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Get that Job - all you need is a Sense for Scents
Have you ever wondered what perfume to wear for an interview?
Try my tactics - I always got the job. It all depends on the right
scent. My first interview, as a youngster, was with an agricultural
firm. ‘Tweed’ seemed the right scent to wear for the interview,
and sure enough, I got the job.
Well the world is your oyster, and variety is the spice of life,
so my next job interview was for a job where they made pregnancy
kits. Firstly, I wanted to know if there were any practical sessions!
"“Of course not,” said my prospective boss. “However,”
he added meaningfully, “there are always night classes!”
So this time my choice of scent was ‘Poison.’ This was
chosen to keep a very obviously lecherous prospective boss at bay!
I now felt I had sufficient experience as a secretary to start
earning big bucks. ‘The Senior Sex,’ (as we called ourselves
in the trade due to both experience and age), could do better in
America and I decided to start applying for secretarial jobs around
Philadelphia. The only problem was that I had to re-invent my spelling.
So many words were spelled differently over there, but I had to
spell as they did and I spent twenty-four hours destroying my excellent
English spelling and learned to spell ‘American.’ After
two days of gruelling US Civil Service tests, in which I felt I
had done very poorly, I was surprised to find the Civil Service
boss standing on my doorstep. “I'd like to offer you the job,
you were the only candidate who passed the spelling test.”
“You smell terrific by the way,” he said, “what are
you wearing?” Since I had been working in the strawberry fields
picking strawberries, I had a nasty feeling it was SWEAT, he smelt.
Returning to England after a year of the US Civil Service job I
saw an airline vacancy advertised. Now here was a job I really wanted
for it would be my ‘pass’ to travel between England and
the States. So how to go about getting the job - plaster myself
with Chanel Number Five I thought. Things did not start well for
due to gridlocked traffic I managed to be an hour late for the interview
AND in my agitation, forgot to put on the Chanel perfume. Added
to this my new shampoo and blow-dry was blasted heavenwards by the
aircraft engines. After all this I was truly astonished to receive
a job offer through the post the following week and felt sure it
had been sent in error. I rang the Station Manager to make certain.
“Yes,” he said, “I am inviting you to join the team.
I was able to see you at your worst. We have to see what our staff
look like wind-blown on the runway. You looked the part, AND you
were the only candidate not reeking of perfume - welcome aboard!”
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