Conchi Martín: Looking for a Job (A)

Conchi was 26 and had worked at an auditing firm for four years. However, she did not feel at home there and wanted to find another job. She considered herself a very capable and hardworking person and was eager to move forward in her professional career. Initially she had been given positive assessments from the company, but lately she had received poor evaluations and no promotions. But that was not her main reason for moving to a new company; it had more to do with the prevailing atmosphere. There was little consideration for people, the hours were extremely long and staff turnover was very high. Conchi also did not see how that would be compatible with her idea of starting a family and being able to give them the attention they deserved. She applied for a job opening and was short-listed for a company that seemed to meet all the requirements, including the possibility of balancing work and family, according to what she was told. The first interviews were very positive and the two sides agreed to sign a contract. But in the last interview, Conchi explained that she was planning to get married in two months' time and that she had planned to take a two-week-long honeymoon, although she was willing to shorten that period. Shortly afterward, they informed her that the hiring process had been terminated because she "had not been frank with them" from the outset, since she hadn't told them about her plans for a family. Conchi wondered if she had made a mistake during the interview, or whether they were insinuating that she would have to choose between a career and a family, contrary to what they had told her in the beginning. She wondered what to do and how to act in the future.