He asked: "Do you think you would like to work here?"

I started with De Hoop Collection 10 years ago in June 2013.?I remember applying for the advertised position at the end of March 2013 and a few days later, I had my first interview telephonically.?

At the time, I had been working in Addo for 5 years and I wanted to move closer to my hometown, Strand. I had been away from home for almost 8 years, only visiting every now and then and now felt the need to be closer to family and friends.?The De Hoop Collection vacancy came at just the right time.?

I got into my dusty Fiat Palio, which had seen many gravel roads around the country, and took on the N2 towards Cape Town.?I swear, that little two door car must have been a Landcruiser in a previous lifetime – the two of us drove many kilometres through unknown paths, roads and passes. But this time we were driving the familiar N2, in early April, for my second interview at De Hoop.???

I planned to sleep over at my cousin in Bredasdorp the night before the interview.?Had it not been that I had driven a few bad roads in my life, my cousin and her family would have completely persuaded me to not pitch up for the interview!?They carried on and on about how terrible the road to De Hoop was and how I would have to give myself at least and hour and a half to reach there from Bredasdorp.?

So, good listener that I am, I got up before dawn and calmly got ready to take on this horrible road with my faithful Palio.?I said my goodbyes, took the good lucks and tucked them deep into my pockets. ?And off I went.?

Well, when I reached the gravel road, I put Palio in 2nd gear, took the turn and slowly approached with caution.?My mom would have asked “Hoekom bekruip jy die pad?”.?A tortoise would have been able to overtake me with ease.?But I kept moving forward and wondering when the road was going to get bad.?And it never did!?Before I knew it, Palio was in 5th gear and taking me to my interview at a good speed.??

So, I arrived a bit early – but as they say, early bird catches the worm.?And the good Lord knew, I was very ready to catch this worm!?

Justin and Jolene, the Managing Couple at the time, sat me down in the lounge and we started talking.?Justin kept proper interview structure - working off his notepad, writing things, noting things, asking questions, nodding, listening intently to every answer.?And Jolene kept things comfortable – smiling, laughing, conversation-ing.?They were the perfect interview pair.?

Then Justin suggested a drive, to show me around and give me a better idea of the offering.?After stopping at a few cottages, meeting staff, and looking around, he stopped at a spot and started walking in a direction which seemed like a path to nowhere.?I followed hurriedly, wondering where on earth we were going.?And then he stopped here, at this spot in the picture, and stared out over the gorgeous De Hoop Vlei.?And I was just simply blown away by the absolute beauty in front of me.

Justin cleared his throat and asked, still looking at the Vlei: ?“Do you think you would like to work here?”?

I drove back to Addo, handed in my resignation, and officially started working at De Hoop Collection on Monday 3 June 2013.?10 years and 2 months later… I think I’ll stay here ??