One Job and Two Good Friends

One Job and Two Good Friends.

Frank walked into the staff cafeteria, looking for one of his friends to have his bagged lunch with. He did not like to eat alone. He soon saw his good buddy Tom, but he could read his face and saw that the man looked quite unhappy. So he walked over to where Tom was sitting alone and said, “ Why so glum, chum? He had another word that rhymed with the other two, but he knew well that that would not be appreciated at this moment in time.

           When Phillip sat down beside his friend, Tom whispered to him in a conspiratorial voice. “I submitted an application to the job that everyone is talking about, but I have been thinking that I probably do not have much of a chance to getting it. I wish that I could take my application back.”

           Frank replied, “You’re good for this company Tom. Maybe I could do a bit of coaching to give you a better chance. What do you say my friend? Are you up for it?”

           Tom’s facial expression transformed. “You would do that for me?” “Sure, that’s what friends are for?” Let’s go to Sammy’s Place tonight after work and share a few drinks and some presentation skills.”

          “Thanks. I really appreciate this. The first round will be on me.

“I’ll call my wife first to tell her what I am planning to do. I’ll need a little privacy, as our conversations can get a little wild.”

“Understood.”                                                      

So Frank walked out of the lunchroom, to have his private conversation with his wife. Tom had no idea that there was going to be an argument between the two of them, but would be happy to know that Frank got his way soon after he had said to his wife “He is my oldest friend. I’ve known him since we were classmates in grade school. I believe that with a friend like that I am duty bound to help him out as much as I possibly can, even with the situation being what it is.”

           When Frank re-entered the room there was a big smile on his face. “Alright, Tom, let’s go to the bar right after work. Sophie understands the importance of what we will be doing”

So, that evening, after having a meaningful conversation in the bar, the two long term friends put together how they were going to improve Tom’s chances in the competition for the job.  

First there was the matter of his resumé. Frank told him that he “needed more direction, that it should look like the work he had been doing both for this company and earlier on, were leading directly to the requirements of the new job.  In addition, Frank knew about all the volunteer work helping to feed people that could not afford decent meals that Tom had engaged in outside of his work hours. Tom had neglected to mention them, but Frank finally managed to convince him that they would boost his chances. Then there was extending the descriptions of the work he had been doing. Frank knew that there were complicated aspects of the work that he he had done in various jobs that wouldn’t be obvious just from the job title.

          Then they went through a session of learning to use the very words that were in the job description of the one that he was applying for – ‘lead the way’, ‘determined effort’ and the like ,

          The interview itself was by far the hardest part. Getting Tom to speak with confidence was difficult. His words were so very tentative, They included bad for evaluation purposes phrases such as: ‘I guess’, ‘seems’, “I am not sure’, and the like His body language was worse. He would wring his hands, look down at his shoes, and not at the interviewer ably acted out by Frank. They went through several simulated interviews, with Tom’s performance improving with each one.

           Frank even helped him pick out the appropriate clothes to wear so that he could show the boss that he would look the part of a good company representative when dealing with customers.

    Then came the big day. Frank sat in an uncomfortable chair, with several of his fellow candidates all waiting for their interview with the big boss. There was a bit of foot shuffling and looking at the big clock over the door that led to the boss’ office. No one candidate spoke to another, although they all knew each other fairly well from years of working together.

    Then someone new entered the room. No one turned around to look.  It would just be another candidate, something they did not want to see. When Frank looked up to identify who it was that had just walked in, he saw that it was Tom. He then looked downward and turned his face away, trying to make it difficult for Tom to see that he was a candidate too. But Tom still caught a glimpse of his friend, and shook his head slightly in disbelief. This was not something that Frank had ever mentioned, or even hinted at. He wondered why Frank had worked with him to improve his chances, in that way lowering his own.

 When Tom’s interview was over, he went straight out the door and directly to where Frank was sitting, whereupon he was asked “How did your interview go, my friend?”

“I think that it went quite well, thanks to you, my friend. I felt confident, and had no problems, again many thanks to you. The boss seemed quite pleased with me. The only thing I did differently, that I know that you would never have recommended, was that I told the boss that I thought that you would be great for the job. I told him of how you helped me with my resumé, and all of the rest, including the practice interview sessions. He looked quite surprised at first, and then nodded his head in what I believe was approval, both of what you did and what I said.”

     “I thank you for that my friend. I know that Sophie would be pleased with that too. She questioned my helping you at first, but came to support it completely.”         

    The rest of the work day passed with no announcement of who was chosen for the job. That night there was a phone call to tell the successful applicant. The boss told Frank that, more than any one thing that he said in his own interview, it was Tom’s support that convinced him that Frank would be ideal for the job.

     As soon as the phone call was over, he called Tom, and said in many ways, what he could not say in a few.