Usually I don't have to interview for a job.I am either sent in by the union or somebody calls me that knows my work.When I do interview I kind of blow off the stupid question with a question."What makes your mother the most proud of you?"I reply,"Sir,could you explain how this relates to the position I am applying for?"When they hit me with the unanswerable question I either admit that I don't know the answer or if I am going to be running a crew I say that if I run into a problem in the field I don't know the anwer to I know who to call that does know the answer.That shows that I am not a know it all and am not afraid to learn from others.HTH
HEY! You know what you want to do, DO IT! Char, Write the rough drafts. Research the options for funding. You could even write about a cooler. Remember I showed you it was empty. Maybe start writing for a news paper.
I've had some memorable interviews, but quite possibly the worst was with a car manufacturer right out of college. A few of the design engineers showed me around the plant and I asked what I felt were all the right questions. Things were going great and I felt I was doing really well... But when I sat down for the actual interview, all the folks in the room were from HR and I was the only technical person.
Someone had given them a random bracket and they asked me to measure it, do a 3-d drawing of it, and show dimensions on the drawing. I drew it and added dimensions, but they ended the interview right then and there because I didn't give them the tolerances which were provided by whoever gave them the drawing. No amount of explanation from me could convince them that you can't determine the tolerances a bracket is fabricated to with a pair of dial calipers.
I wonder how many others got kicked out of the interview room before someone realized what was happening?
Those who know you are right...you're a quality person, so you will get a job if you keep looking. It's a numbers game. Check out the "Life History/Philosophy" entry in my BadWeB bio.
At some point in your life you must follow your passion. I did with great enthusiasm and it opened so many doors.
If you decide to go the self-employed route, I hope you find a mentor who becomes a best friend. I did. It made a huge difference in my life.
My son is a writer. His advice to you is talk to a writer's agent as a first step in writing that book that's in you. My advice is when you meet with your agent bring along a business plan with your sample manuscript.
you say tin foil, I say aluminum. I worked in the mortuary biz for 2 years, we never did liners, a slap of concrete was sufficient for the state of washington, and if you look at the shape and size closely... you arent fitting a casket in that container.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled zombie apocolypse.... or how to survive the HR/Recruiter/Talent Acquisition Nightmare.
I was also fresh out of school with a shiny new degree. The company I went for the interview gave me a 5 page written exam right out of the gate! No warning or calculator or anything.
I plugged away at it and got 95% correct. It was good stuff like determining the voltage drop and currents at each point of several circuits with transistors and all.
I was quite proud of myself. After I scored on the test, I was interviewed by three engineers. Then an HR guy came in and interviewed me.
This whole process took hours. The end result? They offered me a position at $8/HR! WTF?! I was getting more than that at UPS!!!
That is similar to the job I applied for to bag groceries at a local supermarket. They had one of those 100 question surveys that had 'no right or wrong answers'. This was to BAG GROCERIES for minimum wage. They knew I had a college degree.
Questions like:
Do you prefer to work in a group or with others?
Do you value technical or people skills?
Do you prefer to wear bright or dark colors?
I mean, you would think they were friggin CIA or something and trying to screen out 'high risk' people by some kind of psychological voodoo. Maybe it was something their insurance underwriters came up with to weed out people who might sue if injured on the job.
So, I get through this stupid survey and go and turn it in. The manager looks at it and says, "Do you think you could take the survey again and answer as if you were more 'people oriented'?" I said NO and walked out.
As far as teaching goes. I was accepted to start a process with getting my certificate to teach in public schools in NC. And I just couldn't stomach the effort involved to make 55% of what I made at my last job. Maybe if I had a savings account, and a retirement account, and a home paid off, but as far as I am concerned, teachers are the most important underpaid people in the world. IMPORTANT. Right next to EMTs, Firefighters and Police.
College professor I gave up on also when I learned the effort it would require to pursue a career in academia. Being very close to one of my professors from Duke and traveling to Africa with him twice, and with his post grads and grad students (and one of his colleauges who was his second wife). You have to work like a dog and give 200%. Then, you have to deal with the snobbery of academia.
I got attacked in grad school in Wisconsin for giving a presentation that while at Duke I won accolades from professors, post grads and grad students alike. No thanks. These people are not based in reality either.
Now... writing I have always wanted to do. I went through a period in early recovery where I wrote tons of poetry and then it turned into painting and then multi media projects. I really wish I had kept that stuff... but I didn't when I fit everything I owned into a backpack and took off for Arizona I got rid of it all. Big mistake.
While I am going to study for my Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (CHMM) certification... which is industry standard for knowing your sh*t dealing with hazardous materials and hazardous waste (the question being 'what is the difference?' when I started this thread), I am going to start researching what it would take to write a book too.
But it won't be just about traveling on a motorcycle across the country, but also about other personal stuff that is pretty mind blowing...
Well, there I was, smokin' dope and actin' a fool. I had four women livin' with me and the only thing they were givin' up was each other. So, I said to myself," I don't need no help, I can starve to death by myself". I kicked them out and started seeing another man's woman and she wasn't doing him half as bad as she was doing me.
Guess I better get up in the morning and go back in to work.
It sounds like your book will be something like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. That is one of my favorite books. I have no doubt you could pull it off.
Well Char hopefully this will make you feel better.
So i may have just cost myself a new job via utter stupidity on my part. I run both my personal email and my work email through my outlook at work. I recently interviewed for a job. It went well and I sent a Thank you/Follow Up letter. Well I managed to not switch over emails and sent it from my current work email. While I'm not worried about my current employer i have a feeling this fopaux may have doomed me.
Pammy, sorry about your mom.
