Half of What I Say by Anil Menon

Author:Anil Menon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

15

(TANAZ HAS BEEN DRIVING IN AND AROUND HAPUR IN A COMPANY-issued sedan all day. She looks happy.)

God, I love being Tuglaq. Assistant Site Manager, ten percent increment. I have twenty field execs under me. Twenty! I’m in charge of the Jadoo’s distribution in the northern part of the NCR territory. My responsibilities are all managerial now. The downside is I’ve been living in Hapur for almost three weeks. Poor pati-dev. He’s really missing me.

I hired my own team! Fifteen of my people are transfers from other projects, but I selected them. And I got to hire the other five. I’ve interviewed people before but the ultimate decision was always somebody else’s. This time it was entirely up to me and if I picked the wrong person, my team would sleep with the consequences. Your typical misarranged marriage, basically. (Laughs.)

I interviewed a total of thirty people. I would have called more candidates, but Supriya-ji began to make noises. Four of the hires were easy decisions, these candidates had real work experience. But the last slot gave me some trouble. I had almost decided on a Jain girl, Dhansari. I liked Dhansari’s attitude. Go-getter type, smart. Cheerful.

I was looking for a good Config Specialist. It’s a software Q&A position but not hard-core technical. Basically, the person is responsible for correctly loading all the hazaar applications onto the tablets. It’s all automated, but for us managers that just means the hire has to be even more reliable and trustworthy.

(Tanaz takes a call. As she speaks, her accent subtly shifts, it becomes more Americanized).

That was an American friend of mine. She’s freaking out. The Lokshakti arrested her husband some months ago. He’s a prof, a Geology prof I think. She’d mentioned he studies petrified rocks or some such thing. Why would a geologist be arrested? I don’t believe it. I mean, there must be more to the story. There must be a reason. Or it’s just a misunderstanding. I’ll speak to pati-dev, I’m sure he’ll take care of it.

Anyway, about the Config Specialist. Dhansari had a Master’s in electrical engineering from Coimbatore University. I asked her: don’t you think you’re over-qualified? And she says, ma’am, that won’t be a problem when I get promoted. I had to laugh. She said she liked working with people, she was hoping to work on GIS systems one day, all that jazz.

I asked her tough questions. Give one situation where you have broken a rule and why? If you had to choose between delivering an incomplete assignment on time versus completing it but missing the deadline, what would you pick? We weren’t going to use her as a field officer, but just in case, I had her do a survey—I used the study we did for La Senza, a lingerie company. She asked me the survey questions and I gave her all sorts of nonsensical answers— for example, when Dhansari asked what I was looking for in a bra, I said they should taste good—but she wasn’t fazed one bit.

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