Jeff dunham- Son, Brother.................Employee?

Yet another interview.... but already my sixth sense was picking up that somehow I was missing out on something, something was different about this inteview. Was it the reggae music that was playing on the small radio on the window ledge, or the episode of Friends on the large tv screen in the corner or the fact that out of the dozen people sat around me, only I was wearing a suit and tie?

I'm not sure but when a rasta man with dreadlocks down to the back of his knees, wearing a smart suit entered the room and grinned at me, flashing his gold tooth, I didn't immediately think "thank god, at least now theres two of us in a suit". As I said, something wasn't quite right.

"Hi, I'm Johnny. Thank you all for coming today. We are going to do a very quick presentation and this will be followed by a 1 on 1 interview."

Thank god, some semblence of normality. I wanted to rush over and hug him but I was fairly confidant it would end awkwardly.

The presentation was quick, just like Johnny said. So quick infact, that by the time I had breathed a sigh of relief about there being a presentaion, the presentation was over.

"And now, you will be introduced to some of the team managers and they will conduct the second part of this process, the interview. This will also give you the oportunity to ask any questions you may regarding the role".

I saw a group of people enter the room and peel off to approach the various candidates. "Hi, my names Aaron.... pronounced AIRON, not Aaron. I'm a team manager and will be doing your interview. Dya want to follow me?".

"Hi, I'm Jeff" I followed Aaron into one of the side offices and we sat down facing each other. I was feeling decidedly overdressed as even Aaron had only a shirt & tie on.

"So, about this job, it's door to door, theres no basic salary, it's 100% commision. We don't have to sell anything and in a good week some of us earn anything between £200- £700. Its cash in hand and you have to pay your own taxes. As Johnny sid, what with De-Regulation, loads of companies are now offering more competitive rates on gas & electric and we just have to show the customer how much money they can save. They don't have to do anything, nothing changes, the only change they will notice apart from the logo on their bill is the amount of savings they will be making. If they do their gas, its £11 and if they do both gas & electric you get £18. It's that easy. I think that you could do quite well here. So how does that sound?"

Now, I wasn't sure what I was expecting in this 1-2-1 interview but I know what I wasn't expecting and this definitely fell into the latter category.

"Errr, that sounds quite straightforward."

"Ok, well I've got the contract here, if you want to sign on the last page?"

I took the contract and flicked through the pages. It detailed the various standard terms of employment but bizarrely, all the sections regarding the amount of commision per customer were blank. I pointed this out to Aaron.

"Oh, yeah, thats just the way it's done. Even my contract was like that".

In hind sight, if I hadn't had all the previous rejections or if I had even a slightly better opportunity or even if there had been some hope of a better opportunity in the near future, then my reaction might have been different. Instead, the two brain cells still functioning fired up the synapses and managed to squeeze out a single thought:

If Aarons contract was the same, well then, that was good enough for me.

I signed my contract and agreed to report in for work at 10am the following day.

I had finally managed to secure myself a job. Funnily enough, so had everyone else that had turned up.

We were obviously all extremely talented, natural born sales people and leaders in the making...............weren't we?