www.thegrindstone.com: 1. Know what job you want. The most important part of landing the job you want is knowing what job you want. If any job paying $20 / hour will do, you’ll be lucky to land one. If you take the time to figure out exactly what job you want — and will excel at — then you can invest all your energy in landing that one job.
5 comments:
I think that this article is interesting because it talks about things that I had thought were the most important parts of applying for a job, like a resume, and made it out to be one of the least important aspects. I also found it interesting how the article really focused on the preparation work you should do before your interview. This is Fascinating because these are the steps that many people forget and remembering these steps can give you an advantage. I liked how the article also mentioned a piece of advice that many people ignore but can be the most important, social media. Social media is really the one place that an employer can find real information on you and find out more about you as a person and not a resume. overall, I think this article revealed that applying for a job isn't how it use to be, and the more you research and monitoring of social media you do, the better prepared you will be to get a job.
I know that this is incredibly cheesy, but I truly believe that the secret landing the job that you really want is to believe in yourself and work hard. Nothing happens without those two things. If you do not think that you can do the job that you are applying for than you are definitely not going to get it. You can do this and should remember that. You also need to work hard. It is completely true that the what you put in is exactly what you get out. If you doing give this application your all by networking and applying early you are probably not going to have the results that you are hoping for. Basically what I am trying to say is that nothing is free or easy in this world. However, nothing is also impossible. If you truly want to land this job just believe in yourself and work hard, and you will be just fine.
I really, really, reeeealllllly hate The Grindstone. It's sexist, often vapid, and exploits pretty much every stereotype of the "Young career woman yay!" out there. This article isn't terrible, but I've read so many that basically boil down to "Don't dress like a slut, but if you're frumpy looking, the boss man won't want to hire you!!!", that I can't take anything it says seriously.
All that being said, this particular article has some decent, not entirely disgusting points. Knowing what job you want is crucial to being able to interview well. Something I wish these articles pointed out more articulately is that "Knowing the job you want" is not merely knowing the job title you want to have. It's easy for people, especially fresh out of school, to know that they want to be an Asst. Scenic Designer, or an Asst. Production Manager, or any number of things that a zillion other new grads or young professionals want. The competition for those jobs is insane. I've started trying to really distill out of those job titles the types of tasks I want to be doing every day and the impact on an organization or greater community that I would like to have. Those things are constants, regardless of what industry or job title you hold.
For instance, the most fundamental thing that I want to do in a job is to identify problems with workflow and implement effective solutions. I'm pretty sure I want to do that in the theater world, and I want to use those skills to facilitate really cool theater, but as I look back at every job I've had, from selling baby clothes to teaching toddlers how to ski to running a doctor's office, that has been the singular thread that has greatly contributed to my job satisfaction.
Many of the things mentioned in this article I can relate to from when I was applying for college. Almost every school where I applied required a interview, as well as with a resume with relevant information describing work I had done in the past. It was nerve wracking to go into a room of people and convince them why I thought I would be a good fit for their program. It is important to have some idea of what you want to do with your life. The article is spot on when saying be prepared to be googled. I recall before my interview, one of my fellow students saying that I should expect to be stalked on Facebook. Surprisingly you can learn a lot about a person on the Facebook. I think the most important part is being convincing, and coming across as s being confidant, not cocky. Being assertive in what you are saying will make an interviewee that much more believable.
Preparation in my opinion is half of the battle, and the points in this article reflect this extremely well. While it may seem obvious, it is vitally important to walk into an interview prepared for anything--questions about your work, your background, current projects, and about the institution which you're applying to. In order to cover all these bases, it is vital to spend the time necessary to set yourself apart from your peers and reveals to your interviewer that not only you did your homework but you are passionate, dedicated, and a hard worker. The physical work you bring into your interview will only get you so far, thus the attitude you display and the preparation you have under your belt will be the necessary factor to take your interview from average to superb.
Post a Comment