I'd like to describe Ms Adeyemi, who interviewed me for my first job at a marketing agency in Lagos about four years ago. I was twenty-three and had just finished my national service.
We met in a small meeting room on the third floor of the agency's office in Victoria Island. I was extremely nervous, and I'd arrived forty minutes early, so I was sitting in reception practising answers in my head.
Several things impressed me straight away. Firstly, she came down to reception to collect me herself, instead of sending an assistant, and she remembered something small from my CV, which was that I'd run a student magazine. Secondly, the interview didn't feel like a test. She asked me to bring an advert I disliked and explain how I'd improve it, and then she actually argued with my ideas, as if we were colleagues. And thirdly, at the end she told me honestly what my weaknesses were, which was that I didn't know enough about data, and suggested a free course. No interviewer had done that before.
My first impression was that she was sharp, fair and very direct, and I'd say that turned out to be right, mostly. I got the job, and she became my manager. She was exactly as honest as I'd expected; she'd tell you in a meeting if your idea wasn't good enough. But I was wrong about one thing. I'd assumed she'd be quite cold, because she was so professional. In fact she's warm and funny once you know her, and when my mother was ill she gave me a week off without me even asking. So first impressions are useful, but they're never the full picture.