Dark Redemption - Charlotte Byrd Page 0,56

so slightly like a baby bird breaking through the egg shell, quick-focused and persistent.

When he's done, we all clap.

He smiles and nods and invites us to a party that he's having for a few friends.

"Dinner party, nothing too extravagant," Richard says with a smile. "I'd love for you all to come."

"I don't think I'll be able to make it," Lincoln says quickly.

"You're welcome to bring your wife," he adds. "No pressure, of course."

I give Allison a quick hug. "Are you coming with us?" I ask her, even though I highly doubt it.

“No.” She shakes her head, and I smile knowing exactly what she means.

33

Dante

It's late in the afternoon when Jacqueline and I sit out on the back patio, around the pool with my laptop in front of me and her resume pulled up.

She had agreed to help me catch Vasko in the act, but first she needs to get the job. I scroll through her experience, which isn't conveyed very well.

"When you first apply for a job," I say, "you have to make sure that your resume and cover letter match up with the keywords that the job position mentions specifically."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they don't have people looking at them. It's almost always just a computer doing the initial scan. That's why you never hear back from so many of them.”

“Really?” she asks, surprised.

“After that, it goes to the human resources department and maybe, if you're lucky, you have a few seconds that a real person will glance at both documents to decide whether you're a good fit for the company at all.”

“I had no idea.”

"You see here, all this language about the administrative assistant," I point to the position that Vasko's company has listed with the recruiter, "you want all of that to appear in your paperwork and you want all of that to appear and be very natural. Of course, you can put a whole bunch of keywords at the bottom of the page, but once the person looks at it, they're going to see that and that's gaming the system."

"What about what you're doing now?" Jacqueline asks, leaning back, wearing nothing but a thin sundress.

There's a little bit of sweat on her forehead, her hair is limp and damp from the afternoon swim, and she has gotten at least two shades darker since her arrival here.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Aren't you trying to game the system as well?"

I smile. "I'm just trying to make it more of an even playing field."

She laughs and takes a sip of her lemonade.

I finish mine and pour myself another glass from the pitcher. This one's spiked with vodka, hers isn't.

I've noticed that she's not much of a drinker. She'll nurse the same drink for a few hours, pretending to sip on it but when it comes to actually consuming a lot of alcohol, that's not really her style.

I go through her resume and reword a lot of her experience to match the job announcement. It's simple things like perform clerical duties and experience working for a dynamic growing company in her cover letter.

I add that she has taken charge of a number of different office support administrative duties, including mail merging, pivot tables, and presentation design.

In her resume, I add that she has experience responding to phone inquiries, receiving and attending to visitors, ordering word processors, files, and faxes, as well as supporting diverse projects for other employees.

"You're just copying everything from the job announcement," she points out.

"Have you not had experience doing any of this?" I ask her point blank.

She stares at me. "Of course I have, but it's just a whole bunch of fancy language for being an administrative assistant. Answering calls, dealing with people's bullshit, all that stuff."

"Yes, exactly. But it's the language that matters because it's the language that's going to get you through to the HR department."

Jacqueline smiles and relaxes her feet on the chair opposite from her. She puts one on top of the other, crossing her legs at the ankles.

"How do you know so much about this?"

"That's exactly how it works at my company, so I'm assuming it works the same way at others. Now, once you do get an interview, that's a whole other situation."

"What do you mean? What's Vasko like anyway?" she asks.

"Egomaniacal, self centered, cocky."

“So, like you?" she says, narrowing her eyes.

“Agh, that hurts.” I laugh.

I like this banter back and forth. It relaxes me and makes it feel like we're an actual couple. “So, I wanted to ask