My Girly Shows...

Instead of doing the AGHAST - the Annual Gowanus Artists Studio Tour - Wales and I just wandered about, sat and watched folks in a small park and sat outside our local bar and drink a Margahrita. It was lovely out today, about 59 degrees, clear sky. And the places we went to were more or less deserted - because everyone was wandering about AGHAST.

So not in the mood to deal with people today, was feeling rather brittle after a difficult and exhausting work week in which very little went the way I wanted it to. My patience was more or less gone by the end of it. So a nice worry-free, relaxing, do-nothing but wander aimlessly with a friend was in offing. We did lunch first - which was a couple of scrawny mussels in great garlic wine sauce, and lots of french fries. Then bought gelatos and brazailan nuts coated in chocolat.

Afterwards, I came home, made supper, and watched the film version - Sex in the City - which I adored more than I expected. Didn't realize until halfway through how much Carrie reminds me of my pal Wales, Sam is a dead ringer for CW, well a white version of CW. And Charlott..ah, known so many Charlott's and Miranda's. I'm not like any of them but I know them all. Also the fact that we more or less did the bars, the clubs, the chatter, and well, not the men (if only) and certainly not the clothes (are you kidding me?) - had a sort of nostalgia. I'm Carrie's age in the film - 40. Although SJP is actually closer to 45. So there's that as well. And it is comforting in a way, fluffy, a fairy tale for adults or the adult version of Cinderella without all the stupid housework. At any rate, I cried at the end and laughed in the middle and smiled. Highly recommend to all my 40-something gal pals.
(Guys? I think should skip this one, definitely a woman's movie.)

After reading my flist, the newspapers, seeing the outtakes, and discussing with friends - have come to the conclusion that skipping the last Presidential Debate was an inspired idea on my part. Project Runway was much better, so was Pushing Daisies for that matter.

( Discussing Project Runway, because discussing Politics is too frustrating and makes me want to do and say nasty things )

Why Running for President is no different than Interviewing for a Job

Okay, why does LJ insist on putting ads for Tom Cruise's website on my blog? I'm not a Tom Cruise fan. He's an okay actor and I've enjoyed most of his films, but not a personal fan. Buffy ads I understand. But Cruise? Also how desperate is the guy that he's advertising his web site on livejournal?

Regarding politics - I read something on either MSN or ABC NEWS that compared the closing statements of one of OBama and McCain's debate. What was interesting about the comparison is their pronoun usage. Obama used the personnel pronoun "you" and McCain used the personnel pronoun "I". Obama stated - "you've helped me get this far, you deserve..." while McCain stated - "I've gotten this far with my ....and I deserve..." That was when I had epiphany of sorts.

Running for President is really not that different than going on a job interview. Granted it's an incredibly rigorous and torturous job interview, not to mention longer, but the process in some respects is more or less the same. You've got the background checks, the credit checks, the drug checks, the application process, the qualification analysis, and the interviews.

And as you know, if you've been reading this blog since 2003,I have been on a lot of job interviews. Some that were, in a word, torturous although not as torturous as running for President - thank ghod. If there's one thing I'm an expert at - it is job interviews.

The most important thing I learned about job interviewing and how to do it well is:

It's NOT about you, it is about the company or job you are interviewing for. It's about what you can do for them, how you will make their life happier and easier, and why you would love to help them and why you are the best person to help them and how great they are. They do not want to hear about your problems, they want to hear about theirs and how you will fix them. It's not about what "I" deserve - it is about what "you" deserve. What can I do for you.

[You will get a lot of advice about job hunting, but trust me - if you remember nothing else, remember what I just said above.]

The company's I interviewed for did not care what I had gone through, that I had an evil serial bully boss, or that I had a law degree or ten or twenty or two years of experience.
All they cared about was how I would do the job. And more importantly, if I knew their problems and understood them and how I'd fix them. Didn't really matter if I didn't have a clear plan on fixing them or even a perfect one or completely workable one (how could I)- just as long as I had one and was willing to be flexible about it and listen to them and try. They wanted a critical thinker, someone who could "problem solve". If I could work with other people in the company to do it. And if I could work well with others. Can you fit in, be a member of the team, and make life better for us?

Every job I went into in which I made it about what I deserved and what I wanted? I lost.
Every job I went into in which I made it about what they wanted and deserved? I won.

That's why you do not ask about the benefits in the job interview - you wait until after they offer you the job. You do not ask perks unless they tell you. You focus on the duties on the job and what you can do. The negotiation on benefits comes after they offer it. They are the buyer and you are the seller, not the other way around.

Running for President is not that different. Even the process is the same more or less, except that you have a hiring team that represents the votes of a 100 million and it takes two years....and you don't have to ask what the benefits of the job are - since you sort of already know going in.