FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Inside a corporate meeting room, furnished in a modern, minimalist style. The only details setting it apart from a classic room are two: first, it is much, much larger, so much that ten people could walk around the main white table in a line, and the table itself could be used for two Christmas dinners. Second, chairs are alternated with very big pillows put on the floor. The glass windows behind the table reveal a cityscape of modern buildings, among which fly reptile-like creatures that only a century ago were just myths.

The door opens.

“So, how many do we have today, Alvarg?” asks a woman in her 30s, with short blonde hair and a beige business suite, bringing a laptop and a paper dossier in her right hand.

“Three, Clare,” answers her colleague, an amber male dragon wearing a tie around his neck. “Two humans and one dragon. First one is a graduate.”

“Alright,” she nods, while taking a chair behind the windows, “when’s the first one?”

“In 10 minutes.”

“Good, I’ll go take a coffee. Would you like something too?”

“Nah, I’m fine. I drank some sanguella before work.”

For a moment, Clare seems to be holding a wave of disgust. However, she composes herself immediately.

“That’s fine. I’ll be right back.”

While waiting for his human colleague to return, the dragon tastes the air and licks his lips. He doesn’t have many opportunities to do that common dragon gesture inside that building: one of the first things they taught him when he was assumed is it makes feels humans, and therefore potential clients and employees, uneasy. However, he wouldn’t describe working there as unpleasant. Once you get accustomed to those strange behavioral rules, they become second nature.

The door opens again.

“Back,” Clare announces, holding now a white cup with the company’s logo.

“Hello,” Alvarg says, retreating his tongue in the same instant. The woman sits next to him, finishing her coffee while opening up the laptop. The dragon observes the screen, which shows the CV sent by the first candidate.

Someone knocks on the door.

“Come in,” Clare says.

From the entrance comes a young man with Hispanic traits, wearing a white business shirt.

“Hello,” the woman greets him. The dragon doesn’t talk: it is commonplace to let the one who belongs to the candidate’s species talk first.

“Hello,” the candidate replies, while taking a seat in front of them, “nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you as well. My name’s Clare.”

“Sergio.”

The two humans shake their hands.

“And I am Alvarg.” Sergio instinctively stretches out his hand to the dragon too, who stretches out his nose. The candidate appears confused. Clare and Alvarg have seen this a lot of times: it proves the candidate doesn’t have enough confidence with dragons. However, as long as he avoids pretending to have it, it’s not a reason for rejection: most new recruiters are like him, and a correct approach to greeting a dragon would have been just a plus.

“Oh...hem...” Sergio says.

“Don’t worry,” the dragon smiles.

“So, Sergio, welcome to Clawhub!” Clare proclaims, making her tone more sympathetic. “We’ll first make a small introduction about our group, then you can tell us about yourself and Alvarg will make you some questions. Feel free to make questions when you want.”

“Yes.”

“Clawhub was founded four years ago by our CEO, with the goal of providing financial services for startups based in Altinova. Our main mission is helping groups with innovative ideas to boost dragon-human relationships to achieve their goals. Our clients first have to present us their project, and they pass through a rigorous screening before they are given a partnership...”

Sergio listens carefully, while Alvarg only pretends to do so. He knows that speech by heart. Five minutes later, Clare has concluded.

“...so, now it’s your turn! What can you tell us about yourself?”

“Well, I am a graduate in web design and development at the University of Denver. During my studies, I took an internship at a local startup called Bigfoot Web as a React developer, during which I worked on the redesign of one of their clients’ website, together with the UI team...”

This time, the dragon pays all his attention. At Clawhub, talent and attitude are not the only criteria to hire people: working with startups in Altinova means being at ease around dragons. Therefore, Alvarg keeps his eyes on the candidate, and makes sure he realizes it, without being too intimidating.

“...the startup I’m looking for is a startup focused on new sectors where I can focus my career in. Dragon services is one of the sectors I’ve kept an eye on, and Clawhub is the one that captured my attention the most. I’ve particularly appreciated your involvement in the latest edition of the Dralympics...”

After some more praise to the company, the guy ends his presentation. Alvarg knows it’s now his time. But not before Clare announces it formally.

“Thank you, Sergio. Now, as I said, my colleague will make you some questions.”

“Yes.”

Alvarg flexes his tongue inside his maw. Then he begins.

“So, Sergio, what do you have that is different from others?”

The candidate takes two seconds, then answers. His lips tremble a bit. Not so much to make him lose confidence, though.

“What I lack in experience, I make up in my capacity of learning quickly. During my internship and also my thesis, I was given little time to learn about something I was never taught, and after three days of practice I was already productive enough to work without a supervisor. It is something that I really enjoy. In fact, this was one of the reason that brought me to propose myself here.”

He isn’t being intimated, Alvarg observes mentally. Countless times human candidates begin losing their cold blood when having to speak with a dragon. He doesn’t care much about the words themselves, since that’s mostly Clare’s specialty. At least, not the ones that directly test candidates’ attitude with dragons...

After some more classic questions, come those.

“Here is a little test. You have to report a problem to your manager, a dragon. You have to do it in person, no electronics. How do you do it while being respectful at the same time?”

Sergio falls silent for some seconds, while tapping the desk with his fingers. For the first time, Alvarg smells some mild nervousness. Nobody has an easy time with that kind of question, unless they are really familiar with dragons, and since it has been clear that candidate isn’t, he doesn’t expect some great answer. Still, it will be good to see how he faces challenges.

“Well...I would first knock on their office’s door, and...ask if I can interrupt for a moment. Then, to present the problem, I would make something gradual, first saying things are going well, expect for one thing...”

Yes, just as he imagined. A better answer would have been saying the problem the dragon way: directly, without any filters. But humans, so used to mannerism, always struggle with that.

“You see the manager begins showing the upper part of their canines. What do you do?”

The smell increases.

“I...would say it is not my fault and that I’m sorry.”

Classic misinterpretation. Anyone who’s close enough to dragons knows that gesture doesn’t mean anger, but worry. But again, it makes a good stress test. Better not to continue further with that test though, or it will give him a false impression of working with dragons.

“Good, I think we have everything we need,” comments Alvarg. “Do you have something else, Clare?”

“No, I’m good. Do you have some questions for us, Sergio?”

“Mmh...could you tell me an example of when you had to refuse a client?”

Alvarg answers. “We can’t provide many details about what makes us decline a proposal. Generally, we decline those who aren’t detailed enough, or do not clearly show a goal that is concerning dragon-human welfare.”

“I see,” Sergio nodes, “what are the next recruitment steps?”

It is Clare’s turn to answer. “If this first step is positive, you’ll have a technical test with our main team, and finally a chat with our CEO. You will receive a mail with the result in no later than one week.”

“Fine,” Sergio nods. “I’ll keep my technical questions for the team then. For now, I’m good.” He gets up. “It was nice to chat with you.”

He now seems to be avoiding the dragon’s look. It’s not happening at a subconscious level, but Alvarg is expert in catching that. It started after he made him the last question.

“Likewise,” the human recruiter replies. “Have a good day, Sergio.”

As the candidate leaves the room, Alvarg reflects about the signals he showed with his behavior. The attitude and the interest in the job were alright, there was a bit to work on approaching dragons though. Nothing too big though; frequently had they recruited humans who at first approached dragons with concern, and three weeks later sang with them at the monthly karaoke session.

Ten minutes before the next candidate will show up. It is a good moment to have a break.

“I’m going out one moment,” he announces.

“Ok.”

He directs toward the window, and it opens up fully to let him go through. He spreads his wings and stretches his body around the company’s building, to let his true, wild side let go for a glorious moment before mentally getting back to civilization. He has programmed a full flying journey for the weekend, and he can’t wait to fly free like that for two straight days, and not just a handful of minutes.

Still, it is a good civilization to live in.