Re: Advice for Job Seekers

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>]

Tracy Boyington <tracy_boyington -at- okvotech -dot- org> wrote:

>I agree; the last thing I would want to do is help someone
"trick" an
>nterviewer into hiring them for a job they're not qualified for.
But I don't
>think that's what we're trying to do. Sometimes you don't get
the job that
>suits you simply because you're not very good at interviewing
(after all, most
>of us have more experience working than being interviewed).

It's a question of marketing ethics, really. There is nothing
wrong with putting yourself (or a product) in the
most favorable light, so long as you don't lie or mislead.

I learned this lesson by reading a couple of biographies of the
Canadian politician Tommy Douglas. He was one of the
most popular politicians that Canada ever had (and also the first
socialist elected to high office anywhere in North
America; he was premier of Saskatchewan). Not everybody shared
his beliefs; in fact, in the 1950s, with the Red Menace
scare, his beliefs were probably a handicap. However, one of the
reasons that Douglas succeeded was that the image he presented -
that of an unpretentious, honest, but shrewd man - was what he
basically was. In the end, even his political opponents respected
him.

Of course, it helped that Douglas was a Baptist minister.  :-)

The point is, in a job interview, you are marketing yourself. You
may be modest, or suffer from a set of ethics that doesn't
let you push yourself. But if you don't make your strengths
obvious, how do you expect the stranger who's interviewing you
to notice them?

--
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
3015 Aries Place, Burnaby, BC V37 7E8, Canada
bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604.421.7189

"And you to whom adversity has dealt the final blow,
with smiling bastards lying 'bout you everywhere you go,
Stand tall and put forth all your strength of hand and heart and brain,
And like the 'Mary Ellen Carter' rise again."
- Stan Rogers "The 'Mary Ellen Carter'"