I had my third job interview last week. Not the most entertaining of activities, I have to admit. But I get my fair share of amusement from watching other interview candidates. In the latest interview, there was one women dressed up like she had just been transported from the set of Eldorado. As if one day she took a wrong turn and headed into B&Q instead of Boots for her cosmetics.

I’m not going to bore you with details on the contrived group sessions and tedious interviews. You can e-mail me for interview rejection tips. But if you need tips on how to offer your Salah in complicated situations maybe I can help **evil laugh**. Two weeks back I was up in Scotland being interviewed in the house of the ex-CEO of Shell. After flooding the expensive bathroom, I decided to make haste and leave the building. After some dodgy-looking searching I found a large shed to pray behind, only later to realise the CCTV in operation.

So this time (my latest interview) I didn’t want to look so suspect. As the time for Asr was ending I had to pray.

To do so, the first step to take is to break your own weaknesses. Shaytan goes into overdrive in such moments. “You’ll never get the job, they’ll think your some fundamentalist”, “Its just one prayer, you can make it up later”, “Outweigh the benefits - do a little haraam now, but with all that money you can help the Ummah much more” etc.Sure, whatever mate, like that’s going to save me when I drown in my own sweat on Yawm al-Qiyamah.

The second step ““ be clear that you need to pray AND where it will be done. This was my mistake. I asked one of the assessors that I need to pray but I then mumbled about some small empty office rooms being nearby. BIG MISTAKE!! The next thing I hear from him is “OK everyone, can we all clear out from the conference room”. But that wasn’t enough, he had to rush everyone out then and there, it was as if I told him that I’m carrying a certain type of belt beneath my suit and if he doesn’t comply with my wishes, well, it’s going to be bad for business.

At least it hasn’t all been blushes and fake fire-drills. I’ve been invited to the second stage of interviews, alhamdulillah. Make du’a for me that whatever is the outcome, InshAllah it is the best for me in this dunya and the Akhirah.