Family and friends would ask me to employ a young relative. Sometimes the position mattered less to them than the hope that the person would start working. In my August 2021 account, I described how I responded before making a job offer.
Start with the person, not the vacancy
I used the name “Xhepa” to tell the story. My first step was a conversation: what had he read, what were his strengths, what were his goals and what did he want to become?
In the example I wrote about, he wanted to become an engineer because he had heard it was a good profession with good pay. That gave us a starting point for learning, rather than enough information to choose a job.
The practical steps I described
I helped set up access to email and beginner programming courses, suggested English-learning resources and agreed that he would send progress by email. After two weeks, I asked how the learning was going.
Those were the steps in my original account. The purpose was to see some engagement with the work before discussing a role. Setting up accounts alone did not tell us whether programming was a good fit.
I wrote that often there was no reply or no progress. That was my experience of those particular follow-ups. It was not a reliable basis for the original article’s generalisation about a “Balkan mentality”, which I have removed.
The longer path I could point to
In the same 2021 article, I named Vigan Myrtaj as someone whose development I had seen over time: from an internship at MIK Group into graphic design and leadership responsibilities, then design work at dua.com. That is my historical account of his path, not a claim about his current position.
His example gives the story more substance than a quick verdict on someone’s ambition. Starting small and following development over time can reveal something that one conversation cannot.
A useful agreement for a mentor
If you adapt this approach, agree on a learning task, how progress will be shared and when you will respond. Treat the follow-up as a chance to understand what happened. It should help decide a next step, not decide what a person is worth.
