Author: Sushi

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Those job descriptions really do look the same.

I am woefully unemployed. Outside of the time spent at my (unpaid) internship, a good chunk of my time is spent applying to jobs and grumbling at the job crunch the new graduates like me find themselves in. Jobs that we would normally be taking now require three years of experience. Jobs that we normally don’t consider taking such as retail but would take because of desperation now see us as overqualified just because of a piece of paper declaring approximately four years of college and plenty of knowledge.

When I’m not grumbling at the job crunch, I’m complaining about poorly written job descriptions. Yes, an introduction to your company is nice, especially if you don’t want to look like a scammer. To be honest, after reading so many job descriptions of jobs that sound even vaguely interesting, most of them have the same basic template.

“We’re a growing company who seeks an A and B employee for position X. This person will play a very important role in our team by doing $FOO, $BAR, and $MOO.

Job description:
*Stuff
*More stuff
*Even more stuff for many more bullets, and that’s if you’re lucky. If you’re unlucky, the writer will go on about the job description for an entire very dense paragraph, making it sound like you’re going to solve all the company’s problems just by reading that company’s poorly written paragraph and applying for that job. I don’t know about you, but if the writer can’t make the job sound attractive by making the job description readable, I’m not inclined to apply, no matter how amazing the job is.

Qualifications or experience or requirements:
*This degree is required, but this more advanced one is highly preferred.
*Experience in some program
*Experience doing the exact same thing
*Ability to do Y and Z simultaneously
*Something else you’ve never heard of

Please send your cover letter and résumé to ineedajob@wonthireyouanyway.com. On second thought, make sure the cover letter and résumé are in one document in Word or PDF format and attached to your email. Or just apply on our website since we’ll just send you there anyway when you email or call us. Sure, you’ll have to hop through Taleo and Kenexa and Brassring and those other job application sites from the ninth circle, and we won’t see your résumé as a representation of the unique person you are, but you feel like you’re applying for a job.

Right?”

So what’s to be learned from this? Employers, break the template. No one wants to read what is essentially the same thing over and over again, especially if you don’t have enough pride in your company to proofread it. I’ve encountered job descriptions with typos, and even though I wasn’t qualified, I wanted to apply just to write a cover letter pointing out the typo. Something tells me that kind of brutal honesty in my eye for detail wouldn’t go over very well.

However, if you know anyone who needs an all-around savvy person in Atlanta, please let me know. The new contact page is there for a reason.

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The city streets keep me alive

After a meeting downtown this evening, I took a long way back to the train station. My heels click-clacked on the pavement as I walked down the streets, so oblivious to everything around me and yet so observant. The plaque next to the state federal court building drove me to a road away from the direction I came. The buildings stood in their awe-inspiring glory, as I walked across a bridge overlooking the interstate. This is what it feels like to be back in the city, I thought to myself. Surely this is what I miss: the big buildings that swallow me whole, the grandeur, the signs dividing the parts of town, walking over the interstate and seeing cars and knowing that I’m not in any of them.

Two more turns led me to a road that was familiar by name but not so much by appearance. By name it had the same sound as anything I associate with a city. By appearance, this part of the road was definitely past its time. Run-down buildings next to the road. Groups of men talking and laughing on the street. Horses whose carriages should have been replaced by now. As I approached the train station, the buildings evolved from a dilapidated state to an abandoned one. Apathy had ruined these once-grand places.

I grew up in a small town where my love for the large city is unappreciated. The traffic, the crime (which is for the most part grossly exaggerated), the crowds are all reasons cited to keep me in a small town, and any positives are shoved aside. It’s not just the culture that keeps me in a city. It’s the ability to step out the door and have an adventure. Living life is only existing if not done properly, and unfortunately people lose that joy halfway through.

With or without the joy, the city is my reminder that I am not as big as I think I am. The world is so big, much bigger than any of us, and we are so small. Regardless, we can still make a difference that is bigger than we are.

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Spiders!

Spiders are vicious creatures that want to bite you to bits, right?

Not always, according to a group of scientists who discovered a vegetarian spider. While the researchers are pondering questions of scientific importance, I’m pondering the possibility of my vegetarian friends being Spiderman. That’s one obstacle out of the way for this childhood dream–unless you wanted to be Superman instead. No one has worked out the flying thing yet.

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Why don't people read anymore?

National Novel Writing Month user Uninvoked began a thread on the forums pondering if people read anymore. Given my recent book review (and another one pending the finishing of my current book), I’m wondering the same thing. I read anything I can get my hands on and occasionally some things I can’t. My letters to my grandparents as a young child concerned things I read in the encyclopedia. At one point in middle school, I was devouring a book a day to the point that the teacher who let me borrow them started to doubt that I was really reading them until I told her about them. (This was before the plot of every book under the sun could be found online.)

Granted, I read less than a book a day, and probably less than a book a week given my other activities. However, the number of people around me who are astonished to see a book in someone’s hand still shocks me. I could get a shiny halo next to my NaNoWriMo username if I had a dollar for each person on my commute who gave me a strange look for the book in my hand. (I could get even more goodies if we extended this analogy to a notebook. Heck, I could probably fund NaNoWriMo’s expenses this year if I had a dollar for everyone who has ever given me a strange look for having a novel or notebook in hand.) So what do people have against books?

School is the first place that some kids see books. If there aren’t a lot of books at home, they may make the connection that school equals books. Unfortunately, if they don’t like school, they may also grow to dislike books, regardless of how interesting any other book out there really is.

Along with school comes peer pressure. Unfortunately, a kid who enjoys books out of her own will is often viewed as an outsider. It certainly got me pegged as an outcast as a kid. Naturally, the other kids will apply pressure to the bibliophile. Few kids want to be the outcast, so some will cave and try to be like everyone else.

And let’s not forget environment. A kid who grows up around book lovers is likely to become a book lover herself. There are certainly exceptions. I’m one of them.

Whatever the reason, always remember: It’s not the size of your book collection but how you use it.

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When the Internet meets family

I told myself I wouldn’t write about my actual life too much in here, but an incident from today merited an entry. For those who don’t already know, I’m coming down with what I hope is just a cold: sore throat, slight fever (99.1F at last check), an occasional sneeze, generally not feeling my best. Naturally, I mentioned this on my LiveJournal and Twitter accounts, thinking nothing of it.

Then my mother called me this afternoon. “Are you sick?” she asked me.

“Yes,” I managed to croak. I asked her how she knew. My brother had told her. How did he know? He follows me on T-tw-twitter. Hearing her stumble over the word Twitter was worth the entire conversation, which did end in practical advice for sickness–after, of course, I convinced her that I’m not dying.

I wasn’t surprised. When the only information you’re given is not through face-to-face communication, or even through phone communication, you’re left with a lot of guesswork. Sick? That could mean a cold or pneumonia. Feeling blah? That could mean the occasional blues or the blues that are more than blues. Of course, my brother could have deduced that with a 99.1 temperature and a sore throat, I wasn’t that sick, but some things have to be a family affair–yes, even the Internet.

By the way, despite the sneezing, I’m not feeling worse. I’ve been drinking hot lemonade and tea like nobody’s business, though. Maybe some rest will be what it takes.