‘I believe the management of this enterprise attaches great importance to their new chief executive leading a balanced life. ‘I would certainly hope so,’ I said, and his laughter morphed into a clearing of the throat.

On top of that, when you deliver a so-called ‘dry’ joke at a job interview it is unwise both to laugh at it yourself and to watch your interlocutor to see whether it has hit home. ‘Is there any?’ His laughter was a tone and a half higher than it should have been. ‘I’d like,’ I repeated, ‘I’d like you to tell me a little about your life, outside of work, that is.’ It is not that difficult, but I am king of the heap. No, I put on this smile because I really am professional, objective and analytical. I don’t give a damn about the literature it is chock-a-block with various degrees of authoritative bullshit, and the only thing I need is Inbau, Reid and Buckley’s nine-step interrogation model. I don’t put on this smile because of the literature, though. Indeed, it is this lack of emotional commitment that causes the candidate to trust his interviewer’s integrity.Īnd as a result the candidate will in turn – according to the aforementioned literature – provide more sober, objective information, as he has been made to feel that any pretence would be seen through, any exaggeration exposed and ploys punished. But the courteous, semi-warm smile that, according to the literature, signals the interviewer’s professionalism, objectivity and analytical approach. Not the open, unconditional smile that invites a complete stranger to come in from the cold, not the frivolous one. He raised the glass of water my secretary had placed on the low table between us. Nevertheless, Jeremias Lander was terrified. The papers in front of me revealed that the candidate came armed with excellent credentials from NHH – the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, in Bergen – a spell in Stortinget for the Conservative Party and a four-year success story as the managing director of a medium-sized manufacturing company. However, I was certain about the shoes: hand-sewn Ferragamo. He was dressed in Gunnar Øye attire: grey Ermenegildo Zegna suit, hand-sewn Borelli shirt and burgundy tie with sperm-cell pattern, I guessed Cerrutti 1881.

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