"The Uncut Diamond" - A Christmas Tale
I'll tell you a short story – about luck, the twists of fate, and the TaxOne diamond.
This story, and the next two you'll read soon, are quite personal. I want to remind you that such stories happen to people around us every day, and we usually just don't notice them.
Today I spoke with a colleague who recently started working with us, but I first noticed her almost a year ago when we were looking for staff for the TaxOne office. There's always a lot of interest, and our requirements are high – just like the standard of our services.
At the time, I mentioned two years of experience in the job ad. An acquaintance of our story's heroine "tagged" her, suggesting she apply. However, since she had no accounting work experience, having only an accounting degree, she didn't submit her CV to us. But she did leave a comment under the job offer that I haven't forgotten to this day: "How can I gain experience if no one will give me a chance?"
I saw surprise in her eyes when, during our conversation today, I asked if she remembered that comment. I admitted that those words had stuck with me, and I'd noticed her even then, despite her not being the right candidate for us at that moment. She said she was discouraged back then because she wasn't getting any accounting job offers. She'd even stopped sending out CVs, not believing anything would change.
Some time later, to our team Eryka joined. While preparing another job offer, she mentioned a college friend who was top of her class and helped everyone with their studies. That was all I needed to hear to make a decision: "team player" – that's what we want.
I was incredibly surprised when I looked at the Facebook profile Eryka had pointed out and realized it was the same person who, feeling discouraged, had written that comment almost a year earlier…
Nikoletta, the heroine of our story, proved during her job interview that she was an undiscovered diamond, and if we polished her up, she would be a true treasure for us! I'm actually very lucky when it comes to finding such treasures, but more on that in my upcoming stories.
Nikola was the only candidate who went through my entire Xero course to prepare for the interview. I knew this from Eryka – they are friends, after all. Eryka also let slip that Nikola couldn't get through two topics – "Fixed assets" and "Payroll" – because her free version didn't have that option. So, you can imagine what my first two questions about Xero were. I could see how stressed she was. Even though her practical performance in the interview wasn't her best, she knew the theory perfectly. She was the one! We just told her, "You can start tomorrow!"
Nikoletta Sandomierska has been with us for less than two months.
Her 3-month probationary period lasted… a month.
She enjoyed the "tax cases," so she'll be following the same path I did – taxes. She starts specialized courses this month. I'm glad I'll be her mentor, and even if she doesn't stay with us forever, I hope she'll remember me as the one who gave her a chance.
I will do my best to prepare Nikoletta to tackle significant and complex tax challenges.
Perhaps I'll be able to change someone's life in some small way – and that's my greatest personal success.
I won't write a moral for this story. Perhaps you can add one?
