This afternoon I had gone to the meeting room with one of our division managers and an outlet manager for a meeting to welcome a young man who had been successful in an interviw to recruit a delivery officer to one of our outlets. We had called him for the introductory session yesterday, but he had said that he was in Hulumaale and could not make it. Then today he said he would come.

When he did not arrive, my colleague called him; and he said that he could not make it because he had to take his child to some concert practise in school. This was a guy who told us that he had been looking for a job in vain, that the selection from interviews was based on personal preferences and relationships, and that his educational background meant that he could not get a well paying job, that he was leaving his last employer because he had not had a raise after a year. He also said his wife and child and he had to share a cramped room with others and he was really in need of a job. He convinced our interview team, so we were going to give him a job.

He was getting 2500.00 Rufiyaa and an allowance of 300.00 Rufiyaa. He was going to get more than double that amount with us including his commission.

Yet his excuse on two consecutive days meant that we had to reconsider the recommendation of our interview team in favor of this young man who is married with one kid and is 28 years old. He will be on the street looking for a job again tomorrow.

He has not been the first.