The Do-Over(53)
Author: Suzanne Park
I groaned and kicked. After finishing my laps, I grabbed the edge and threw the kickboard over to Beth’s feet. “Done. Can I get out now?”
She crouched down next to me. “Not yet.”
“Please, no more whistling.”
“Look, I don’t expect you to be Michael Phelps, but you need some endurance if you’re going to pass.” She stood and flipped through pages on her clipboard. “We can move on to your assessment if you’d like.”
“My assessment?” My jaw dropped.
“Yes. Assessment. Let’s see all the strokes you can do. I’ll pick your two best ones and we will work on improving those in our next session. There’s not a lot of time till your swim test, so we need to be efficient.”
More groaning. More kicking. I paddled, stroked, and splashed while rotating through my swim stroke greatest hits. There were only five. Actually, maybe four—ish. Fine. Just three. Slim pickings, but it made Beth’s job easier.
She paced back and forth a while, then scratched her temple. “Your best strokes are the dog paddle and that weird frog kick thing, which I don’t know if it even has a name. But those use so much energy. I’m going to have to teach you a new stroke or two instead. Are you good with that?”
Before I could answer, she added, “You know I believe in you, right?” Without warning, she bellowed, “All right, Lily! Let’s GOOOOOO! Get moving! Grab the kickboard, hold it to your chest, and let’s swim to the other side on your back.”
Then she blew the whistle.
* * *
THE NICE THING about being at the pool was the untethering from my phone for nearly an hour. News from Solv was due any minute and I instructed Ethan not to message me until he heard, because earlier that morning all we kept texting each other was Any news? and Not yet, back and forth about five thousand times.
Each of us had met with four employees, the last one being the same hiring manager, which suggested our interviews had gone well. The thing that confused me though was that our interviewer was a dev manager, which meant either that he was considering me for a more technical job or that he was the one ultimately in charge of placing all selected candidates. I couldn’t even imagine being considered for a technical role. There were far too many people who had superior technical skills and could run laps around my C++ skills.
My phone rang while unlocking Mia’s car. “Bitch, it’s SOLV don’t ignore!!!” flashed on my screen. Mia must’ve programmed it as a joke, and any other time I would have laughed my ass off, but at that very moment my trembling hands turned frigid when I clicked the green phone icon to answer the call. Too bad Mia and Beth weren’t with me for moral support; the two of them had gone to the farmers’ market while I opted to go home to rest.
“Hello?” I croaked.
“Hello, may I please speak with Lily Lee?”
My heart thumped against my chest like an EDM bass line. “This is she.”
“Hi, it’s Donna from Solv Technologies. Is this an okay time to chat?”
My phone buzzed again. I knew it was Ethan with an update, but I didn’t dare check.
My gym bag slid off my shoulder and fell into the trunk. “Yes, it’s a great time, actually.” I sat in the car just so I could get the heater going and the seat warmer on. After taking the cold swim and then stepping into the forty-degree weather with dripping wet shower hair, the last thing I needed was to be like one of those wind-up mouth chatter toys my dentist displayed prominently on his shelf.
Muting the phone, I started the car and let the call migrate via Bluetooth to the car speakers. Donna explained to me that they had more than a hundred candidates from across the country that they’d brought to their offices to interview. Donna’s voice boomed over surround sound. “You can imagine how difficult it was to narrow down our list of candidates. But let’s cut to the chase, we are thrilled to let you know that you made it to the final round! Since you met with our hiring manager, who is extremely tough on new recruits with his technical screenings, the next round is mainly for fit, and it’s only a couple of hours long. During that time, we will try to figure out the best team for you. We’re scheduling the last interviews to take place over the next two weeks. Congratulations!”
She had just shared so much information. But the most important part? I made it to the final round!
“Thank you so much, Donna. I’m so excited to come back to Solv for the next set of interviews. Would these interviews be in California or New York?”
“Well, it’s not official official yet, but will be soon . . . They’re moving more projects to our Manhattan office, and we just signed a lease for another two floors. By the summer, we are aiming to double our headcount in our East Coast hub.” I could hear a smile in her voice. “Do you have any preferences on where you’d like to live? New York or California?”
“New York,” I answered with no hesitation.
She laughed. “Well, swift decision-making is definitely something we value at Solv. I’ll email you a link with a calendar so you can select your interview times. Congratulations again, Lily.”
The call ended and I fumbled with my phone as I clicked on Ethan’s text.
Got the call. I made it! I hope you did too!
Yes! We both made the cut!
I did! NYC or NorCal?
NorCal. You?
NYC. Maybe this improves our chances if we are from same school but diff locations?
I hope so! P.S. They are considering me for dev. Like WHAT. I’m literally telling everyone I know and trying to keep my shit together
Amazing! They didn’t mention dev for me. I don’t know what group yet
Of course, I had to share my update with Mia and Beth, so I video chatted with them. Both friends joined in on my squealing and shrieking. My hands thawed and shook less. The numbness throughout my body subsided. It was sinking in—in two weeks’ time, I might be one of Solv’s newest hires.
Not sure how my parents would handle this news if they found out, I decided to wait until I had an offer in hand with a compensation letter before explaining everything to them. No need to add stress to my life, plus, they were plenty busy with my toddler nephews. Based on the Facebook photos they were uploading sporadically, they had their hands full with the twins: one of them loved to run and climb inside the house, the other had a penchant for coloring on walls. Both liked to open the fridge and pull out fruit and veggies.