This was meant to be a landmark day for me as it is the start of my exit strategy after 12 months of working away from home to bring the department up to standard. The company had an outsourcing contract with a large government department for the IT functions which meant our staff worked onsite under fairly strict security rules. Five interviews today for the two positions as supervisors in the IT Department luckily I was only present to help out Amanda a HR consultant and James who would be taking over my role as department head as soon as his security clearance comes through.

James was about thirty-five average height and build but kept fit going to the gym and playing squash. Amanda was in her early forties and a mother of two, but had a nice curvy figure and a pretty face with striking red hair.

The interviewees were all current employees and I had got to know them quite well over the last year two of them, Emma and Joanne, more intimately in the past week. I had already made my recommendations for the roles but to ensure fair play Amanda and James had not been allowed to see them until all the interviews have been completed and their assessment made.

Emma, Joanne and I had enjoyed each other the previous Friday after a few drinks and light hearted trial interviews. This was a well kept secret as both of the girls were my choices for the roles and Emma had already been accused by another candidate of using her obvious charms to her advantage.

The interviews were to be held in a conference room in the hotel I stay in during the working week as the security rules at the site prevented casual visitors. James was already in the room as he lived locally but we were waiting for Amanda to arrive from London. We had discussed the interviews briefly and he had decided to lead the proceedings and surprisingly wanted to change the running order to allow one particular candidate Rashid to be interviewed first. Although this was not normal all the other candidates were unconcerned. James then asked if we could interview Rashid before Amanda arrived this seemed strange and I said would appear like us preferring Rashid above the others. Before this could turn into a heated discussion Amanda arrived dragging a large suitcase behind her. “That’s a lot of luggage for one night” I said, Amanda replied that the company were negotiating a merger with a smaller company close by and she would be spending the rest of the week in the hotel.

Amanda frowned at the change of running order as she had already prepared her paperwork on the train up from London however she said she would be ready to start after a quick coffee. Rashid’s interview started poorly as he seemed surprised by Amanda’s presence and became nervous when she asked questions about his experience and previous qualifications. However he seemed to relax when questioned by James and his answers were confident almost as though they were rehearsed. As the interview came to an end I received a call on my mobile from the security branch at the office. They needed me to attend site immediately as they had a possible breach of security involving a member of my staff.