A Full Circle (or A Modern Folktale)

On Friday, just one week before Easter, a colleague from my last job (he who got my exit papers) called me to tell he'd got a job at a place where we used to work together about a year ago. Only he worked for another customer, where they answered questions regarding visa requests, and now he got the exact same job again. He said he'd check if they were looking for Norwegian speakers, if I was interested. I thanked him, but didn't say anything just yet, and then hit the bed with flue, and forgot about it.

But before that, on Monday morning, only a week to Easter, I was called to an interview at another company. I was told that if I'd succeed in the 1st round and the test, then I'd be called in for a 2nd round on the same afternoon. And so it happened, I received a call soon afterwards I'd left the premises, and they invited me back. At the end of this second interview I was told they'd contact me within two-three days. But I don't think my regular readers are surprised to learn that it didn't happen.

However, the next day, though somewhat struck by the flue, I took part in yet another interview at a company located but on the other side of the same block. I have to tell you that there I really felt like in a fairy tale, both because of the nice and smiling people I met there, and also because they started by showing me the job, and how to do it, and I could put questions right away. And in general, the whole atmosphere was so good, I believed I got to heaven after all my trials, and this was my reward.

Though it seemed our sympathy was mutual, as they asked me to wait for their offer, when they heard I'd been expecting feedback from two other employers, I still haven't heard from them. So yesterday, that is on the Wednesday after Easter, I called them. They ensured me that my test results, and my overall chances were so good that I was indeed their number one candidate for this position. However I should wait until the end of next week for their final answer. I think, it is definitely worth it.

Then, on the very same day, only about an hour later, a recruiter company contacted me. When they started to tell me about the company and position, I mentioned that it sounded suspiciously familiar, and we found out that this was the very job I'd been interviewed for, as described above in details. So, we agreed that unfortunately, in this case, their offer did not prove to be appropriate for me. With that we wished each other a good day and hung up.

For some reason whatsoever, they rang me from this recruiter again, and another person started to tell me about the very same position, and asked me to rate my language skills on a one-to-ten scale, just like her colleague did for a mere hour before that. Just out of curiosity, I gave her different answers this time. Nevertheless she told me I was qualified for the job. I said I was not interested in it, as it was a back-office position where I could not use my language skills orally, and I felt it was very important to me.

At this point the story took an interesting turn, as she didn't give up so easily, and mentioned that there was a front office job available at another company where I could talk directly with the customers inquiring about visa. Then, once again, I felt like I dropped into a story written by someone else, and asked whether this company was the one I mentioned at the beginning of this log. And so it was.

Though I know that applying directly for a job, and not via a recruiter, is always faster. So, I told them I worked there before, and had rather bad experiences, so I was not interested. Instead I texted my former co-worker, and told him what I'd just heard. He answered that it sounded interesting, and the next they called me and confirmed there was really such an opening available at them. He asked me to send my resume to him, so he could forward it to his boss.