I would like to share with you the story of one of my former Accounting staff. Her name is Irish. I still remember clearly the day I pulled out her resume from a bunch of discarded ones in the file of the HR manager of the graphics company I once worked for. Her resume was that of a newly graduate. No work experience, just a list of seminars attended and the certificates she got out of it. I had no basis of choosing her among the many hopefuls that were discarded before. It’s just a hunch on my part that she would be good.
So the HR manager called her up for an interview along with a couple of others that I chose from the file. When she came along she looked nervous just like the others. Job interviews are usually done in English and ours was not an exception. But Irish answered my and the HR manager’s questions in the vernacular. Surprisingly, I wasn’t turned off by it. Normally, I would tell the HR manager to reject those who couldn’t even communicate in English. But then there’s something about Irish that compelled me to hire her on the same day of her interview.
Looking back, I think it’s the determination in her eyes. Or the contagious energy level she’s always in. Even sitting straight, she couldn’t contain her enthusiasm. Even when I was reprimanding her about something, she managed to look like we were just chatting about the weather.
And let me tell you this: it doesn’t matter if the person cannot converse with you in English. If you feel it in your gut that she can perform, trust your instinct. She can do it! Irish may not be able to converse in English well but she was one of the best staff I had. Very hardworking and fast! You need not tell her to do something because she knew what her job entailed. Before you tell her to do it, she’s already done it. She could do her work for half the time a normal person does the same amount of workload. She’s that efficient!
I thanked the day I found her resume in that HR file. She made my horrible stay in that office bearable. We are actually close friends outside the office and even up to now, we managed to stay close. I am godmother to her firstborn. And we occasionally see each other. She’s one of the staff I had that I was happy to have worked with. And I had a handful already.
Irish is now working for a really well-known BPO in the country. She’s now conversing in English with her American counterparts every single day. She works in the graveyard shift and is still as bubbly as when I first met her!