My journey through Graphic - Edmund Smith-Asante writes Part 3

Wow! Interesting. I might have done something amazing to warrant this attention.

A line from one of the songs in the popular “Sound of Music” movie – “Something Good”, readily comes to mind…

“Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could.

So, somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good…” 

Well, I couldn’t take any more pressure after my trip from abroad, so I decided to update one of my CVs and send it immediately, even before removing my clothes and shoes.

Interestingly, though, after I had forwarded the CV to the emails provided on my laptop, another call came through, with the caller introducing himself as Albert Salia.

He said that they were waiting for my CV which had still not come through, but I replied that I had just sent it so he could check his email.

He called a few minutes later to acknowledge receipt, and I heaved a huge sigh of relief.

Finally, I can be left in peace to enjoy a well-deserved rest from my trip.

It was not long after that that I received a call from Graphic saying I had been selected for an interview.

Ei! This is getting serious, I said to myself.

Letter

I made time to pick up my letter from the reception at the Graphic Head Office which indicated a date for the interview.

Well let’s see what the future holds – I decided to give it a shot on the said date and at the reporting time of somewhere from 9 a.m to 10 a.m. (I have forgotten the exact time.)

Nonetheless, on that fateful day, although I set off quite early from my home at New Gbawe near Mallam, I got caught up in an intense traffic jam at Kaneshie, and so I ended up arriving a shade late at the Mirror House, the venue for the interview.

I met a lot of known faces in the inky fraternity from various media houses, most of them younger, who were eager to work with Graphic.

I remember one of my inky colleagues passing a remark that if I was also going to take part in the interview, then they had no business being there, to which I just smiled and said that was not the case and that we all had equal chances of being employed.

A few minutes after I had arrived, seen all the familiar faces and exchanged greetings, the then HR Manager Operations, Catherine Parry, walked in with some files, and her first comment was “Those of you who reported late, it just shows how you will behave if you are employed.”

Well, I was not so much worried about that remark although I remember those words, because there was very little I could do about the traffic I got caught up in, and I was not hell-bent on getting employed by Graphic.

I was just giving it a try because somehow, my arms had been twisted to get to the stage I had found myself.

The interview

Well, I guessed I would be made to write a story or two because I was applying to be a reporter, but nothing prepared me for what we were going to be asked to do.

After we had all settled down in the training room for the interview, we were given a short briefing on what we were expected to do, which was going to start with a trip to the Osu Oxford Street.

We were going to be driven there by the company’s bus to observe the activities there, come back with the same bus and write stories.

At this juncture, I wondered whether I had made the right decision in coming for the interview; the reason being that I had long stopped attending assignments to write stories and the prospect of doing so now did not look attractive.

Nonetheless, I had already committed myself, so I shrugged off that feeling and boarded the bus with the rest of the applicants to Osu. I had a good time interviewing some traders along the busy street and observing the cacophony of activities there.

After our special assignment, we were taken back to the Mirror House at Graphic where we were expected to write stories about what we had seen, write an English test and also edit some stories.

Well after I had uploaded my story on one of the laptops we were given for the test, I decided to upload some pictures I had taken while at Osu, with a Nikon camera I had with me.

No one asked us to attach pictures but that was what I had done for years and I reasoned that a story was told better with pictures, which was why I attached the ones I had taken.

Unknown to me, that act frightened some of my applicant colleagues, who later told me that I had raised the marking scheme by attaching pictures to my story.

I only laughed, explaining that I did not know how to write a story without a picture.

• My journey through Graphic - Edmund Smith-Asante writes - Part 1
• My journey through Graphic - Edmund Smith-Asante writes - Part 2
• My Journey through Graphic - Edmund Smith-Asante writes - Part 3

To be continued