The Alien's Job Interview — 'Skills: Telepathy, Probing'

10-second dry cosmic satire, vertical 9:16, mockumentary. XANDRA — resume: galactic surveyor, 400 years — interviews for a data-entry job, lists telepathy as a skill, and demonstrates it on the hiring manager.

0-3s: The bland corporate interview room: gray carpet, a wilting plant, the motivational poster. Xandra sits perfectly still, hands folded, her eyes just slightly too large. Asked about Excel, she tilts her head: "I prefer to read the spreadsheet's mind. It is... anxious." The manager laughs nervously, glancing at the door. The plant leans toward Xandra.

3-7s: The demonstration. Asked if the telepathy is "a real skill," Xandra closes her eyes — and narrates the manager's exact thought, word for word: "I wonder if HR approved this interview." The manager goes pale. The telepathy-zoom hits: the camera pushing into Xandra's eyes, the room's sound dropping to a hum. She adds, helpfully: "You are also thinking about lunch. A sandwich." The manager's hand trembles on the resume.

7-10s: Salary expectations. Xandra requests payment in a currency called quibbles — and one human memory of a beach, "a good one, with gulls." The manager, broken, offers the internship. Xandra shakes his hand, and for a moment he smells salt air. He stares at his hand.

Craft: the interview room's gray despair, Xandra's too-still posture and too-large eyes, the leaning plant; the resume's single 400-year role, the manager's trembling hand. Camera: sterile interview framing, the telepathy-zoom effects, the pale-reaction close-up, 35mm feel. Lighting: cold office fluorescents, the hum given a visual flicker. Atmosphere: dry cosmic satire, the mundane invaded. Style: mockumentary, cold grade, photorealistic, 30fps.