Chapter 25
The interviews continued.
There were more applicants who passed the first interview than applicants who failed.
To pass, they actually only had to behave appropriately, they had to be able to communicate comprehensibly, and they had to have at least a general idea of the position they wanted to fill in the business.
The number of applicants for the enchanter, rune carver and bookkeeper jobs were on the lower side.
Most applied for the clerk and sales manager positions, which didn't require as much expertise.
And almost no one applied as security personnel, probably because such a job actually didn't really exist in the wizarding world.
There were hit wizards and aurors, who did the police work in the wizarding world.
Then there were magical beast hunters, mercenaries and killers you could hire, mainly illegally of course.
For the security of their businesses, wizards actually mostly used wards, and/or magical creatures or magical beasts as guards.
Like Gringotts for example.
Gringotts used chained up Dragons as security for their more important vaults.
Gringotts wasn't actually the best example, as the goblins were one of the few that actually used their people as guards as well...
That there were only a few applicants for the security personnel, Draco didn't see it as a problem.
He had already decided that he would let every applicant who passed the first interview join every single test of the second round, so that all talents could be observed and none fell through the cracks.
Ultimately, Draco would offer security positions to those who had proven themselves competent in the associated test.
Most of the applicants were half-bloods and first generation wizards, who either were unhappy with their current jobs or jobless.
Half of them had graduated in the last three years.
There were only a few who could be called purebloods, and except for Cassius Warrington and Peregrine Derrick, who had already left, there was no one from one of the Noble Families.
Two squips actually applied too.
One of them was a timid young woman, with the surname Figg, who immediately confessed to her inability to cast magic, and wanted to apply for a position as a sales clerk.
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She actually had a bachelors degree in business from a mediocre muggle college and some job experience from the muggle world.
She didn't have much hope to get hired, but at least she wanted to try out, because it had always been her dream since she was little to belong to the wizarding world.
She made a good impression on Draco, Andromeda and Ted, and easily passed the first interview.
The second squip was a middle-aged man, dressed in an expensive wizarding robe, who didn't mention his inability to cast magic at all and pretended to be a wizard during the interview.
He carried some magical artifacts that helped him play a wizard convincingly.
The man was very good and obviously experienced with his role, and even Draco wouldn't have noticed anything if he didn't habitually scan everyone's surface thoughts with legilimency.
The male squip was applying for a sales manager position, and he probably would have had no trouble getting it with his fabricated background and his abilities.
Through reading the man's mind, Draco learned that he actually owned a very successful business in the muggle world.
The man collected or bought defective and broken products from the muggle world.
Then he let some wizards he had hired repair them with magic, and then he sold them again in the muggle world.
The man had amassed quite a fortune this way.
Draco was confused why the man was even applying for a job with his business until Draco discovered the deep hatred the man was harboring for all wizards and the whole magical world.
Without using active legilimency, which could hardly be hidden, relying only on passive legilimency, Draco couldn't push deeper into the squip's mind to investigate how or why exactly the man had become like this, but Draco could detect the deep-seated bitterness and envy easily.
Draco definitely didn't want to hire the man, who knew what damage he would do to Draco's business, but Draco let him pass the first interview, to keep an eye on him and see what he would do with the magical mirror.
Because no one except for him knew that the man was a squip, there came no vehement objection from Narcissa like with the squip before.
Beside the two squips, there were also three goblins applying.
Remarkably, Andromeda, Ted and Narcissa were of the same opinion this time.
All three advised against passing them.
„These creatures can't be trusted." That was what Narcissa said to that in her courtliness.
Andromeda expressed it with a little more diplomacy, „The relations between the wizards and the goblins have been tense for centuries. Goblins don't trust wizards, and wizards don't trust goblins. Neither do they hold each other in high regard nor do they treat each other decently."
Yes, and Professor Binn's fixation on the goblin rebellions didn't help the newer generations bridge the gap with the goblins' either.
Only after wizards and goblins had been left no other choice anymore, had they managed to come together.
But that had only happened in Draco's future, facing a common and superior enemy.
Of course, the wizards and the goblins had only managed to accept the fact that they had to ally, after the muggles had already inflicted heavy losses on both.
Ted's mistrust wasn't as ingrained as the women's, but he still advised to be careful.
Ted was of the opinion, since they had enough applicants, they didn't have to risk complications.
„If they prove themselves to be the most competent and useful, I would prefer to hire them. I want the best. And someone has to take the first step towards the other, or wizards and goblins will forever remain hostile to each other... Why not we? We have the means, and the power to protect ourselves."
It took a little more arguing, but in the end Draco managed to get his way.
Draco gave two of the goblins a pass for the first interview.
They appeared professional, and apart from keeping their answers short, they behaved politely.
The third goblin couldn't control his arrogance and disdain for wizards, showing it openly, and got a fail because of that.
Draco had no doubt that the goblins he let pass could also easily pass the tests of the second round with their competence, as long as they managed to continue to behave and get along with the others.