well, of course you did,” Michael’s face beamed his pleasure. “My clever wife. New country. New marriage. New job. You’ll knock ’em dead.”
That Tuesday found me nervously sitting in the lobby. To maintain an illusion of calm I was pretend-reading a book, but gave up after being on the same page for three minutes. I looked around, envisaging myself working here, one of the “Big Three” automotive companies in Michigan. Hard to believe that a year ago I had been on a different continent, with no plans to move to America.
Lord, I thank you that are with me today. I am so thankful that You directed my steps! Thank you that I will have the right words to say, and will impress the interviewers. I pray they understand my accent!
My reverie was cut short when an impeccably dressed woman stood in front of me, hand extended. “My name is Lily and I will be one of the interviewers.”
“Pleased to meet you,” I accepted her hand, and she led the way to a small, but well-appointed conference room. She indicated a seat, and gestured to a closed folder.
“Before the actual interview, we ask all our candidates to do this short assessment. It tests your English skills,” I’ve got that in the bag, “and your math ability. We find with technical writing you need to have some concrete, albeit fairly basic math skills.”
Maths? What the heck? I am abysmal at maths. What do I do?
Outwardly maintaining my calm, I said, “I understand.” I opened the folder and looked down at a list of 20 questions. I read the first two incredulously.
“A football field is 100 yards from end to end. What is its length in feet?”
“Mary buys 327 feet of fabric. How many inches does she have?”
My vision blurred, and tears flooded my eyes, unbidden and unwelcome. Tentatively I looked over at Lily at the far side of the table. “Lily, how many feet are in a metre? And how many metres are in a yard, do you know?” She looked up, puzzled.
“You see, where I come from we deal in metres and kilometres. Not in feet and inches. I know nothing about this system.”
Her eyes widened and she strode over to look over my shoulder. “I have no idea,” she confessed. “Let me see what I can find out.”
After she left, I lay my head on the conference table.
Oh God! This is a total mess. What was I thinking? They’re going to kick me out and I’ll never work here.
After chugging down the water that was in the middle of the table, I turned my attention to the English portion.
At least I can ace this.
As I was nearing the end, Lily re-entered the room. “So. I talked to the hiring manager and he's stumped.”
“What do I do then?” I asked.
“I’m really not sure,” she replied.
She’s not sure? She’s the interviewer for heaven’s sake.
“All right. Here’s what I’ll do. I will pretend that feet is centimetres and yards are metres. I will calculate the problems based on that, and at the bottom of this page I’ll put in a table that shows the conversion rates I was taught. Deal?”
“Deal.” I heard her sigh of relief.
I quickly finished up the maths portion of the assessment, and then was whisked away to meet the rest of the team for the more formal interview. Two days later I received the offer letter, which I gladly accepted.
To this day I’m not sure what the assessors thought of my maths skills. I can only assume they liked my problem-solving ability, and my capability to think outside of the box, because I’m pretty sure every single answer I put down was wrong!
************************************************************************
This is a true account of my first interview, and subsequent job in the USA.
This was before the internet so we could not google conversion rates.
In the USA the word mathematics is shortened to ‘math’. In British-based countries it is known as ‘maths’.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
It actually made me think about IQ tests and children from different cultures who take them. They aren't really fair sometimes.
Good job on drawing the reader in to see what happens next.
But I felt all the emotions from beginning to end and could imagine the anxiety of waiting, and the excitement of getting the job.
Good stuff here!
Great job thinking outside the box on the topic. You drew me in and had me rooting for the MC (you.)