Permalink: Interviewing

HOW TO INTERVIEW FOR ANY JOB, OTHER THAN AS A REPORTER

 

I’m going to write briefly on an article I found on No Shortage of Work, which has no shortage of terrible advice on job-searching. Case in point is this article on How to Interview in which No Shortage of Work Grand Swindler Brooke Allen argues that you should “interview like a reporter.”

I’m not sure what you are supposed to gain by emulating low-level employees in a profession that never made much money to begin with and has been in a steady decline over the last two decades, but it sure ain’t a high-paying job.

Here’s what else Allen said: “When you interview someone, your goal is to learn something.”

Not me.

My goal is to get a job. The only thing I’m interested in learning is learning that I got the job. Or how much it pays.

He says, “It is important that you take notes.”

I took enough notes at school to get a 3.83 at Princeton (or a 3.94 at Harvard, I’m now telling people). I think I know a thing or two about note-taking, and what I know is that if I’m not being tested on it, I’m not doing it.

And, “Take some time and write up your notes in more formal prose.”

I used to pay a kid to do this for my notes in college. Or my parents paid him, if you want to look at it that way. Either way, I’m not doing any secretary labor like that.

“Everything is interesting when viewed from the right angle.”

Sure. Find an angle to get something out of this person. I agree with this.

“Make the conversation be about the WORK.”

This is a classic mistake. The interviewer knows more about the work than you do, so there’s no chance to impress them with your superiority in this field. Steer the conversation to your accomplishments – if they’re real, you experienced them firsthand, and if they’re fake then only you can possibly know the details.

“Look for every opportunity to interview people, and there is a good chance you’ll get job offers without needing to answer ads or go on “job” interviews.”

What’s wrong with answering ads or going on job interviews? Those are conversations specifically designed to lead to jobs. Anything else is just a waste of your time.

That’s all there is to say about that. I’d like to interview with this Brooke Allen and show him a thing or two about how it’s really done, but he wouldn’t give me a real job offer so I’m not wasting my time.

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Creative Fiction – Resumes

CRAFTING THE PERFECT RESUME

by Kotow Shergar

I have said before on this website that due to a poor job market you are deeply screwed, and there is nothing you can do about it. That is not exactly true.

There are only two things you can use to get a job, and they are called the Resume and the Cover Letter.

The purpose of these documents is to a trick an employer into hiring you as an employee. Once you’re hired, your mission is accomplished. You can collect the salary of that job, and add it to your resume; you can then pass your more powerful resume around, and collect a higher salary. It is a never-ending Jacob’s Ladder of success.

However, you can’t begin to climb this ladder unless your documents are strong enough to begin with. Today we’ll be discussing how to make a perfect resume, no matter who you are and what job you want.

At the top of your page, put your name and contact info. This is the one place where you really get to make the resume your own, because the rest of it will have very little to do with you personally.