By the time I left my office in the topmost floor to join Ada and Kola at the conference room, the interview had already begun. Ada and Kola, as their custom was, were seated on the edge of the long, rectangular table at the middle of the room while a group of ten job applicants, full of life and vigour, formed what seemed like a U-shape before them. I found an empty seat between Ada and Kola. At once, I knew that the seat had been reserved for me, so I made myself comfortable. We were recruiting to fill the position of a Safety Officer. And since the safety of the organization was my priority, I made myself available for the interview.
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While Ada and Kola interviewed the applicants, I quickly scanned through the CVs of the applicants in the room. I was very much impressed by the quality I saw. Of the ten applicants, five had postgraduate degrees while two had bagged First Class honours. I was already looking forward to working with one of these intelligent minds. And then it happened. For some weird reasons, the plug of the air conditioner in the hall suddenly went up in flames.
“Calm down guys,” Kola managed to say with a shaky voice. Our eyes were on the burning plug, nevertheless. Everyone in the hall, alongside the job applicants, was standing by now.
“Ada, can you please put a call through to the safety office?” I forced myself to say, at last. I was still confused and embarrassed.
“Yes, sir” Ada’s gave the smoking plug a frightening look. “Perhaps we should vacate this hall until the Safety Officers come here.”
I was yet to respond to Ada’s suggestion when the only lady amongst the job applicants stepped forward. She then darted towards one of the fire extinguishers pinned to a corner of the wall, grabbed it, and made her way towards the smoking switch. In the few seconds that followed, this fearless lady had extinguished the fire and unplugged the air conditioner, to the admiration of everyone in the room.
“This interview is over,” I announced afterwards to everyone in the room. “We have found our lost Safety Officer. You may all go home now.”
Mary was, in theory, the least qualified of the job applicants but she was by far the most qualified in practice. We unanimously agreed to hire her immediately. Mary would later become the first female Head of the Safety Unit in the years that followed. To this day, I am glad that we hired competence, not certificates.