Chapter 34

"Welcome back, everyone. Welcome to the second part of the interviews. Congratulations to everyone here for passing the first round. Now, we will test your abilities. I have devised a test for every open job. The jobs will be offered according to your results. That's why you should participate in every test you can, and always do your best, even if you already have a preference. You never know, maybe you even discover a talent you never knew you had. The first test is straightforward and simple. I just want you to sell one of the magic mirrors to us interviewers. Since the other applicants are staying to watch, those that go earlier have a disadvantage against those that come later because they have more chances to watch how it goes and to see and contemplate what works and what doesn't. That's why it influences your score if you perform sooner or later, alright? Let's begin without further ado. Who wants to go first?" Draco addressed the crowd with open arms and a big smile.

It would be fairer if he let everyone demonstrate their skills without the other applicants watching, but Draco wanted them to learn as much as they could.

Draco's question was met with an awkward silence.

Apparently, no one was keen to go first.

Draco stayed patient and just continued looking at the applicants without pressuring them further.

He had time...

Internally, Draco chuckled about his pun.

Externally, he stayed completely composed.

"Screw it! If this goes on, we will all still be here tomorrow. Let me show you how it's done." One of the goblins spoke up first, losing his patience.

The goblin grabbed one of the magic mirrors lying at the side and approached the four interviewers.

"Look here." The goblin barked and held the mirror in front of them. "This magic mirror... Even though the craftsmanship and the design are a little simple, the enchantment of this thing is truly exquisite. The runes are engraved on the insides before the mirrors are completely assembled, which protects them from damage, ensuring longer durability and functionality. 'Transference' forms the center of the rune scheme. The sub-runes are..."

The goblin's exposition got more and more technical.

He was definitely more suited for the enchanter team.

Notable was that the goblin didn't mention the Bismuth Crystal Stick and its enchantments with even one word.

At some point, Draco stopped the goblin's exposition and thanked him.

Draco noted down his impression of the goblin's performance: 'too rude', 'explanation too technical and not practical enough', 'great knowledge of the product'.

Draco gave the goblin five points out of ten, two for his actual performance and three for going first.

Draco decided not to give feedback and only announce the evaluations at the end, so that the applicants coming up later didn't get an even bigger advantage.

This way, they at least had to determine what to imitate and what not to imitate by themselves.

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The other goblin came up next.

He did only a little better than the first.

Instead of getting lost in technical descriptions, he kept his exposition really short.

Draco liked the shortness of it most, so he gave the goblin a five too, three for his performance and two for his early demonstration.

It was obvious to see that the two goblins weren't interested in the sales positions and just stepped up to get things going.

And it worked.

Seeing their mediocre performance, the other applicants finally mustered their courage.

Penelope Clearwater came soon after, and she did a pretty great job, finally raising the bar nice and high: 'polite', 'likable smile', 'good product description, with focus on the most important aspect, the functions', 'decent sales rhetoric' 8/10 without any early bird bonus.

The other wizards and witches that were applying did well, too, mostly, between 4/10 and 6/10 points.

Almost all of the werewolves, on the other hand, proved that selling wasn't their strong suit.

Most of them lacked social skills and charm; they were either too angry or too shy to make good salespeople, between 2/10 and 5/10 points.

There was only one exception, namely Masha Bell, a bubbly brunette in her twenties, whose friendly smile was contagious.

Her product knowledge and her sales rhetoric were a little lacking, but she made up for it with her immeasurable positivity and cheerfulness.

She was the most upbeat werewolf Draco had ever met.

Admittedly, before the war against the muggles, where no one was upbeat anymore, the only werewolves Draco had met had been the sour Lupin and Greyback's wretched pack of dog-humpers, so maybe it wasn't that hard to be the most positive werewolf Draco had ever met.

No matter, Draco already had to smile just listening to Masha clumsily praise the product, but with such a heartwarming charm that Draco couldn't help but rate her highly.

7/10, mostly because of her sweetness and charisma.

Lupin couldn't distinguish himself during his performance at all.

Even though he tried his best, Lupin was just too awkward and too shy, lacking the self-confidence and presence to be a good promoter and salesman. (4/10)

The person who had similar difficulties was the vampire Steve.

Even though Steve tried to conceal his shakiness with humor, it still showed too much.

It was just uncomfortable to watch, also 4/10.

Another person who had to wrestle with her shyness was the last remaining squip, Julia Figg.

Even though she had a business degree, selling didn't seem to be her forte.

Her sales rhetoric and product promotion were actually the best in terms of content, but she lacked the right demeanor; she was just too quiet and introverted, and she had the habit of trailing off halfway through her sentence when she was nervous. (6/10)

Slowly but surely, there were only a few applicants left who hadn't performed for the sales test.

Draco had been looking forward to Petia's performance the whole time, but she still hadn't stepped up.

Veelas were practically born to be saleswomen (who wouldn't want to buy whatever the ultra-hot top model is selling?).

That's why he had kept half an eye on Petia from the beginning.

There was no other reason...

Truthfully, he blamed his hormones.

Draco noticed that Petia deliberately let the others go first, even encouraging them with a few friendly words if they were hesitant, waiting until she was the last one left.

Draco wondered about her reason.

So last but definitely not least, Petia stepped up.

In one word, it was glorious.

With more words, it was pure temptation.

Draco immediately wanted to buy the magic mirror in her hand for a hundred Galleons, despite the fact that it already belonged to him.

Petia could sell oxygen to a tree.

Minus three for going last, still 10/10.

And not only because of her beauty, which was breathtaking...

And not only because of her voice, which was like sweet honey with a hearty edge from her accent...

She was so charming, and her sales arguments were very convincing.

If Petia's enchanting abilities turned out to be insufficient, Draco would definitely offer her a position in sales.

After Petia's great performance, some of the other applicants gratulated her and told her how grateful they were that she didn't perform before them, they said they wouldn't have dared to go after her.

If Petia really went last out of consideration for the others, either she had a heart of gold or she was a consummated master manipulator who paid attention to every detail.

No matter which it was, Draco wanted her. ..

... for his business, of course.