Fast Company: During an interview, hiring managers always ask about your experience. They want to know what you did as well as the kind of results you delivered. But when you’re describing your current job, be careful of your word choice: Two pronouns in particular could send a bad message.
3 comments:
Whether it’s discourse about racism, sexism, of the power of performance I think that it’s really important to think about the power of language. I think that this article emphasized the power of language in an applied situation. Also, being passionate about a startup or profession is very important. While we live in a capitalist society, I think it’s important for people to consider the implications of being happy and passionate in one’s profession. I think that the most successful people in the theatre industry are the most passionate and it's very interesting how our use of language can reflect one’s passion. I will definitely use this knowledge going forward when talking about my job experiences in interviews. To present one’s best self, one needs to show whomever they are speaking with that one is passionate. Theatre is a profession that is all about collaboration and to identify one’s role in a theatre company one needs to see themselves as apart of a greater purpose.
I very much agree with Ella when she says that language is powerful. As the article states, “Job candidates who refer to their current company as ‘they’ or ‘them’ are sending a red flag... They’re signaling that they may not be a very engaged employee, or that they have little passion for their job.” Here, it quickly becomes evident that such a simple choice as the pronouns we use can radically change our meaning while simultaneously revealing our character. At the core of this revelation is passion, just as the author identifies. It's pretty easy to tell when "someone is working for a business with both feet in" because they use 'we' instead of 'they', making clear that they feel a part of a larger picture in their current job. People who are passionate about their jobs are, in my mind, more valuable than people who are simply skilled at what they are hired for. Yes, obviously passion doesn't just make up for lack of skill, but a passionate person will build the skills they need to do the job and is more dedicated to the work than a person who is just skilled will be.
Reading this article causes me to rethink how I use pronouns and approach teams. After the
Marshmallow challenge yesterday, I am also considering the different roles that each person plays on a team and how that can either contribute to or take away from the effort as a whole. In theater, this is particularly apparent between departments. Often it is easy in theater to think of each individual department as it’s own goal, rather than the whole cohesive production. Since theater is such a collaborative art, it’ important to pay attention to who is serving themselves vs who is serving the whole. I have been on teams where one or two people have been particularly selfish or unaware of how they are affecting the group, and it is easy to how one selfish person can harm the group as a whole. I completely understand why employers look for what pronouns people are using when referring to their company.
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