The Interview

It was the beady little eyes and their often vacant expression that pissed Lauren off most. Kimmy Johansen was the HR rep she had been paired with for this round of interviews. Kimmy. Five year olds go by Kimmy. Cheerleaders. Strippers. Certainly not a senior executive at one of the foremost consulting firms in the north east.

“Ooh, look at this one coming in. He’s a cutie,” Kimmy giggled.

Lauren resisted the urge to kick her in the face, and glanced through the conference room window at their next interview.

He was cute, with soft brown eyes, a dirty grin, and a small scar that split his right eyebrow where she’d thrown the engagement ring he’d given her back in his face. Not for the first time today she wished she’d reviewed the resumes ahead of time.

The receptionist motioned him through the door, and the two ladies rose to greet him. To his credit, when his eyes met Lauren’s he only paused momentarily. The split eyebrow quirked and settled hiding his surprise.

“Mr. King, pleased to meet you. I’m Kimmy Johansen, senior veep of human resources. This is Lauren Stanton, our senior project manager.”

“Ms. Johansen, Ms. Stanton,” William King held his ground. He needed this job, and needed it bad, but with Lauren sitting across the table, it wasn’t likely. Though it had been six years since she’d try to blind him with a two carat diamond, he couldn’t hope that she’d mellowed.

Kimmy sat attentively, crossing her legs kittenishly, tossed her hair and nearly batted her eyelashes. She was as coy as a randy rhinoceros. “Tell us about your work experience Mr. King.”

“Well, I’ve spent the last four years working in Hong Kong for Highland McGregor, the first two as deputy project manager, and the last two as acting project manager. We got the Takami Tower up one week over projection, but 4% under budget.”

Lauren knew of the project, and guessed that the four percent would represent roughly two million. Still, a week late wasn’t something that was forgivable.

“Konnichiwa,” Kimmy giggled. No one bothered to mention that was Japanese.

There was an awkward silence.

“Before that I was an associate project manager for the Big Dig here in Boston,” he offered a small quick smile. One of the biggest infrastructure projects this century, the Big Dig was a loaded gun. It was an engineering marvel and a legal nightmare. There was no point trying to hide it though; that job had paid for the diamond that had nearly put out his eye. “And a number of other smaller jobs before that. I understand that the current project you are looking to staff is still in the planning stages?”

“Lauren?” Kimmy needed help here.

Lauren bit her tongue. She couldn’t berate Kimmy for being unprofessional if she didn’t at least finish this interview, even though she would rather slap the smiles off both their faces, run from the room or both.

“We’re in the late stages. Ground breaking is to take place in six months time, once the t’s are crossed and the i’s dotted.”

“Understood,” William tried to project a confident air, though his insides were tangled like speaker wire. “And who would I be reporting to.”

“Lauren.” Kimmy managed to sound more confident this time.

Lauren had to admit that her one talent was knowing exactly where everyone sat in the company power structure.

“Wait a minute,” Kimmy turned toward Lauren. “Didn’t you work on the Big Dig too?”

Lauren nodded.

“Did you two know each other?”

Kimmy could feel the tension ratchet up another few notches. There was an opportunity here, and she knew what it was. “Wait, Lauren weren’t you engaged to a guy who worked on the Big Dig?”

She’d hit the nerve she was looking for. Lauren blanched, and William’s hand went to the scar splitting his eyebrow. Kimmy hid a wide smile behind a vacant expression, an expression that she had perfected very early on.

“Small world isn’t it? Let’s talk a little more about your work history Mr. King.”