Angels Ch. 13 - Recruitment Drive

This story contains characters from other stories but is intended as stand alone.

All comments and feedback are gratefully received as I'm hoping the feedback will encourage improvements in my work. This is a work of fiction from the deep dank recesses of my mind and any resemblance to real people is purely accidental.

This story contains a combination of hetrosexual and lesbian sex, if this not to your liking, please visit some of my other submissions, otherwise I hope you enjoy.

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Lynda had been mulling over the issue for a number of days. She had joined the company a few months ago and last month she had been initiated into a select group of lesbians who ran the company and as Head of HR she had accepted the task of recruiting additional members -- either internally from those already in place or recruiting from outside. The dilemma was how do you find out someone's sexual orientation without blatantly asking the question. She had a theory about asking about home life and seeing if those yielded results.

There was also the issue of positive discrimination. John had made a point the group was awash with blondes and brunettes and although they had one black group member John had specifically asked her for more, plus Asian and redheads. The models John used were just bodies so to speak as he ensured the head was obscured or cropped so that people focused on the product and not the model. He may have had a personal preference for darker skinned girls, but he explained that it also made good business sense as well as appealing to his artistic ideals.

Lynda didn't have to worry about the right skills. Susan, the companies CEO and nucleus of the group, had been quite adamant that the company was making plenty of money and could therefore afford the extra heads in the salary count. John, who was the other main protagonist of the group and the only man, had requested that they have a nice if realistic figure as he was constantly after new models that he could include in their lingerie company's brochure.

An idea was forming in her head of vetting applicants on seeing them before they wasted unnecessary time with lengthy interviews. This idea would see Lynda attending various open day events at a variety of locations, from the local university and colleges through to a couple of local employment offices and Board of Trade events. If these went well, she could probably persuade Susan to stump up the cash for Lynda to hold her own events, after all, all women wore lingerie in one shape and form and it might even pan out to be a good sales tool but all that was in the future, 'let's get over the mountain in front of us before worrying about others' she thought to herself.

The first exploration was the easiest to arrange, at a local Employment Office, and although Susan had offered to provide Lynda with assistance -- she had really bought into the idea -- but Lynda had decided to try this first attempt single handed. She had been allocated a spare office with a big screen that allowed Lynda to show a couple of different sales clips and she was armed with some sales literature so that people could take them away. The Manager of the Office had asked his staff to forward on prospective female applicants as they came in for the regular fortnightly visits -- Lynda had explained about the female angle by suggesting male applicants either got distracted by lingerie or it made them nervous. An excuse that was readily accepted.

The first few sent in were just there as they wanted their cheques but the next was a different prospect all together. Chloe was one of those quiet mouse types. She barely reached 5 2, had a nice figure, the biggest pair of green glasses Lynda had ever seen and above all beautiful natural red hair -- John owed her big time if Lynda could land this one. Lynda could tell Chloe was nervous and so she set out at the very beginning "Thank you so much for coming to see me, your payment has absolutely nothing to do with this and you are free to go at any time. I will make sure your visit notes record a note of good character." Chloe nodded her understanding and so Lynda continued "I am the Head of HR at a local lingerie online retailer, and we need to recruit a wide range of roles across the entire company. Now I don't want you thinking this is an interview -- it's just an informal chat -- I'm here to get a better understanding of you. You are younger than most of our workforce and therefore I'm interested in you, what kind of things you buy -- lingerie or otherwise -- and what makes you tick. You're obviously looking for work and so what kind of role you are looking for, what interests you, what kind of job would motivate you that kind of thing?"

Chloe nodded once again, drew a deep breath and replied "Well I would love to buy lots of lingerie but without a job it's not easy. Currently it's functional stuff off the peg. When I have the money to treat myself, I tend to go for flowers and lace instead of the current plain. I'm not sure how much of an insight I can give you into the youth market but as most youths are strapped for cash, a budget line or brand might actually be a big seller if not profitable."

Lynda looked at her thoughtfully "Hmmm, you may have a point there. Tell me again what your degree was in?" Lynda knew full well as it was in her bio that that employment office had provided but wanted the girl to talk more. Chloe shrugged and looked over the top of her glasses, 'Very sexy' thought Lynda.

"As you may have gathered, my degree is Business related, all be it Forensic Business. As you can imagine employment is a fairly selected market for that kind of degree and so my plan now, having moved back in at my parents' house, is to get a wide depth and breadth of business knowledge in as many different environments as possible" replied Chloe.

Lynda smiled and added "I like both your ideas and your approach. Tell me about yourself, is there a boyfriend/girlfriend, are you a member of any clubs or otherwise that place a demand on your time? Are you a TV watcher or music listener? That sort of thing."

Chloe was encouraged by Lynda's positive words and replied, "I'm a music listener, anything from Classic to modern, it really depends on my mood and company. I've not really had time to reintegrate myself into my old scene and to be honest there is no significant other."

Lynda looked surprised "Wow you do surprise me. I thought you'd be the type that had to beat the men or other women off with a stick."

Chloe blushed and looked down "I've not had the easiest of rides where men are concerned."

Lynda sat up slightly straighter "I'm sorry to hear that, but it's not unusual in girls your age. My eldest daughter had something similar not so long ago. I suggested to her that she consider turning your back on men and trying women. We make much nicer bedfellows. Or if she must have a man consider a more mature man, someone with some life experience behind him."

Chloe's head started to spin. Lynda had mentioned 'We' as if she were one of them but is obviously married if the children and wedding ring were anything to go by.

As Chloe was quiet Lynda decided to switch to her pre-prepared pitch "Well, as I said we are recruiting across all departments. Our usual objective is to have people work in all areas. The reason is twofold, first and foremost is it gives them chance to see all areas before they decide which one suits them best. It also helps us in that we can ask people from less busy departments to help those with deadlines to meet at busier times. Don't get me wrong we don't operate on a shoestring, in fact we would rather have spare capacity in all areas but sometimes deadlines or rush orders at sale time can't be helped and we like to foster the image that if people help someone out it makes for stronger teams across the company rather than individual silos. Now does that sound something you might be interested in?"

Chloe looked back at Lynda like a rabbit in the headlights "Errr, yes. Does that mean you are interested in giving me a job?"

Lynda smiled and nodded, "Oh yes I'd like to talk to you more and think you would find a very interesting role with us. So much so I'd like to start you on an induction straight away. Once you've experienced a couple of weeks in each of the eight departments you can then decide if you'd like to stay and where you'd like to be placed. We have a fairly thin structure and pay. There is Susan, our CEO, at the top. Below her are seven departmental managers like me and then there are the employees below that, all be it we have mentors in each department to help the managers. While you're going through your induction you will be paid a basic salary. That gets increased once you've decided what you'd like to do and then we have a series of incentive schemes that reward effort and helpfulness, but you'll hear more about that at a later date. When can you join us?"

Chloe was once again silent but eventually pulled herself together and suggested "Tomorrow?"

"Excellent" beamed Lynda as she stood up and wrapped Chloe in her arms. Again, Chloe was slightly taken aback, not expecting this amount of contact. Lynda pulled back but held the young redhead at arm's length "It's time to confess that this is the first time I've tried this approach to hiring and you are just the type of person I had in mind and so I can't thank you enough."

Chloe walked out like she was a foot taller and after Chloe had left, Lynda did a little jig in the office just before calling in the next visitor. The next three hopefuls were similarly dismissed with a few words of encouragement but little hope for Lynda until the next visitor walked in, this one was the complete opposite of Chloe. Lynda consulted her notes and said, "Hello Daisy, I'm Lynda from Angels Lingerie..."

As it turned out Daisy couldn't start until the following Monday and so the next day saw Lynda escorting Chloe around the building to meet with all the departmental managers. John was the final one for her to meet and he offered "I'm so pleased your experiment yesterday has yielded results, well done. If you need to be somewhere, I can entertain our new friend, explain how things work in the Art department and then take her on to her next appointment. Who is the next appointment by the way?"

Lynda replied "There is no-one else this afternoon and so I was just going to take Chloe through some Admin stuff but to be honest that can wait until tomorrow. In other words, if you don't have any deadlines, she is all yours for the rest of the afternoon."

John clapped his hands and said "Excellent. I'll take good care of our next star as I don't have any deadlines to worry about for a few weeks." Turning to Chloe John then gestured to the long sofa's he had in his office facing a long coffee table "Let's get ourselves comfy on the soft furnishings, although the first order of business is can I get you a drink?"

Chloe was still a little shy and mumbled "Water will do just fine."

John strode over to a fridge he had at the side of his desk and fished out two bottles of still water handing one to his visitor as he took a seat opposite Chloe asking, "So, how are you finding us? I hope everyone is being accommodating."

"Oh yes, everyone has been so kind and so enthusiastic. It surprised me how much time all the department heads spared me. I was expecting to get fobbed off with the juniors and I've met a few but I didn't expect them to devote so much time to the newbie who has no knowledge about the business. And yet they were all ears when I spoke" Chloe replied, finally relaxing.

John beamed "Good, I'm glad to hear it. We've made it a policy never to assume and always be listening out for new ideas. We've evolved from marketing ourselves from the traditional catalogue..." he briefly picked one up from the table and waved it about "... to the internet and now in the age of the influencer. We adapt, we change. Plus, it's good that you see the whole business as Susan gives each employee a project to see through from inception to delivery and you won't be an exception -- when she does come calling by the way, my door will always be open if you need to throw ideas around. The reason everyone is so helpful is because they have or have had projects given to them that need a colleagues input. We have a philosophy here that when one of us does good, we all benefit. The other underlying rules here are that, one, you never do anything that hinders a colleague -- if you have a grievance against them get HR or a non-connected manager involved, and we sort things out by talking. Two, we don't like a dog-eat-dog world where people are looking over their backs at colleagues -- again let's talk. No-one is ever penalised or thought bad of for having their own opinion. Three, always be discrete. People have a life outside of work and Four, you never do anything against your will. If you get asked to do something you consider unfair or against your will, again involve HR or an unconnected manager. We've all worked across the business and so have an understanding of what's needed in each area. Now tell me about yourself" and with that he settled back into his seat while Chloe recapped what she had already said to Lynda the previous day or the other managers earlier today.

"Lynda did mention that you would be thanking her when you met me. What did she mean by that?" asked Chloe as a closer to her recap.

John smirked and shook his head "Well done Lynda, nothing like steeling my thunder. Her comments stemmed from my request that if she came across someone with red hair that I would thank her profusely" he could see the puzzled expression in Chloe's face and so added "It's the artist in me, I rarely get to photograph a redhead and even more rarely one with the alabaster skin although the way Lynda tells it, she hired you for what's in your head rather than what is on your head. Now has Lynda explained how the pay structure works?" Chloe nodded at that, "and has she mentioned the bonus schemes we run?"

"Some" was Chloe's reply "she mentioned the Profit share, the Project incentives and how the performance incentive is geared towards customer satisfaction rather than profit -- which is refreshing to hear by the way -- but she mentioned you would explain the other bonuses."

John smirked again before saying "I wasn't going to mention it to you until you had been with us a couple of days but seeing as Lynda has already blurted it out" he picked up the catalogue and waved it around once more "A few editions ago we used to hire professional models in. Pricey but good -- when they turned up. I got let down a few too many times when, in a rush to get certain shots, I came across the idea of having some of the employees pose for me -- the head gets cropped off as I want the customer thinking about the product rather than the model -- in return I agreed with Susan and Finance that we would pay the model a bonus for appearing in our catalogue. It takes longer to get the right pose, but it has definitely been worth it. It works out slightly cheaper for the company but above all I can plan my time more efficiently plus the lady concerned gets a nice bonus on top of their pay."

Chloe looked stunned, leafed through the catalogue and asked, "You mean these are people who work here?"

John nodded, smiled and replied, "Pick one" once Chloe had pointed to one image he added "That's Bea, Susan's secretary." Chloe flicked a couple of more pages and pointed at another "That's Andi in Finance and this one..." he reached over and flicked a couple of more pages and pointed to a full-figured model "... is someone you have already met." Chloe sat there trying to work out who it might be but couldn't fathom until John said "Jean."

"Oh wow" was Chloe's shocked response "You mean you even got a manager to help you. Don't these people get concerned that they're seeing them in underwear."

John shrugged "Some do, a little at first, but I always explain it's an art project and few see me strolling around the office very often to get embarrassed. I have to say that many have become firmer friends after the experience plus I sometimes do them private sets to please their significant others. Come with me and I'll run you through how that side of my job works."

Chloe dumbly followed him into the studio where he explained about how the different sets were arranged as backdrops to the pictures. He then took her into the changing area and explained that for hygiene's sake the models got to keep the lingerie they had modelled. He then took her to the kitchen set, had her sit down and smile at the camera where he took a half dozen head shots, getting her to sit differently each time and play with her hair. At this point he extracted the memory card and took her back to his office where he sat her down in his plush padded chair in front of a bank of three large computer monitors. "Ok, click the mouse here" he instructed pointing to an icon on the desktop "Double click and create a new folder called Chloe" after she did that he added, "Now copy these files from here to that new folder" In the blink of an eye the transfer was complete. "Ok, open one of the files, any will do." Once she had done that a large image of her face appeared where she was asked to tousle her hair "Oh yes. Now that is what I was talking about. Normally at this point I might alter some feature like the lighting or hue or even sometimes remove a mole so that an unsuspecting partner who hasn't been told about the modelling doesn't catch on. You on the other hand don't need any tweaking, now do you see what I mean about the skin tone, it's lustrous. Now click here and we'll print some off for you."

She had always thought of herself as a plain Jane but here was a mature man - her mind instantly cast back to Lynda's comment yesterday -- waxing lyrically about her skin, hair and how beautiful she was. When she returned home of the evening, she spent a long time looking through the pictures John had taken and the various comments the other line managers had mentioned. Chloe slowly started to see herself in a different way and appreciate how lucky she was to have been in the employment office the same day that Lynda was there. What was it John had said earlier? 'Kismet'.

Some weeks later John looked up from his desk when he heard the faint knock at his door and saw Chloe stood at the threshold. He beamed her a big smile, stood and beckoned her in "Come in, come in. What a pleasant surprise." He hadn't seen her since her first day, but Lynda had had the foresight to keep he and Susan informed on how the new recruits were fairing. "If you have time please sit and tell me how you have been doing since we first met."

Chloe smiled and sat to indicate she had the time and started saying "I'm doing very well thank you. Everyone has been so kind and welcoming. I've been working with Tricia in quality control, it's been an eye opener I can tell you."

John nodded approvingly "Good. We can have the best reputation in the world and with one slip in quality it's all to nothing. As good as our suppliers are at checking before dispatch to us, there is no substitute for doing a thorough check ourselves. I'm pleased you got to experience that area first as I suspect people joining us don't realise the importance of that and Customer care department. So, what can I do for you today?"

Chloe blushed and looked down at her hands as she rang them together and took the longest time to speak "Well... Errr you mentioned previously that... errr you liked to use internal models" John nodded at that "Well I don't know if this suitable but errr... I erm... wondered if... you know... if I could be considered." The last five words were blurted out and Chloe sat there fidgeting in her seat thinking 'Oh god, he's not going to like me, is he?'