tangentwoman

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Lots of feelings

I'm in Los Angeles for a conference, and I'm running on very little sleep today. I was feeling no effects yesterday of having woken up at 4:15 a.m. Eastern time and going to bed at 10:30 Pacific. I had a chance to exercise when I got here yesterday afternoon; I caught up with lots of former co-workers who I like a lot; I did an adequate job of schmoozing at the reception. All was well, and I even read a little before falling asleep, whereas normally I feel so dehydrated and exhausted after a cross-country flight that I pass out the second my head hits the pillow.

This morning, I got up around 4:30, trying to stay roughly on East Coast time. I got to the gym before it got completely packed, luckily (when I arrived, there was only one other person in there, using the free weights. 45 minutes later, every machine was taken and there were five people waiting).

But, once I was back in my room, I started feeling queasy and dehydrated (the downside of going to the gym so early: nowhere to buy water so early) and exhausted.

And then, before I went down to breakfast, I turned on the Today Show, and heard about Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers student who killed himself last week. And I cried, and cried, and cried. I couldn't stop. Not only for the loss of this poor kid who held so much promise, and his family, and his friends, but also because the whole story made me think we've completely lost it as a society. It seems much bigger than these three kids in Jersey. I remember one of my professors in grad school obsessively banging the drum that bullying is a public health issue, but in the seven or eight years since I heard her make that case, the world has completely changed, and it's staggering to me how rampant bullying is.

I'm really not someone who believes that technology has led to the downfall of society (although I remember another class in grad school during which, even before Facebook or Twitter existed, we hotly debated whether the Internet has improved or eroded social ties), but it does make it much easier to give in to our worst instincts, present the worst versions of ourselves, very quickly, impulsively, and often irreparably. The best versions of ourselves, too, I guess; it's extraordinary to see the outpouring of support and generosity of people who can send a text message to help people in Haiti or click a few buttons to join a bone marrow registry in response to a plea from a stranger across the country. But this morning, it just all seemed incredibly grim, how callously we treat each other, how easily we can ruin each other, seemingly for no other reason than that we can.

So I was a bit of a mess, and then during one of our sessions this morning, we heard from the guy who wrote the book that was turned into the movie The Soloist, about the Julliard graduate who ended up playing a two-stringed violin on the streets of LA after he developed serious mental illness and the LA Times columnist who befriended him. And the columnist talked about the reaction of his readers after the initial column ran: the packages started pouring in, filled with violin strings, and violins, and a cello. People heard a story that pulled at their hearts; they saw a need and did what they could to meet it; they saw an injustice and did what they could to correct it. And I nearly broke down crying again, because there are also really, really good people in the world, who care about each other, who care about people they've never even met. And I have to believe that there are more of them than there are awful, selfish, thoughtless people. But I'm not sure that I do quite believe that, today.

Rutgers already had in the works a big campaign for civility, and I guess that's a start. But how depressing that we've gotten to the point where we need a two-year campaign by a university to teach us what we all learned, or should have, in kindergarten. And I remember it being reinforced in...second grade, I think? We had a class pledge that we recited every day, or at least every week. The only part I remember clearly was, "Care and share. Respect all others." That's a pretty good guiding principle, right? 25 years later, I'd probably add, "Think carefully before you hit the Send button," but it otherwise holds up. Let's all recommit ourselves to living it.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Some tips for all you job-seekers

Oh, my, my, my. I'm in the process of hiring a new staff member, and although I posted the position only yesterday, I'm practically drowning in resumes already. On the one hand, it's great that so many people are interested; on the other, the deluge reminds me how sucky the economy still is and how many talented, well-educated, experienced people are out of work.

But trumping every other reaction is: "UGH! What are you doing?!" when I read 90% of the submissions. I don't feel invested enough in these anonymous strangers to give them direct feedback, so let me put it out into the universe for whoever stumbles across my blog:

#1: Follow directions. The posting asks for a one-page personal statement and a resume. I do not want to read a three-page cover letter that repeats the bullets of your resume in prose form. I promise, I don't, and I won't. You are filed immediately in my "No" folder, because I'm not interested in managing someone who can't follow basic directions.

#2: Proofread. Then do it again. Then once more. Seriously, one of the requirements in the job posting is "impeccable editing skills." Start with your own work, please.

#3: Don't try to go over my head. I'm baffled by the number of cover notes that begin, "Dear Mr. CEO:". First of all, if you'd really done your homework, you'd know that he's "Dr." CEO, but that's neither here nor there. The job description makes explicit who this position will support and report to, and it ain't the big boss. It may be overly harsh for me to ding someone for this (and, in fact, if I liked the rest of the materials, I wouldn't NOT include someone in the candidate pool for this one), but it rubs me the wrong way; it makes me think you'll be simultaneously insubordinate and a kiss-ass.

#4: Connect the dots. The description says that the successful candidate will demonstrate a passion for our mission. If you've been doing marketing for Smirnoff for the last three years, why do you suddenly want to work for a health care nonprofit? Maybe it's totally legit, and you had a revelation of some sort, and this is totally your new thing. But from my perspective, it makes no sense unless you tell me why you want to make such a drastic shift in your career. If you've been working freelance for two years, why do you now want to be working full-time for me? If you've been a corporate lawyer, yeah, I'm sure you can write, and project-manage, and work your tail off, but you need to make that connection explicit.

#5: Don't flag your e-mail as high importance. That's pretty much advice I'd give across the board, but especially in this situation. Yeesh.