More Than Friends ✔

67~ "I want to cut my hair short."

You need to leave as well.

The odd thing was right after Karan left, she received a call from someone working in Pineyard Global-- a well-known company in her city. She had applied there previously and even gave a telephonic interview two months ago but after that it was radio silence. Until today. A man who shared the same name as Aradhana's now husband asked if she was still available to give the interview face-to-face. She replied yes without thinking.

When Saurav explained the job profile to Pallavi, she was naturally impressed. Pineyard Global was basically a clothing company that sold different kinds of clothes for teens and adults. They also sold a few beauty products. Saurav- the one taking her interview, worked in the international department as a digital media manager. The international division department was solely responsible for catering to the international audience. Many of their customers were from the neighbouring countries while others were from parts of Asia, Africa and Australia. They were planning to make social media accounts solely for their audience and they were looking for a social media executive to manage it.

‘This is another level,’ thought Pallavi. She couldn't help but think how fun it would be to work on a job like this. She agreed to give the interview right away.

* * *

“If we want to serve an older audience which social media account would you use?” Another interviewer who sat besides Saurav asked Pallavi.

“If you're talking to an adult audience then LinkedIn and Twitter are good. However if you want to serve a much older audience of around 45 years and above then Facebook is the best.” Pallavi answered with confidence in her chair.

“Alright. What is the average age of audience in Facebook? And what about the younger audience?”

“The average audience on Facebook is around 30- 50 years,” Pallavi replied, looking elsewhere, hoping she was right. “As for the younger audience, Instagram is the best. A close second would be Tik-Tok but that's banned. After that comes YouTube. Younger audiences are more interested in watching reels and pictures, rather than information.”

The interviewer nodded seemingly satisfied with her answer. Him and Saurav continued to ask questions, asking her to how to handle negativity in social media, what strategies to adopt when there is less engagement, and her manner of working in her previous job. If it would have been the Pallavi from two years ago, she would have been shit scared answering multiple questions but this Pallavi wasn't. She bravely answered the questions she knew while denying the ones she didn't know about. She had nothing to lose anyway.

In the end, she was given an assignment of designing a graphic to test her creativity. She thought she did quite well in the interview even though she couldn't answer some of their questions. She didn't know how but she was positive she would pass this.

Five days later, Pallavi was called for another round of interview at Pineyard Global. She had to take yet another half day leave at Utopian for this. She was almost annoyed. Couldn't they take all the rounds on that day itself and how much they were going to interview her anyway? She was called to talk with the director of the International management department who was a dignified old man in his sixties.

* * *

Long story short, she got selected in Pineyard Global. The offer letter in her mail was confirmation enough. Although she was happy to be selected in one of the most established companies in Faridabad, she was anxious. Initially, she was only searching for job offers. Perhaps to spice up her work life or test her skills. Now that she got selected, it meant leaving her old job.

She gave up even before typing her resignation letter. Nope. Nada. It was too scary. Her job although boring, offered the kind of comfort and security she never experienced before. She knew her work, she knew her people. Why leave all of that and enter a different environment?