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an everyday life

an everyday life

Tag Archives: College Interviews

Other Side of the Fence

11 Monday Jan 2010

Posted by Janell in Life at Home

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Career, College Interviews, Everyday Life, Raising Children

The early spring warmth that lightly stirs the magnolia branches is beckoning life to come and play.   Even now, the neighbor dogs and my own Madeleine chase each other up and down the wood fence that hides their view of the competition.  From where I sit, looking out my second story window, I’d put my money on Maddie.

My son Bryan will be running back and forth to Edmond this semester for a needed accounting class that O.U. doesn’t offer.  Hoping for an easy meal, Bryan called to ask about this evening’s dinner menu.  And then…almost as an afterthought…Bryan casually mentioned he had a job interview this Wednesday.   Who knows but that perhaps this rare job interview is a breath of warm air showing signs of life in the economy.

The name of the hiring firm — one I’ve never heard of — caused me to offer little by way of comment.  Interpreting this as a lack of endorsement, Bryan surprised me by asking if he should accept a position if offered.  Of course, I told Bryan I didn’t know the answer to his question but that any job offer would be hard to pass up in this economy — as long as he liked the company and the company liked him.

I have to laugh when I consider that I have one son asking me questions like this and another who doesn’t trust me to know what is appropriate business attire for downtown Oklahoma City.   In the space of days, I’ve had one son put too much store in my opinion and the other dismiss me for the junk heap that I should crawl on top of — being the all-used-up CPA that I am, of course.  And the beautiful irony sitting on the fence is that I know more about what Kyle should wear to work than what Bryan should do in accepting work.

But back to Bryan’s Wednesday appointment — having sat on the interviewer’s side of the fence, I would guess competition for this new staff position will be fierce.  I don’t envy the interviewers their job since there is so little to actually go on in making hiring decisions on new college graduates.  But knowing what I know about Bryan — if these interviewers could use a biased opinion of an all washed up CPA who no longer knows how to dress for success — I could tell them exactly who to put their money on for a sure bet.

And maybe because I’m not their mother, they might actually listen.

For Sale

30 Wednesday Sep 2009

Posted by Janell in Life at Home

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

1960s, Childhood Memories, College Interviews, Everyday Life, Mad Men, Parents, Raising Children

I’ve just finished watching two episodes of season one of Mad Men, the popular AMC television series about people connected with a Madison Avenue based advertising business in 1960.  It’s a show about salesmanship; the mad men sell their ideas to the clients so that they can create ads to sell the product of their client.  Four episodes in, the characters I thought I liked and didn’t have become jumbled; as characters become less cardboard, my likes turn to dislikes and vice versa.  To the creators of Mad Men, I say bravo.  I  was hooked with just one episode.

In addition to being well done, part of the appeal of Mad Men is that it reminds me so much of growing up in the sixties.  I recognize the decor in the homes as well as the cars people drive.  And all the cigarette smoke.  I’d forgotten how popular smoking was then.  But some things I was too young to know.  For instance, Mad Men depicts 1960 Corporate America as a caste system:  Jews and gentiles did not mix, women were secretaries and switchboard operators rather than professionals, and of course the racial line between black and white was huge and bold and not crossed.  If this characterization is correct, I’m glad I entered the workforce in the late seventies rather than seventeen years before.

By 1977, women professionals were no longer a novelty, though we were still trying to figure out the ground rules.  For instance, I tried hard just to be seen as one of the guys.  I worked just as hard, traveled without complaint if needed, and wore my version of a business suit.  Of course, when I became pregnant, the guys thought I wouldn’t return to work.  But I did.  And believe me, I kept under wraps that I cried all the way to work that first day back, after leaving my eight week baby girl with another woman to watch.     

I entered the accounting profession, by the grace of God, as an employee of a small regional accounting firm.  The ‘Big 8″ firms didn’t want me, in spite of my stellar grades.  And the lack of job offers had nothing to do with my sex.   Plain and simple, I just didn’t know the rules of interviewing, and because I was painfully shy and insecure, I could not sell myself.  I hate that phrase — selling myself –it sounds like prostitution.  But that’s the interview game is a nutshell:  the interviewer tries to sell the candidate on his employer and candidates try to sell themselves to company representatives.  An after all the selling comes the waiting to see whether anyone was sold.    

My college interview experiences have been on my mind the last few days because my oldest son is going through the interview sweepstakes right now.  And since Bryan has more than a few on campus interviews lined up with public accounting firms, I’ve tried to sell him a few tips.  But my best advice to Bry was to have fun on his interviews.  Because people having fun are more relaxed.  And if relaxed, Bry will  focus more on others rather than trying too hard to sell himself.  

Best to leave the business of selling to those Mad Men on Madison Avenue.  But let’s see if we can make use of a famous ad slogan to wrap us this sale post:  “Don’t get Mad.  Get Glad.” 

“Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? — every, every minute?”

-- Thornton Wilder, "Our Town"

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