Fake Interview Part 3

The other students gradually filed out of the room leaving me alone and kind of nervous, and wondering what kind of guy the GM would be.

The door suddenly opened and he walked in, cool and confident; it was clear that he had been educated abroad, and before he opened his mouth I could tell that he smelled a rat. I had no real choice but to play it out and stick to the original story.

I stood up and we shook hands as we greeted each other. And then the questioning began.

His English was flawless and had no trace of an accent. Impressive.

"So you're Jamie from Beijing University?" he asked, looking at my resume.

"Nope, that's Jamil and I studied at Beijing Normal University."

"Ok is there anything else you're lying about?"

I knew this one was coming and was prepared. I usually went by Jamie the last few months in Beijing since no one could ever pronounce my name properly, " Nope, my name is Jamie in China, because no one can pronounce my real name."

"Hmm. Ok. And how did you get here?"

So I told him the whole fake story.

"Ok now who from HR at headquarters emailed you to come here today?"

"I don't know, it was from the department, but did not have a specified contact name. I replied with a confirmation and then left the United States and came here as scheduled. I really am surprised that no one told you. Believe me, if you think this is awkward, I can't even begin to tell you how strange this is for me, but that's life, you know."

"You know we have a very rigorous process at this company and it would be unfair to the other students here for me to just give you an interview. I can send your documents to HR back in the United States."

"Go ahead, I've already passed everything in the U.S. including assessments and had a general first round interview."

"Okay."

We stood up, shook hands, and I left the room. Pretty anticlimactic, huh?

My buddy was waiting back in the room, and as I finished changing out of my suit and prepared for some final day sightseeing, he slapped a 100 RMB note in my hand. Well worth it.

As we came back to the hotel about 5 hours later, the company staff was standing around awkwardly in the lobby waiting for something or someone. As they turned to look in another direction, I sprinted past them and hid in the gift shop for a solid five minutes before hopping quietly into an elevator.