Amina Nor checked her office email and voice messages fairly often throughout the day. First thing in the morning, she would pick at her regular take-out breakfast of chicken congee while looking over the previous day’s unopened messages and job applications. If she saw something urgent, she would respond. If she had no extra assignments or fires to put out, she might open some lower priority emails. Otherwise, she would wait until after lunch for them.
That was her routine, and she rarely deviated from it. Amina was a creature of order and habit.
It was now nine in the morning on Thursday, April 18 in Penang, and all was peace and quiet in the human resources office at the headquarters of Seven Winds Malaysia. That had not been the case for the past week or two, and Amina knew it was because of the lost cable ship. Her company had provided its kitchen staff, and she’d heard its executives were under pressure from the US to either release or not release their personnel files. One friend, a director’s assistant, had told her there were conflicting requests from different parties in America. And she’d heard a rumor that the company’s Chinese owner had instructed that they hold off on cooperating with any of them until further notice.
Now, Amina used her plastic fork to mix the congee’s topping and porridge and thought how she was grateful to have no part of the cable-layer mess. As a generalist with HR, her main job was to screen new employment applications. She would see that they conformed to company guidelines, sort them according to the desired position and forward them up the line. If there was a problem with a submission’s format or content, she might return it to the sender for revision. If the issue was minor enough, she would often call or email the applicant and straighten it out herself.
Amina went through dozens of résumés a day at peak hiring times, this being one such period. She was pretty quick reviewing them and sending them along to the appropriate recruiters. Still, she was facing quite a backlog today.
She forked a small mouthful of her breakfast from the container and went down her queue. The first three résumés had arrived as attachments to standard cover emails, and she reviewed and routed them within five minutes. The fourth email she clicked on was addressed specifically to her and had been sent by someone named Yasmani Rodon. Rather than including the résumé as a file attachment, it contained a simple note.
April 17, 2024
Amina Nor
Dear Ms. Nor,
As a Ship Steward with 7 years of experience, I believe I would be a strong asset for the Seven Winds Group.