Interviewer (Episodes 9674/5)

The Interviewer met Abi Franklin when she went for a job interview at a call centre for the Unit 7 company in January 2019.

Sally Metcalfe had rigorously groomed Abi in her appearance and coached her in answering any potential questions put to her. The interviewer was friendly and enthusiastic, making jokes that Abi would be able to put her car mechanic skills to good use in fixing their temperamental photocopier and the job seemed hers for the taking. However then interviewer then asked about gaps in Abi’s CV and she took the unwise course of lying through her back teeth by saying she had been travelling at that time. Even worse, when pushed for an answer as to where, she gave the answer as Botswana which unfortunately was a country well known to the interviewer as her sister lived there. She tried to encourage Abi to chat about a country that she had absolutely no knowledge of until Abi was forced to tell the truth about her prison record and that she had only just been released from her third term in jail. The interviewer’s friendly demeanour instantly changed and although she put on a show of being personally hurt that Abi hadn’t hadn’t been upfront and honest with her, made it clear at that point, and later in writing, that her application was unsuccessful.