I was reading a very interesting (at least to me) article about the "Interview" experience. It's been awhile since I last had to undergo the experience of being interviewed to be fair, but there were some rather unusual interview experiences throughout my life that were not easily forgotten. I'm sure we all have stories about them! The entire interview experience, especially early on in our careers, is borderline terrifying. Stepping into the unknown is always scary and seriously: I don't' know these people, I am unfamiliar with this place, I don't know what they are thinking, I dont' know what they expect of me!! Then it's the sudden lack of confidence: am I up to the task? can I do this? am I dressed appropriately? am I babbling like an idiot? have I had a sudden attack of stupid? It can be nerve wracking! According to the article I read, we all feel pretty much the same way walking in the door to an interview They referred to at as a "universal experience". Kind of nice to know. Misery loves company and all that. In the article I read, however, one of the things they focused on was some new interview trend that frankly does not impress me. Amidst all of the many questions that the interviewee is asked, sometimes now, suddenly the interviewer throws in an oddball question that is designed, (honestly), to knock the interviewee off kilter. Something like, "If you were any animal, which animal would you be". What???? I can see asking that of a kindergarten class as a way to get to know the kids and their personalities and kind of break the ice. But in an interview for a job, that sounds wildly off base. My mind was racing when I read that part. What animal would I have said? I have been described as a bunny rabbit of a girl and a lady bug before. And one of my favourite animals is a cat but I'm not sure any of those answers would make me sounds like a prime candidate for ANY job. Think about it. Rabbits are skittish creatures, ladybugs fly away and cats are notoriously lazy. None of those descriptors sounds like, Yes Let's Hire Her! Another crazy interview question was, "What colour best represents you?" Again, What the what? What colour? Is this arts and crafts class or a JOB interview! Perhaps they are hoping to see how creative the interviewee is or how quickly they think on their feet. But it did get me wondering, what colour best represents me. I've been mulling it over since I read the article several days ago and I still have no idea. I am a happy person so maybe yellow? But I like things to be calm and serene so maybe blue? And then there is a penchant for light so perhaps white is the better choice? I suspect that there is no ONE colour that properly represents any one person. Question overruled! But that did get my bizarro brain wandering down other similar paths tho. What about states? There are already official state animals, for Florida it happens to be the panther. And state flower is an orange blossom . Is there a state colour? As it turns out...nope. So I wondered what that would be. I suppose it could be blue for the water and the sky. There is a ton of both here. So many shades of blue and every single one of them is gorgeous! Or yellow like the sun, after all we are known as the Sunshine State: Or maybe orange! Who doesn't associate Florida with Oranges? But it's also orange for the sunsets. They are pretty spectacular: Actually, now that I'm really giving it some thought, I think that the colour that best represents Florida is green. There is so much greenery, it's year 'round and it's everywhere! Lush, Verdant, Abundant, Flourishing, Thriving, and All Year 'round Florida is green. It's not just the palm trees that everyone associates with such a tropical climate, though they are aplenty, it's also the pine trees (did you know that we have them?) and my favourites, the Live Oak which, unlike the trees in other places, is never without her leaves. There are citrus trees, avocado trees, mangrove and gum trees. Trees I have no idea what the name is and they are legion. Shrubs ? Yeah, we got 'em. Some flower, some don't. All of them are luxurious and full bodied and green. Flowers? Naturally and they have blooms in a rainbow of colours but the stem and leaves are green. Grasses for sure, both wild and tamed, green and green. Weeds, oh yeah, lots of weeds, all of them some shade of green. So this started out with an article about the Interview Process and how it's changed a bit since my day and I'm ending with a proposal for an official state colour and voting that Florida's colour be green. I have no doubt that there are those who would argue the point and that's just fine. I like a good intellectual exchange or ideas. Bring it on!
And employers, please, stop with the really stupid interview questions.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorYup, this is me. Some people said, "Sam, you should write a Blog". "Well, there's a thought", I thought to myself. And so here it is. Archives
February 2025
Categories |