The interview

About five hours later, after all the interview processes have been completed. Only ten out of the twenty shorlisted interns were accepted. Five interns were posted to work on the executive floor while the rest were sent to other departments.

Emma was among the five posted to the executive floor. Saying she was happy would be an understatement. She was exhilarated!

'I got a real job at the Salvadorian Empire!? I went for an internship interview but I got a real job instead!' She thought to herself unbelievably. It felt so unreal to her, she imagined the stony-faced man that conducted her interview would change his mind and say...

'We are very sorry! The offer was a mistake...' She wouldn't even be surprised if that were to happen because she felt she was not qualified enough to work for such a prestigious organization like the Salvadorian Empire.

She wanted to call her grandmother, Dr. Shitta, and Abby, her personal supporters' club members to share the good news with them. They so much believed in her even when she didn't believe in herself. But she couldn't right then because she might not be able to act like a sane person out of her excitement.

The stony-faced man who had earlier introduced himself as Mr. Paul, the personal assistant to the CEO came to call her, and one other boy away from where the final five assigned to work on the executive floor were sitting.

They followed him down a long, wide passageway with doors on both sides of the wall. The passage smelt very nice. Apart from the occasional ringing of a phone and the whirling and wooshing sound of a printer somewhere inside the doors they passed, the place was cool and almost serene.

She felt relaxed walking through it until the man opened one of the doors and they entered into another conference room. This one, much smaller than the one they first gathered for the interview. The man sat at the head of the table before asking them to sit.

"Congratulations! You're now part of this great Empire." He said. The stony face cracked a little to reveal a hint of a smile for the first time since that morning.

"On behalf of the CEO of this great Empire whom you both will be working for, I welcome you on board..."

"Thank you, sir!" Emma and the boy both chorused in reply to PA Paul who in turn nodded back in return before continuing.

"We gave you this job because we believe you will be a terrific asset to our team, and we look forward to your input!...

Mr. Yusuf Jakande, even though you will be working with the Human Resources Department, you will be reporting directly to the CEO. I will take you through what exactly is expected of you in a private meeting later...

And Miss Da-Silva, you and I both are working directly with the CEO. I know you're still a student but still, we need you to start as soon as possible. We'll discuss how we would work around your schedule later."

"Alright, thank you, sir" Emma replied with a smile. A boss that was willing to work around her schedule!? This is great!

"So how do you both feel right now?" PA Paul asked them both while looking towards Emma.

"Amazing! I'm very happy sir, thank you very much for this opportunity given to me." Emma replied with a huge smile on her face. If I was alone right now, I would probably be shouting for joy, but I'm sure that won't be tolerated here she looked around and they all laughed.

"I came here for an internship interview and I got a job instead!?... It-it felt... Surreal! So unbelievable. I'm just so happy right now and I promise to work hard. I promise you won't regret giving me this opportunity sir."

PA Paul nodded in response and smiled at her.

***

"So what about the interns?... How's their interview going?" Leo asked his PA when they were done discussing the reason why he called him into his office.

"They've all been assigned to their various departments, and the two that would be working directly with us are waiting in the conference room.

"Okay, tell me about them... What do they major in?"

"Mr. Yusuf Jakande is twenty-five years old. Bachelor of Science in Human Resources Management. Top of his class, from the University of Ife. I picked him for us because I felt we need somebody inside the HR department..."

"Yeah, we sure do... Please go on"

"The second person is Miss Emmanuella Da-Silva..."

"Da-Silva?..." Leo asked wonderingly? "The same Da-Silva of Silver Corporation or it is just a similarity in surname.?"

"Yeah, it is the same Da-Silva..."

"Why did she want to intern at the Salvadorian Empire? Why not with Silver Corporation, her family's company?" Leo asked with a frown on his face.

"I asked her exactly that and she gave enough reason that I couldn't find fault with...

'Learning under her brother who is the CEO of their Silver Corporation might not give her the real-life experience she needs to grow personally, test her skills and build her resume'... Her words, not mine."

"Oh! She's the daughter of the Silver Corporation chairman? I thought she was just a family member."

"Yes, she's the second daughter and last child of the family... In fact, she was eager to sign whatever confidentiality agreement I placed before her to prove she was here to learn and nothing else."

"You made her sign a confidentiality agreement? She was just an intern, was that necessary?"

"I was actually thinking about it since I wanted to offer her a real job because of her impressive resume. It just happened that she suggested it first just to prove she was sincere."

"Impressive resume huh?..." Leo asked with surprise. "That's a new one on me since I knew you to be somebody who hardly gets impressed by anything"

"Her resume was very impressive even though she's still an undergraduate of..."

"Wait, hold it!..." Leo interrupted PA Paul mid-sentence.

"An undergraduate!?..." He asked with a mocking look on his face. "Are you kidding me right now? I thought you said her resume was impressive? I don't want no wet behind the ears kid on my team"

Hearing what Leo said, PA Paul laughed. "Wet behind the ears?" The PA repeated what Leo said with a serious look on his face before laughing again

"Boss she's only got about two months left to get her university degree but despite that, that girl is very far from lacking experience I tell you because she's already a chartered accountant."

"Huh!?..." Leo asked with confusion. "How could she be a chartered accountant while still an undergraduate?"

"Unbelievable right? PA Paul asked and laughed at the surprised look on his boss's face.

"Yeah, but how come?"

"She's a genius boss... This girl has gotten all the professional certificates in accounting and finance that I can think of in Nigeria and some abroad... ICAN, ACA, ANAN, ACCA CIMA... Just name it.

I practically came to blows with the Chief financial officer over her, because he wanted her directly in the accounting department under him" PA Paul said and chuckled.

"We gave her the data breach file to see how far she would go in trying to solve the problem. It took her three hours ten minutes to identify the issues that took the whole of the accounting department five days to solve. She even suggested a much better solution to curtail the problem"

"Really!?" Leo asked in amazement. "But how...? How could she achieve all these while still in school? How old is she exactly?" He found it hard to believe that an undergraduate could achieve so much at such a young age.

"She's twenty years old... We really need her on the team sir."

"I would live that too but I just can't believe that her family would allow her work outside their own organization, knowing how brilliant she is"

"I understood your fear boss but I have good feelings about this... You know my intuition is always right. Aside from that, she already signed a non-disclosure agreement which will keep her from disclosing or profiting from any proprietary information related to company operations.

Maybe if you see her and question her yourself... The two of them are waiting for you at the conference room right now."

"I sure want to talk to them too, her especially. Not to question your decision though. If you're satisfied with her, I am too."

Paul was like an uncle to him. Leo knew the only person his grandfather trusted the most after him was Paul. Which made Leo trust him too.

"What I need right now is a very long power nap, a shower, and a change of clothes as I'm beats. Can they wait around for another hour?" Leo asked

"I'm sure they would. I'll inform them right away."