The Perils of Being New Kid on the Block

William Faulkner Vice President of Futuretec continued.

“Business skills seem to run in the Lesser family Christie. The interview panel very quickly settled on you as the most eligible to join our company family for an internship, but I asked them to hold the phone call until I had an opportunity to interview you personally. You may not know it Christie, but the projects given to the three of you yesterday were presented as fictional but in fact they parallel actual problems we are struggling with now and the vice presidents were particularly impressed with the way you handled research and conclusions. You obviously need more experience, but your work was helpful and with modifications will prove to be useful to that department. I want to go over your report with you now quickly and point out the changes being made to your work and get your reaction.”

He quickly went through Christie’s report and the edits the department had made on William’s laptop with modifications made in red.

“How do you react to those modifications Christie?”

Christie sighed.

“I guess that shows my inexperience sir. I can see the need for those modifications.”

William Faulkner laughed.

“How refreshing to find a young MBA who realizes they still have a lot to learn. However, you have shown even more promise than some of the current interns we’ve employed. The president will be taking an interest in your progress personally and if you do as well as we expect in your first months of internship there is a possibility of employing you earlier than the normal internship requires. That should be a strong motivator for you Christie to show us potential that seems to be there to make you a valued employee with strong chances of advancement in the company and all the perks that go with it. Now I’ll take you to HR and you can fill in forms required there and perhaps after that you could start work with us following under the mentorship of the same man who supervised you yesterday.”

“Thank you so much Mr. Faulkner. I can tell you this has been most encouraging for you to take the time to show me how I could have improved my project, and I’ll work hard to gain everyone’s trust and listen carefully to my assigned mentor and take his counsel. I do want to make this company my career.

Faulkner led her to the HR office and quietly gave Denise instructions, and she looked at Christie in surprise but said nothing. After an hour of filling forms and receiving a book outlining policies and expectations, she was led to the office of the one who’d mentored her during the project the previous day. He was juggling two phone calls one external with the in house call on hold. He indicated she should sit, and Denise returned to her HR office. Finally, he finished his calls and shook his head in frustration as he looked up.

“Welcome to the mad house of the corporate world Christie. Your work certainly impressed the men at the top even though my team had to make some modifications to your conclusions, but you obviously have talent, and we’ll make you into an even better recruit. I was not introduced yesterday as that’s the way they do it in case people miss out and seek to single the mentor out afterward for revenge if they know their name. My name is Tim Wesley, and we have a mountain of work to do in this department. You will sit beside different people in my team as you orient to company business and observe them at work for a while to see how they deal with business at hand which is all research and recommendations to the executive level where decisions are made.

This holding company sits on top of multiple companies handling everything from production to financial services and consultancy. The client base comes to us to investigate business opportunities, and the president and vice presidents decide on business opportunities they can recommend or buy for our own shareholders. They buy and sell companies.

Our job in this research department is to investigate these opportunities and advise. Our work is of utmost secrecy to prevent corporate espionage, so you signed legal documents agreeing to terms of working here. There is another department in this building consisting of auditors who are qualified as forensic accountants they will without warning check out your workstation to see there are no possible leaks of information however I can assure you whatever you input on your assigned computer is firewalled so hackers can’t view your work  though I can as head of this department and as you’ve experienced you’ll be checked entering and leaving this department to see you’re not carrying information with you when you leave. Your cell phone will be deposited with security on entry and given to you on departure. For calls you use the telephone on your desk. We are also audited periodically by the legal department.

When we think you’ve been oriented enough you’ll solve projects with those more experienced guiding you and eventually, you’ll be given a workstation of your own to work independently. After a year or so you in turn will be mentoring others so you have a lot to learn before that day happens. I’ve been asked to push you hard to see how you act under pressure and if you can take it your period of internship will be reduced so you can look forward to confirming full time employment if you’d like confirmed employment. Are you willing to be pushed like that? Our goal is to make you successful not to hurt you. We call each other by our given names so call me Tim.”

“Tim I’m happy to serve under you and will be a team player and willing to take correction from your team. I consider my MBA simply the commencement of my learning and will work hard.”

Tim nodded in appreciation.

“OK let’s get started. I’m taking you to Ahmed Abbas workstation and you’ll sit and watch what he does as he explains what he’s trying to accomplish. He’s one of our best at the work and a skilled and patient teacher. Just listen and watch. We’ll rotate you through the team. Team members bond through regular social meetings together so I hope you’ll try to be part of that team both in and out of work hours.

When Christie arrived home that evening at 7.30 pm, she was surprised to see her brothers Richard and Bruce with their families waiting for her having arranged a surprise celebration party. They were much older than Christie who was an unexpected addition to the family after her mother Giselle supposedly gone past childbearing age found herself pregnant to the surprise of all. Giselle had died during childbirth so apart from the large photograph of her and Anthony her father in a prominent place in the dining hall Christie had not experienced the care of a birth mother. Her aunt Agnes a spinster who lived with her brother was the nearest to a mother she knew, and Aunt Agnes had showered her with love during those growing up years. Christie had thought to surprise her father with news of her employment as an intern when she got home but William Faulkner had given her father a quick call on Christie being accepted as an intern to congratulate him for producing such a gifted daughter. So, Anthony Lesser and her brothers had cancelled their usual night appointments and come to congratulate their daughter and sister. Christie was bursting with happiness when she saw the decorations and congratulation signs along with caterers hired for the evening ready to serve all those favourite dishes, they were told Christie loved. It was a wonderful family celebration.

The next three months she’d been alert having been informed in interview with Vice President Faulkner the president of Futuretec Corporation was taking a personal interest in her for reasons she didn’t understand. She listened to her tutors in the workplace as they explained what they were working on and only spoke when asked for her opinion. This was reported back to her department manager Tim Wesley with surprise. Usually, the newly minted MBA’s the company employed came with a lot of bravado considering they were now qualified to give advice rather than quietly learn from their mentors and they had to be given a gentle reality check over time until they realized this was the real world not some theoretical world in which solutions were given and the professor graded their responses. Here in the commercial world customers graded the results and they could be brutal, so it was wise to listen to those who’d gone through the humbling experience of a customer review of their work. A failed project meant loss of custom for the corporation and potential loss of face and job of those who worked on that project. So considerable experience was needed with peer review before the company turned a recruit loose on a project by themselves. And then their department manager had to give final sign off as his head was at stake in a failure too.

Christie remembered that first recruit evaluation. Each of the mentors Christie had worked with had given their evaluation as she worked with them on individual projects. There were twenty full time experts working in that research department and another ten empty cubicles which were occasionally occupied by those who’d once worked there but were now working in subsidiaries to the holding company. When there was a sudden surge in the work to be accomplished these people were temporarily recalled handling the overload then returned to their subsidiary companies. The holding company did this to broaden the experience of those who’d worked for them for an extended period as they watched to see who could be advanced to top management positions.

Christie’s initial evaluation from the twenty she’d worked with as a recruit was interesting. Tim Wesley as the department manager went over these comments about her work with the mentors with her without identifying those who’d made the comments. It identified her strengths and weaknesses with suggestions for improvement. There was one mentor who’d given a bad report, but Tim decided to put that to one aside and observe her himself without disclosing it to Christie. Nineteen had given her a much better report than the average recruit commencing so he was puzzled about this very negative report. He personally supervised her on a difficult project and was completely satisfied with her willingness to take counsel and her absolute grasp of the steps needed to analyse and interpret the data leading to a recommendation.

Then he assigned her to Derek Dennis a well experienced and intelligent expert who’d given the negative report for a few days to work through research on a company being targeted for a takeover asking for a confidential report on her work afterward. It came back with the recommendation she should not be considered for employment. Tim then called Christie and asked her to give him her impression on how they’d approached the project completed the previous day and what caused them to come to the conclusions they did. Christie thinking it was just a part of the evaluation process expertly detailed the steps followed and the reasons for their conclusions in making recommendations. Tim realized it was a personality conflict and determined not to send her to this worker for mentoring in future.

 On impulse he decided to ask if she’d known Derek before joining the company as they seemed to work well together. Christie said the only Dennis she’d come across in her life was one Carole Dennis who’d been one of those seeking employment with her on the day they were all interviewed. Tim smiled. Carole had missed out so there must be some relationship there and that would account for the resentment being expressed through Derek’s evaluation reports. Derek was a valued member of his department but perhaps he’d have a word with Vice President Faulkner and suggest Derek could be considered for rotation through their subsidiary companies to give him more experience. If the president had expressed an interest in this recruit Christie, then he knew which side to pick in this silly little one-sided war. Christie was totally oblivious to the politics between Derek and herself and went out of her way to be just as friendly to him as she was with the others in the department. She was enjoying her work and grateful for these experts willing to share their knowledge and experience with her.

To be continued.

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