It's a friggin' no-brainer... but still, someone's got to do it.

Ironically, one of the reasons that I got hired was because I didn't talk much. My would-be boss perceived this as an eagerness to listen, a quality that he thought was missing in most salespeople. There were two of us being interviewed that day, we knew each other well from our days in our college fraternity. He went first, and upon coming back, I asked him what happened. He says it was hard to tell, he answered all the questions and then expounded on each topic. He babbled like he never babbled before, this was a sales position, after all. His interview took three quarters of an hour. I was next, and the moment I sat there, I thought of every little anecdote that I could lay on the guy. Something witty, smart, something to impress upon him that I was someone of substance. Unfortunately, my mind drew a blank and I sat there nodding my head off, saying things like "uh-huh", "not really", "yes, sir", "how so?" and "a little bit" while still thinking of any silly anecdote or story I could trade.

Boy could my would-be boss talk! He looked at my resume, talked to himself about some matter before asking me if that was right, and then went into a full blown monologue about his exploits playing golf at UP, or racing cars with the rival Greeks along Quezon Ave. He asked bits and pieces about my qualifications and my background, almost always recalling some story that he was reminded of looking at my resume. It wasn't much of an interview, I just sat there and did nothing, basically. Easiest interview ever.

The short of it all, I got the job after my 2 hour interview. My friend didn't.

On my first day on the job, he called me to the conference room to sort of orient me about what my job was all about. He realized that he never got to talking about it during my initial interview. This was where he spilled the beans on how I got the job. Those times I sat there with a stupid smile on my face, with a slightly skewed posture because I was trying to get blood back into my butt, he thought I was eagerly listening. When I scratched that imaginary itch, he thought I was deep in thought analyzing some inconsistencies in his story. And my favorite would have to be the times when he thought I was taking notes during the interview (I had a notebook and pen with me), he should have seen my doodle of an M1A1 Abrams battle tank and one-liners written in characters me and my high school buddies invented back in high school. He probably thought, "Boy, this conyo really listens! And he's different from other salespeople who think they can talk and babble their way into a sale. This is what my sales guy should be: observant, analytical, a good listener, and drop-dead handsome, to boot!" So okay, I inserted that last thought myself. Hey, this is my post, I can do whatever I want with it.

Indeed, my ignorance and ability to mentally zone out of potentially important discussions has saved the day yet again! All those semesters spent as a zombie in my Physics 72 and Math 55 classes proved useful after all. Who would've thought I'd get the job by not doing anything? Must be the reason why after 6 years I still do nothing on the job as well.