grupo llegando a la cima

We have the pleasure of showing you a small extract of the book 7-17 THE EXPERIENCE by Glen Lapson. In this case it is one of the Experiences stated in the book, based on real experience and useful to highlight to the young people in their educative period, the importance of not only what they can experience in a recruitment interview but also the style of life they decide to live during the years previous of entering in the labour market.

Experience 2: Personal Interview: the Mountain

I remember that, at one of my job interviews, at a particular point in the meeting, the manager interviewing me asked me about my hobbies. At that time, I practised rock climbing and mountaineering with quite a lot more intensity than I do currently, always as an enthusiast, never performing great feats, but always trying to do a little more each time I went. I have always enjoyed it and continue to do so.

My response was quite modest, but I must have answered with such confidence that her second question, still in a very light tone, was to ask me what was the last mountain I had climbed. I answered her still very quietly, mentioning one of the mountains of over three thousand meters that I had climbed in the Pyrenees at the time. Looking at me this time directly in the eye and more seriously, she asked me about the route of ascent that I had used. I understood that her questions and my answers were a clear strategy to get to know me and to analyze if this ‘something more’ was real and had value.

When the interview was over, I left quietly as I remembered how my response to that lady meant that she herself was much friendlier afterwards. It turned out that she too was a mountaineer and when she spoke, she did so with passion. For the rest of the interview, we only talked about mountaineering, but not of mountains. We talked about how to organize departures, excursions and routes. What problems generally occur with climbing/mountaineering companions, budgets, the resources that were needed and the most suitable strategies for going up the mountain.

She had assessed my abilities through my hobby.