Job interview at Save the Children International

 The past three weeks have been extremely busy for me. A lot of things happened. I got four potential job offers and I took three of them. I got a surveyor’s job in MAAO (a national NGO). Later I realized that was not the job for me. I had to say no and leave the WhatsApp group they created for all the surveyors. I also got another job as an English teacher, which turns out to be quite enjoyable. I have been teaching English for the past three weeks at Aydin Yulduzlare Private School. One of the reasons why I turned down MAAO’s offer was that it did not seem reasonable to abandon school and all my students for a surveyor’s job. I just want to make it clear that the surveyor was actually a data-gathering job. I would have traveled to different districts of the province and find out about vulnerable people and record them back to the main office so that they would be considered for help. It all seems cool and good but it was not a job for me. For a guy with my set of skills, teaching seems more efficient than going door to door and asking people whether they are in urgent need of help or not.

 About Save the Children; well, it turns out that I did relatively well in the written test, and a couple of days after the test they called me and invited me for an interview. I was really excited when I received that call. I was really not expecting to be invited for an interview, considering the written test did not go as well as I had expected it. However, apparently, my paper was among the relatively better ones in the exam. There were four other candidates besides me for the interview. At the time I did not know who exactly they were, but later on, I found out that, there was a girl, a guy with a master’s degree from India, a guy who had worked with SCI before, and I still have not found out who that fifth person was.  I was afraid that Lais or Fawad or even Misbah might perform better than me but as it turned out, they did not.

The night before the interview I read the relevant stuff for the job which I had gotten from my sister-in-law. They also sent me three PDFs about the policies of SCI. I think I read each of them more than five times. On the day of the interview, I woke up early and started studying again until breakfast was ready. After breakfast, I went to school for my classes. Even though the interview was very important, I could not afford to miss my classes. Furthermore, teaching to my students gave me an opportunity to practice my speaking before the interview. I do not want to spoil it but it did help me better than staying home and reading by myself. The interview was at 2:30 P.M., so I had more than an hour to review everything I had covered after I got back from school.

Around two O’clock afternoon, I left home for the interview. I was reading from my materials all the way to the SCI’s office. I arrived there a couple of minutes earlier. Therefore, I had to wait at the gate. I did not waste any time there either, I kept reading. When it was time they let me in. There was another person waiting for his interview to be conducted. After some small talks with him, I found out that the guy has worked there before. I am not going to lie, it was a little bit intimidating. He went first at the interview room, while I had to wait for another half an hour before they asked me in. my interview started at 3:00 P.M. there were three people sitting on the other side of the table, who were seemingly my interviewers. I entered the interview by requesting to take off the mask they gave me at the gate, well of course, after I said my greetings. They did not have any problem with that, since they were not wearing any masks either. They started the interview by asking me how I am feeling and whether I need something to drink or not. I was calm and confident from the beginning because I realized right away from the very beginning that my accent seemed a little bit better than theirs and my demeanor did not seem like a guy’s who is interviewing for a serious job at a serious international organization.

There were six questions in total and each interviewer asked two of them. The questions were not nearly as difficult as I thought they might be. There were three questions from the PDFs they sent me, so I was fast at answering them. One question was from the written test which apparently I had answered correctly. And there were some easy personal questions, which I answered with an enigmatic calmness. I was trying to sound more and more sophisticated the whole time during the interview.

 Two of the interviewers were the same guys who conducted our written test, one of them had come from Mazar-e-Shariff for the sole purpose of recruitment. So I was kind of comfortable around them since I had a little chat with both of them during the written test. There was a new guy, he did not seem much older than me. He was extremely pleasant and friendly. Truth be told, I got more positive vibes from him than the other two. Whenever I was answering correctly he would say that I am on the right track and I should keep going. Eye contact was another thing I concentrated on. I did not break eye contact with them while speaking as well as listening. I kept looking at their eyes alternatively when I was talking. For a moment there, I imagined myself like a teacher who has merely three students and is very content with teaching them. The interview was on Wednesday, so when I asked them when they are going to announce the result, they told me that the next week the result will be out.

The whole weekend for me seemed longer than a year. I was really restless throughout Thursday and Friday. On Saturday however, I had my classes, so it kept me a little occupied.  On Sunday I was at school. I was anxious inside and outside my classes. I was really hoping to receive a call from SCI and then it happened. They called me around 10:00 A.M and asked me to send my relevant documents and contracts to their official email address. Even though I wanted to leave so badly, but I could not. I had two more classes and it did not seem fair to waste those kids' time and leave them like this.  

I left school at noon and run straight home. Though; it was a happy moment there was something serious I needed to take care of. I did not have any contract documents with myself whatsoever. I had to call Samim in Kabul, who strangely seemed very happy in helping me out. They sent me the contract around the evening, which I forwarded right away to SCI. on Monday they called me to fill out the reference letter form. Apparently, I was bound to introduce three people who would vouch for me; or something. And since Monday I have been busy with those three reference letters. I believe, all three of the letters have been sent to SCI, but I still am very restless. Today is Thursday and if the project is going to start on 15 January 2022, they should call me today.

I am anxious because I know if I screw this up, I might never get a chance like this. I do not think SCI’s regional recruitment has been this transparent in years. Otherwise, I would have gotten in a long time ago. Still, I am really grateful for the opportunity that SCI provided me with. It was my first job interview with SCI, and I’d like to think that it was an amazing learning experience for me. And learning I did. I realized that I am truly capable of working with such a prestigious organization.

Wish me luck,

Let's see what happens,

Till the next time…

Faramarz Majedi