Job Interview

A friend of mine, who lives nearby, called me late last night.

Her PC was down. She has an iBook but didn't know the password for her dial-up account. And she needed to access her computer to get to her resume online. This was for her interview today at 930 in the morning.

So we agreed that she would come to my place early in the morning to access her mail. We should have just left it at that. But it was my mistake to start lecturing her on the finer points of job hunting.

Bad mistake.

She told me she submits 10 resumes a day. I thought that was crazy. She said that was because she was going for a different field that she had no experience in. And she also mentioned the tight job market.

Still, 10 resumes a day is crazy. The HR people at this company that called her only told her about the interview in the late afternoon. And she agreed to go for the interview the next day, early in the morning.

That's crazy crazy. Cos that leaves her no time to prepare for her interview. And if you send 10 resumes a day, you probably don't know all these companies well in the first place. By the way, if you are in HR, calling someone for a job interview, for a professional position, and arranging it for the next day, is stupid, unprofessional and ridiculous. (Much has to say about the sad state of local hiring managers, but we'll leave that for another day.)

And she told me that she's just going for it so as to test out the market. And she added that there were times where an interviewer might even suggest an alternative opening elsewhere.

She has her point but I would measure that against the effects of going for multiple interviews on your morale, integrity and sense of professional pride.

As a professional, it's important to consider every job opening with the greatest of care. Whether it's the resume, the cover letter, the interview and the thank-you cards, we cannot afford to be sloppy.

My friend probably has a different opinion, but that's ok. We are responsible for our own lives. I do admire her though for 2 things. Her courage to change her field of work and her determination to land a job no matter what it takes.

Wrting this entry has also helped me think about what it means to be a professional. There are still many things I need to work on.