The pure blood slept peacefully in the first few minutes but somehow restlessness crept in
after a couple of hours. He kept tossing and turning until he could not bear it
any longer. He woke up silently without waking up his friend and looked out in
the darkness through the bedside window. Would his coming days continue the
dank darkness of his life or would the divine light intervene to make a
difference – that was the question which was playing on his mind. He got off
and drank some water from the bottle on the table. He had a sudden urge to
leave it all and run away. The foolhardiness of his thought struck him the very
next moment and he returned to lie down. He tried to convince himself to keep
his focus on the agenda the next day. He double checked the alarm before
closing his eyes. Sleep would not come but he forced his eyes to remain shut.
The jarring alarm jerked him from his slumber. He sat up immediately and rubbed his groggy eyes. In a minute the day's agenda flashed before his eyes which prompted him to get into action without further ado. Within a few minutes he had shaved and showered. His ironed clothes had been brought out last night itself which he donned gingerly. He neatly brushed his wet hair and sprayed the latest deo all over. Although he was not hungry, yet he did not want any growls later during the day, so he partook of a light breakfast of toast and cornflakes. He collected his bag from the corner and checked its contents for this CV and other supporting papers. He sought the blessings of the Almighty before moving to the door. After putting on his polished black shoes, he hoisted his bag on his right shoulder and bid goodbye to his friend, who had just woken up.
He briskly walked
to the nearest bus stop on the main road and waited for the one which plied on the route to
the interview location. It had not been 2 minutes when the bus arrived but it was quite crowded
and he didn’t want to risk any distortion to his attire. Within a few minutes 2
more buses on the same route came but both were equally, or if not, more
crowded. Monday morning had its share of madness on the road! He made quick
enquiries and found another bus which would get him part of the distance and
since this one was relatively empty he hopped in. This was good thinking and in
reasonable time, he reached half-way from where he took an auto riskshaw to the
law firm’s office. The map of the place was ingrained in his mind and there was no need to pull out the physical one. Very soon he reached his destination,
paid the auto driver and got off a few metres away. His watch told him that he
was much before scheduled time. He took a stroll around the place and then
stepped inside the standalone building.
The receptionist
checked with the partner’s secretary and asked him to wait in the small front
office couch. The pure blood maintained him calm both within and outside. Very soon
he was directed to an inner conference room bordering the front office. He walked
into the small squarish room with a bright blue hue and customarily took a seat
opposite the door. Very unlike his previous interviews, this one started
within minutes of his arrival and before the appointed time. A few awards and
citations of the firm were displayed on the wooden panel at the other end of
the room beside the lone window. However,
he had no time to view these as the door opened and a tall and stout man walked in. He was
wearing a blue shirt and black trousers. He had sharp features, oval shaped
face and long nose. His piercing eyes were momentarily hidden by the wide smile
as he introduced himself and greeted the pure blood in a jovial voice.
After some introductory
discussions on general topics, the partner slowly maneuvered the conversation to the
job in hand and pure blood’s experience. Questions flew thick and fast at the
pure blood, who responded with equal measure. There were times when the pure
blood was short of an answer but still managed to respond impromptu. At times
the partner was also left stumped at the high level of preparedness of the blue
blood. Clearly both of them were having a field day! At the end of almost an
hour the partner had exhausted all technical queries and started testing the
pure blood on soft skills. There were queries on intra-team and inter-team relationship
building. The pure blood did not have much experience in these areas since
there was hardly a team in his existing firm. Although his boss had a sizeable
number of associates working under him, most of them were the sole points of contact for their respective matters. Moreover they did not have any reportees. The partner
was able to sense this and the truth popped out on further probing. The partner
explained that his firm had fairly large teams and it was of utmost importance
that all team members gelled together. He further gave instances where
aloofness among associates had reduced cooperation and coordination leading to difficulty
in delivering large assignments. His firm has engaged HR consultants whose
report had cited reputational risks from continued attrition on account of this
critical but oft neglected area in law firms.
The partner concluded
the interview rather abruptly by declaring that although the pure blood was
technically fit for the vacancy, but he would have to think it over in terms of
the deficient soft skills. He mentioned that his firm would get back in the
next couple of weeks if the pure blood could be offered the job. When the pure
blood stepped out of the office he was confounded - did this sudden turn of
events stem from a real experience or was it an excuse to reject him. The common
understanding was that technical expertise was paramount in a law firm and
everything else played second fiddle. He had never heard of soft skills being
elevated to such high level of gravity in any law firm before! The first shot had badly backfired!!
