Building a Business Empire with my Technological System

Chapter 78  Reflection & Adding Manpower

"So, what happened there?" Antoinette asked her tone a mixture of concern and curiosity. "It's rare for me to see you acting like that."

Michael took a deep breath, his earlier frustration beginning to ebb away as he processed the events. "I... I lost my cool, and it was very irrational of me. I'm not usually like this," he admitted, avoiding Antoinette's gaze. "I let the conversation escalate to a point where it shouldn't have gone. For that, I truly apologize, especially to you, Antoinette. It was unprofessional and not reflective of how I want to handle situations or how SolaraTech should be represented."

Antoinette observed Michael for a moment, recognizing the sincerity in his apology. "Michael, it's important to maintain composure, especially in leadership. I appreciate your apology, and I understand that tensions can run high. But there's more than meets the eye here. Joshua brought up another matter, about you liking my daughter."

Michael shook his head. "No, I don't have any romantic interest in Catherine. You can just say that Joshua rubbed me off in the wrong way, you know. When I first met him, I could feel his gaze as if he were looking down on me. I just want to show him that I have been successful on my own terms. But, looking back, I see how petty that was. I let my pride get the best of me, which is something I need to work on."

Antoinette nodded. "It's good you recognize that, Michael. Personal growth is as important as professional success. And about Joshua, it's natural to feel competitive, but it's how we handle these feelings that define us. Moving forward, try to use these situations as opportunities to learn and grow, rather than points of contention."

"And be humble always," Bridget interjected. "In the business world, you don't know whether your business will go up or down. It's important to stay grounded."

Michael nodded in agreement. "You're right, Bridget. Humility is something I need to focus on. The last thing I want is for my pride to get in the way of SolaraTech's success or my personal growth."

"Good…" Antoinette said, though there was still disappointment crossing her features.

"What's the matter? Mrs. Estolas?" Michael asked.

"Well…I'm kind of hurt slightly after you told me that you don't have any feelings for my daughter. Isn't she beautiful? She is the campus belle in her university."

Michael smiled, understanding the protective and proud nature of a mother. "Mrs. Estolas, Catherine is indeed beautiful. But she is not my type…" he paused, glancing at Bridget.

Bridget noticed his gaze landing on her and then she tilted her head to the side. "Why are you glancing at me, Michael?" Bridget asked, a hint of curiosity in her voice.

"Let's just say I prefer someone else," Micheal said, returning his gaze back to Antoinette. "Once again, I apologize for my behavior earlier. Let's focus on tomorrow. Because tomorrow, this office is going to be flooded with applicants. Some even booked their flights from another country just so they could join the team here at SolaraTech. It's going to be a big day for us." "And you are going to interview them all?" Antoinette asked.

"Don't worry, I may look like this but I have a good sense of judgment when it comes to hiring. Plus, Bridget will help me with the process," Michael replied, showing confidence in his and Bridget's abilities to select the right candidates for SolaraTech.

"You will interview people applying on the engineering side while I'll interview people on the administrative side," Bridget added, outlining their plan for the interview process. "We've already set up separate interview rooms to ensure everything runs smoothly and efficiently."

Antoinette nodded, impressed by their organization. "That sounds like a solid plan. How can I help?" Michael looked at Antoinette, appreciating her offer to help. "Actually, your experience and insight would be invaluable. If you could be part of the panel for some of the key positions, especially those that might interact directly with our clients or in areas where your expertise could provide additional perspective, that would be fantastic."

Antoinette smiled, pleased with the suggestion. "I'd be happy to." "Okay…let's get ready for tomorrow." ***

A day later, in the SolaraTech Main Office, Philippine Exchange Tower, BGC.

There was a long queue of applicants waiting to be interviewed. Michael, Bridget, and Antoinette were all present, each stationed in their designated interview rooms, ready to meet the potential new members of the SolaraTech team. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Michael had spent the early morning reviewing the resumes and portfolios of the applicants. And they were as promising as the ones he saw on Linkedin.

And it was time to call someone. The first person to enter was a man in his early thirties. His name was David Lim, and his resume spoke volumes about his expertise in artificial intelligence and coding. Michael welcomed him with a firm handshake, intrigued by the potential he saw in David's background.

"David, it's great to have you here," Michael began, gesturing for him to take a seat. "I was particularly impressed by your experience in AI and coding. Could you tell me more about your work with neural networks and machine learning algorithms?"

David nodded, his eyes lighting up at the question. "Certainly, Mr. Reyes. My most recent project involved developing a deep-learning model to optimize energy consumption patterns in industrial settings. We used convolutional neural networks to analyze historical energy usage data, identify inefficiencies, and predict optimal energy usage strategies."

Michael leaned forward, genuinely interested. "That sounds fascinating. How did you handle the challenge of training your models with limited data sets?"

"We augmented our data using synthetic data generation techniques," David explained. "This not only increased our training data size but also helped in improving the model's accuracy in real-world scenarios. Additionally, we implemented transfer learning from pre-trained models to further enhance our results…Sir if I may be honest, I didn't expect that you are asking such precise questions. You are just a college student right?" "Well my solar panel works primarily with AI, so I have to learn how to code. Now your expertise would be a great help in the company because we need someone like you to maintain the AI infrastructure that is integrated into the manufacturing machines responsible for producing the solar panels." "You got the perfect man sir. Would that be all?" "Yes…I will give you a call when we finish the decision process. But I must say, your skills and experience are exactly what we're looking for at SolaraTech. It's been a pleasure discussing your work, and I'm looking forward to potentially working together."

David stood up, a smile of satisfaction on his face. "Thank you, Mr. Reyes. I appreciate the opportunity to share my work with you. I'm excited about the prospect of contributing to SolaraTech's mission. I'll be looking forward to your call."

After seeing him leave the room, Michael sighed. "This is going to be a long day."