The Interview

We needed a new Finance Admin assistant in Abuja. The job bulletin had been posted on our office gate in Abuja and Sokoto and a pile of resumes were received. My task was to review all of the applications and to develop a short-list of four candidates to be interviewed by my replacement Lene and myself.

A job application in Nigeria consists of many pages. In addition to the cover letter and CV, there are copies of transcripts from every academic institution ever attended and in a few cases even birth certificates. Unfortunately, it’s hard to know if their education has any substance. For instance, it’s not uncommon to find that someone reporting a computer science degree is incapable of even saving a Word document on the computer’s desktop.

The contents of a CV also have some notable variations from what one would see in the West. It is standard to disclose one’s gender, marital status, age, tribe, and even in one case that she had a light complexion. One candidate reported that she could speak some French, probably thinking that this would improve her chances with an organization named Medecins Sans Frontieres. During the interview I asked her “Parlez-vous Francais?,” and she looked at me blankly and smiled. I also enjoyed it when people listed their hobbies. When one applicant incorrectly spelled Scrablle I immediately discarded their resume. Although I didn’t select him to be interviewed, my favourite CV had hobbies listed as “watching football and making friends.”

We interviewed four candidates and as is typical they were far better dressed than those of us doing the interviewing. I actually quite enjoyed chatting with them and learning about the work they’ve previously done, which ranged from preparing loan documents at a microfinance bank to working in the stock market (before the crash). At times it felt more like a TV talk-show than an interview.

In addition to the interview I also asked the candidates to write a test in order to get an indication of their English skills and their abilities in using Microsoft Word and Excel. This was a bit of a shocker and it alone put one candidate out of the running. In preparing the exam I was worried that it was too simple. Based on the results my concern was unwarranted. You feel bad seeing people lacking such basis skills and realize that they just need to be given the opportunity to be trained and to learn. Unfortunately, in this case it won’t be with us.

The interviews have now been completed and the exam results reviewed (it didn’t take long). Lene and I are going to chat about it over dinner this evening. There was no ideal candidate, but I’m optimistic that we’ve found the right person.