“Harry, you look buried, my friend,” Brian said though the two men were little more than acquaintances. “Is this al for us?”
Harry knew that “us” referred to the remarkable recruiting efforts taking place at the Mil ar Import and Export Company, and he also knew that Brian was running the nuts and bolts of the operation.
Harry spread his arms out. “Every last piece of paper,” he said. “The inquiries keep pouring in. We’ve had nearly a thousand, including e-mails and phone cal s.”
“You’ve done an amazing job,” Brian told the bespectacled HR director. “I think even Alan’s a bit in awe.”
“That’s the guy we’re trying to please, right?” Harry said. “Now if we can just narrow the field down and get some bona fide candidates in here, we can get this show on the road.”
“That’s why I’m here, Harry. It’s time to put together our application. You up to it?” Brian asked, though he could see how eager Harry Neumann was to get started.
“Ready and wil ing. Pul up a chair.”
While Harry cleared a space for them at one end of a smal conference table equipped with brand new laptops, Brian began thumbing through his briefcase.
“Once we get the application in order, we’re going to need a Web site to refer applicants to. I want to make it as easy as possible for them to complete the application and return it to us electronical y. Bang, bang.”
“Way ahead of you,” Harry said. “I’ve already got our programmer laying the site out. Very generic, but very functional. As soon as we have the app done, we’l get it on upload. We should be able to go live by midweek at the latest.”
“Outstanding.” The two men rol ed up their sleeves and got down to business.
“Bear with me if some of these questions seem slightly out of character, Harry. I can’t explain every aspect of the job, other than to say it’s a very specialized overseas operation.”
“You talk, I’l write,” Harry said with a businesslike nod toward his computer, “no explanation necessary.”
“Thanks. I appreciate your understanding.”
It took shape far quicker than Brian expected, in part because Harry had composed dozens of applications over his career. When they had the first draft roughed out, they each read through it in silence:
APPLICATION (MUST BE COMPLETED IN ENGLISH)DO NOT ANSWER
ANY QUESTION YOU CONSIDER IMPROPER
LAST NAME____________________ FIRST
NAME______________________MALE___