I’ve realized that yet another great thing about working freelance is that I don’t have to go through the job interview process. Because the way it’s performed today is ridiculous.
First of all, the answer to 75 per cent of the questions they ask are in the cover letter and resume I’d assume they’ve read. After all, potential employers tend to look down on interviewees who haven’t done their homework about the company.
Second of all, why is that every job interview consists of the SAME questions?
“Why do you want to work here?” – Because I need money
“Do you have any previous experience?” – Did you look at my resume?
And of course, my favourite: “What is your biggest weakness?” – Seriously, what IS the correct answer to that question? Seeing as the job interview format is completely standardized, I’d assume there are correct answers. That’s where the problem lies, everything is scripted. It seems all one has to do to land pretty much any job is to make sure you know the correct answer to the questions that are always asked and boom, you’re in.
Seriously, Word, Wordperfect, even OpenOffice…they can all die in a fire!
All I want to do is writing something, it should be simple, but no! If I say, try to make an ordered list like:
1. This is the first thing
2. This is the second thing -
Well, doesn’t the fancy-pants word processor decide to be helpful and apply it’s OWN style to my list – not that I actually wanted it.
And lets say I need copy and paste something from an e-mail or a web page. Well…bad things seem to happen. Mr. Word Processor decides to go and MANGLE everything. If I highlight everything and click something called “Default Format” or “Format: None” that fixes it…somewhat.
I’m also aware that it’s possible to disable these “features” somehow, but really, why are they even on by default? If I want fancy formatting on an ordered list, can’t I ask for it instead of just having it handed to me?
I swear, I’m gonna writing everything in Notepad from now on.
Nifty little piece in the current issue of Wired.
Harvard professor Steven Pinker has written a book and language and argues in one chapter that swearing is actually an ancient form of communication.
To back up his argument, he points out that people who suffer brain injuries to the language centre of their brain and lose most of their communication skills can still curse people out.
According to the Wired article, Pinker also suggests that animals have their own form of swearing. I’m inclined to agree there – I’m positive I’ve been told off by several cats and had one that I swear gave me “the paw.”
I am what in this new age is referred to as an “information junkie.”
It’s truly an addiction, whether it comes from the Internet, newspapers or magazines, I’m constantly sucking up little tidbits of info. Books upon books have been written about “managing information overload,” but me? I not only welcome, I embrace the overload!
To make sure I have a constantly fix, I’ve set up a steady network of dealers to feed my addiction in the form of newspaper and magazine subscriptions. For some reason, however, they’re all bugging me to renew at the same time. NOW I feel the overload…I mean really, I’ve got a least six months before my Maclean’s subscription runs out and yet they’re bombarding my mailbox reminding me to renew…my cellphone goes off and it’s some dude in a call centre bugging for payment info to keep the newspapers coming even though I’m pretty sure I’ve paid them up for some time, as well…
Seriously guys, I appreciate the media, I really do…but leave me alone! And don’t try to early-bird discount on me, it’s not like any of you are going to risk lost business by doubling the price if I wait until the last minute.