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Right And Wrong Job Interview Lessons From Television Sitcoms

We can learn wrong job interview strategies from highly exaggerated television shows. Even subtle idiosyncrasies can mislead our intentions, focus, and results. Although these situations are exaggerated (or not) and reach beyond the scope of realism, all three have valuable lessons:

The job interview lesson from this video from Murphy Brown has several take-a-ways:

Too much information is an immediate turn-off
A cordial interviewer does not validate your interview performance
Emphasize skills and how you can serve the people who will work with you

This episode from Home Improvement has two major take-a-ways:

Don’t respond to your competition’s credentials hastily without researching the employer, and their expectations.
Creating assumptions in your mind about your employer is a lack of common sense.

Editor’s Note:

Please follow the below link to You Tube for the clip, the scene starts around the 2:15 mark.

http://youtu.be/2Xjyy7mg4v4

In this episode of the “Mary Tyler Moore” show, Mary moves to Minneapolis and interviews with Mr. Grant. Note the two main take-a-ways:

Notice that Mary was direct without being disrespectful when Mr. Grant asked several inappropriate questions
Always focus on giving positive answers and reactions to rude and obnoxious behaving employers. Sometimes employers will test of your character using inane antics

I’m sure you didn’t mind wading through the ridiculous situations to see the main lessons. For as many tools available on the web, there is no excuse for ignorance. Give interviewing 100% effort, to receive 100% rewards.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

4 Things That a Slow Job Search And A Boring Marriage Share

Unemployment becomes your life, and dominate your thoughts if you don’t get in control of it from the beginning. For sure a slow job search sucks. Maybe you were zealous in finding a job, and making strides at first like a torrid love affair, but as time progress, your job search turned stale. It happens in marriage relationships. Did it happen to your job search?

I suggest that today your job search is like a marriage relationship. You sleep with HIM, you think of HER throughout the day, you miss HIM, yet you are disenchanted with HER. Either tragedies can change your life for the worst. Allow me to offer four common threads with glaring similarities:

Lack Variety

Jobseekers want to use only one or two job hunt strategies. They implement the easiest way such as filling out online applications, or asking the same 10 Facebook friends for job leads. A job hunt needs spice, and at times inspires results. What if your marriage is one dimensional? Is that acceptable to you? I hope not!

Lack Quality

Will sending out hundreds of resumes a month and filling out hundreds of job applications monthly bring success? There are countless stories of people sending hundreds of resumes to employers, cold, and fast, but to no avail. Try to add a bunch of intrepid changes to your marriage at once will only hinder the entire dynamic of the relationship. Instead, focus on improving one or two areas at a time. Think long term. Think permanent changes.

Taken For Granted

Nothing is like being second fiddle to anyone else if you are the spouse of an unemployed jobseeker. A successful job search does not happen by itself. It takes cultivating relationships, ad giving back to others. Show gratitude no matter how needy you think you are. Like your spouse, a job search needs and your undivided attention.

Complacency

After 20 years of marriage, my wife and I still flirt, play, and make each other better. Most of all, we are cognizant of treating others better, especially those who are outside of the immediate family. As an active jobseeker, treating others well is just as valuable as finding a game changing job lead. At times, it seems that you give more than you get, but the return is priceless. Offer leads to people you know who need help. Be a resource for others, and perhaps, it may be reciprocated.

You may feel that you married your job search, but this is for a short time. Commitment, dedication, and tenacity are also words associated with both. However, marriage often exceed expectations of what we give, and what we get.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

The Wrong Way to Brown Nose Future Employers

I wonder about the department that hired Raheem. He didn’t possess the right skills for the position. But they hired him any way. When you can’t deliver a sustained competent job performance for your co-workers, it becomes ugly. Fast. Yeah, they fired Raheem.

Raheem got the job where he wanted through networking. He had a positive approach and landed a promotion. There. That would be the bottom-line, but he kissed up to his potential employer. Lots of kissing up. Sucking sounds as in suck-up. Sloppy sounding kissing-up.

Compliments.

“What can I do for you?”

He laughed at lame jokes.

Agreed with everything that was said.

Tried too hard to be friends with everyone in that department.

Once he sent a voicemail blast wishing everyone a great weekend. My friend thought it was great until you heard the quality of the recording, and the fact that he didn’t mention anybody by name. When she saw the light, the saw the forest and trees too.

None of his sucking up was authentic. When people see a fake, it becomes ugly. Fast.

The take-a-ways from this post:

It is never worth selling your soul for a position by being a “Yes” man or woman
Anyone who leaves his or her integrity at the front door, and leaves value. Be explicit in what you can and cannot deliver

He frequently visited our managers to ask how to do spreadsheets , powerpoint presentations, and other duties he did not have the skills for his new department. They helped him for a short time, but they too saw the light. Without going into great detail of how Rahiem was sucked up into a new job, he could not deliver the daily goods. But let me backup second to paint a picture of how I think the interview must have went. Check out this episode of That 70’s show where Eric Forman interviews for a Burger Place.

image credit

The frequent calls to that department, asking to hang out was painful. This was not networking. This turned into shameless requests, and begging. Two years this lasted. The sound of slurping on the phone with them. You can mistaken a sucking sound of a lollipop for as much as talked to them. He unleashed flurries of complimentary adjectives to them, and about them daily. He had no shame. Everyone in the company knew he wanted a job with this one department.

He had lunch with them daily. Not anyone could have lunch with them daily. Nor can anyone infiltrate this department’s fraternal bond. He did.

Rahiem performed decently, as I was the one of the go-to guys in the department, I saw his work frequently. I had no reason to unfairly critique his work. I tried to treat everyone the same, even if he or she kissed-up as means of a promotion.

Rahiem started as a contract employee in the Customer Service Center. From day one, he had aspirations to go elsewhere. And there is nothing wrong with that. All of us knew that customer service was a temporary entry point for some, and a long tenure for others.

Rahiem is hard to dislike, but as a professional brown-noser he made my head hurt. I worked with Rahiem for a few years, and really, his approach was beyond the bounds of nepotism. He had one objective: to suck-up his way to a promotion. Maybe you know Rahiem. You may know Raher, Rahiem’s twin.

I told this story backwards. I found it more interesting to tell the ending first, so that people avoid being Raheim or Raher. Just be you!