Recruiting is a dating process
When recruiting season starts, the first think you do is tour the career fairs to see all the companies that are hiring. This is analogous to speed dating. In a short 5-10 minutes at each booth, you have to assess whether you’d be able to stand being with this person or this company for long periods of time. Are they easy to talk to? What do they have to offer you? What can you contribute?
Then, if they approve of your written qualifications and the short meeting, you might be invited back for a first-round interview, like the first date. This is when you interrogate each other to find out each other’s strengths and weaknesses. However, at the same time, you are trying to pull as much B.S. out of your ass as you can to impress each other (after starting to work, I realized that the company tries to butter up their firm as much as you try to butter up your resume). In a first-round interview, topics that I have come across are anything from family to kids to sports – basically anything you can scrounge up in common in order to “build rapport.” The further you deviate from the interrogation, the better.
If you got along reasonably well, you might be invited back for a *Gasp* in-house interview! That means you get to visit the office building and see the home base. In the dating sense, this is akin to being invited into the apartment or house. Sometimes, it takes three, even four rounds of interviews or dates before they are comfortable with this in-house step. Often you get wined and dined to lots of fancy meals. Then, if you like them and they like you, you’d receive a full-time offer. Similarly, if you get along with your date, it would turn into a full-fledged relationship.
Things usually go great in the first few months. As a full-time hire, you are sent off to training where they treat you lavishly with food, drinks, and a nice hotel. Work usually doesn’t go beyond 8 hours/day, and you attend happy-hours galore. In the first few months of a relationship, you are still in the lovey-dovey phase where you’re willing to go to great lengths for your significant other. You go on dates frequently and celebrate every anniversary (monthly and/or weekly).
After recruting and traing are over, there are two paths the story can take. (1) A short while later, the flaws begin to surface. In your job, have to work long hours doing tedious work. You realize you might be stuck in something you don’t like and you either quit or you stick it out for while longer to develop a track record for your next job. After all, it looks bad on your resume if you quit in less than a year. Similarly, in a relationship, some people break-up shortly after when they realize something wrong. However, you may also feel obligated to stay with it for at least 6 months to a year to give it a good shot, so people won’t think you’re a player. (2) You’ve found the perfect match. You love your boyfriend or girlfiend. You love your job. You’re in it for the long-haul to rise up the ranks…You’re in it for the grandkids.
Accounting is like joining the Mafia
There are three different types of payoffs.
1) Going from hell to heaven. This path is like doctors, because they have to go through 10 years of grueling education, low pay for two or more years in residency, and come out with huge college debts. However, in the long run, they enjoy a comfortable and generally fulfilling living.
2) Going from heaven to hell. This path is like teenage boys (in New York) that can’t wait for their lucky break, even if it means they could die. That’s right. I’m talking about unprotected sex. Hopefully you get the idea.
3) Neither going to hell nor heaven. This is like becoming an accountant, which is an extremely stable job. You don’t make a lot of money, but you are guaranteed a comfortable living for the rest of your life that will not be affected by either a bull or bear market. This is like joining the Mafia, because the Mafia need to have a stable way of stealing in order to avoid being caught. They are neither be too extravagant nor too stingy.
*The credit for this post goes to Professor Cluff at the Haas School of Business.
Wireless Keyboards are like Rimmed Wheels
Rimmed wheels are referring to additional discs that rotate around car wheels. Wireless keyboards are self-explanatory. They both:
1) are used for showing off
2) serve no real purpose
3) should only be permitted if it can’t be helped
4) are a waste of money
5) would be just as useful after removing the first word in the name
You would never need rimmed wheels, because they provide no additional value to driving a car. They serve no real purpose, except for claiming to improve fatigue endurance, but make no significant difference on a depreciating asset. Essentially, they just look pretty when a car has stopped at a traffic light and the spokes are spinning in the sunlight. But really now, save your money. Rimmed wheels really aren’t necessary. Wireless keyboards sound like a great invention, but when would you actually utilize the wireless feature? Most of the the time, your desktop is on your desk, where you would work best from anyway. I once heard of a pop-out wireless keyboard on a laptop, which is even more ridiculous, because your laptop is pretty much wireless in itself (for those with long-lasting batteries anyway). The screen is also probably so small that you most likely wouldn’t want to be more than 2 feet away from it. The only way a wireless keyboard might even remotely (no pun intended) be useful is if you had a huge monitor that you could still see when sitting on your couch or bed. But how many people really need this feature. I mean, a 22 inch monitor is more than enough for most people, and you would probably work most efficiently at your desk anyway where there is a flat surface and adequate lighting.
Thank you, but just wheels and keyboards are enough for me.
*Disclaimer: This post just an opinion and is not intended to offend anyone who has owned, desired, or purchased either of these items.
Update: June 20, 2008 – Today the Controller at the office said it all when her wireless keyboard and mouse suddenly died upon startup of her desktop. “Everything in this office is wireless for the aesthetics.” That day, she ended up having to hook up a laptop to her desktop in order to get a keyboard working. Fortunately, there was an extra mouse on hand that she replaced her old one with. If she had a wired keyboard and mouse, this problem could have been avoided. Case closed.
Asian dramas and Religion
Religion. What exactly is religion? It could be something that you believe in – one universal truth that carries you through all trials and tribulations. Or it could be something that make you feel that life is worth living or that there is a purpose/goal to life. Sometimes people are said to watch a certain weekly show “religiously.” According to dictionary.com, religion is:
1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.
2. a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion.
Religion is generally considered a controversial topic, even listed as one of the three major “No, no’s” of work (money, love, and religion are considered taboo to speak about at work). Couples are questioned when they share different religious views.
What if religion were a belief that gives a reason for living, to strive towards a certain goal that would ultimately lead to happiness? The goals that religions have could be: eternal life, salvation, enlightenment/nirvana, reincarnation, even self-actualization, or just simply happiness and fulfillment.
So, what is my religion? Well, I’ve already considered Christianity and Self-Actualization. Christianity is often criticized for its inconsistencies and the many opportunities for hipocrisy. Self-Actualization was theorized by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to be “the full realization of one’s potential.” Common traits of those that are self-actualized are: embrace reality and facts rather than denying truth, are spontaneous, interested in solving problems which may include personal problems or problems of others, are accepting of themselves and lack prejudice.” An example of someone who has reached this level is Ghandi, who has completely accepted himself and is happy with it.
In my current state, what do I look to Asian dramas for is my happiness and fulfillment. When watching Asian dramas, I feel the deepest joy and satisfaction. There is a happiness in my heart so great that sometimes it even hurts. When I listen to the dialogues and watch the characters, I have never felt more accepting of myself; for once, I feel like I belong somewhere and I can relate to someone or something. You could even say I watch dramas like a ritual – each semester after finals I usually finish 1-2 dramas. After work, I have the sudden urge to watch dramas all through the night. Whenever I’m having a bad day, I think about what a character had to go through in a drama – whether it is poverty, a death in the family, or just bad luck, and then I don’t feel so bad anymore. Dramas usually involve characters in college, which is exactly the stage I am in now. They make me appreciate life as I have it now. Although I may not be completely satisfied with my life, how could it get any better? I have a roof over my head, I have a loving family, I don’t have to pay bills, and my greatest worry is passing my next exam. My health is near perfect, and my stamina is high. Very soon, that will be all over, and my life will have numerous additional burdens that I probably haven’t even imagined yet. Why not appreciate everything that I have now, as it will never come back again. Stop striving for this and that and thinking about the future, when everything that I wanted is in the here and now.
I have also heard that dramas are a way to escape from reality instead of facing it. Well, who said reality brings you happiness? For all I know, reality was made with imperfections that inevitably cause pain and anguish. Maybe learning how to escape is the way to conquer it. That religion could be Asian dramas.
