5 years, 7 continents, 1 message
Birds? What do birds have to do with hotels? Well, here, at the three storks, the answer is, they are EVERYWHERE. On the door. On the towels. On. The. Umbrellas. That’s right. Just when you thought you were blending in with the locals (if that is even possible, as are tall, blonde, beautiful, and you KNOW I am not) – you open up the umbrella, and BAM. You open up your umbrella, and you declare to the world that you are in fact NOT a local.
What should I wear? I don’t like anything that’s in my closet! I can’t find a single thing in here that I like.
No, I didn’t just take the first few lines of “The Babysitter’s Diaries”. Sadly these are thoughts that I’ve been having. Especially over the last few days – right before I start my new job.
Yes people. JOB. I promise I will write another article about my new job – however, THIS article is all about what should I wear?!?
My name is Mike Davis, and I am in love. No, this is not an online posting where I propose to some woman about how I would like to spend the rest of my life with her, and wobble on one knee while she swoons over how romantic I am. Let’s face it, there are a lot of prerequisites that need to be met before that happens. Not to mention the most important one, having a girlfriend. But I digress.
I have a new love. Well, more like a reliable friend that has never let me down, my friend’s name is the Bloomberg terminal. Instead of making this a rambling post of all the reasons why I love this bad boy, I thought I would make a list. One, to ease readability. Two, to increase the likelihood that someone would click on this article (don’t ask me, it’s proven that <insert number> reasons why <something crazy> formula increases click rate).
So here we go….
What you say:
“I really want to work at COMPANY. All the people I know who work at COMPANY are amazing representatives of VALUE 1, VALUE 2, and VALUE 3 that I find EXAGGERATED FEELING.”
What you mean:
“Your company kool-aid is tasty. Lots of people have drank it, and some are still drinking it. On the off chance that I might have the opportunity to drink it, I will subject myself to your ratings system. Now, given that your hiring practices are on par with cattle heading to the slaughter house, I have prepared some alternative plans for myself that I don’t feel comfortable sharing with you.”
We have trained for months and now we are rounding the corner of Opportunity Boulevard and Career Drive.
There comes a time in every man’s life when he realises that he needs to change. And sometimes this change in behaviour is subtle. Sometimes this change in behaviour is fundamental. This, my dear readers of this blog, is rather subtle. The tone of this blog will be changing.
Now, for months, post after post, you have become accustomed to a certain, how should we put it, irreverence about the state of affairs? A certain joie de vivre ?
Ahhh, the DINGs continue. This just forwarded to me…
Student received the following DING letter less than 24 hours after applying to a job. Check out the audacity of this firm.
“Thank you for your interest in the ROLE position with COMPANY. The quality of applications for this role were particularly high and we regret to inform you, we will not be progressing your application any further for this particular role as there were others whose skills and experience matched our requirements more closely.
Unfortunately we are unable to give individual feedback at this stage of the process, however we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in COMPANY and request that you continue to visit http://WEBSITE to look for other roles that maybe a good fit for your skills and interests. As you will see we are always looking for top talent. If you happen to come upon a role that is a better fit for a colleague or friend, please send them our way!”
Favorite part of the letter — the use of the exclamation mark. Let me translate that for you in simpler words.
“We didn’t even have to finish the cup of coffee we were drinking to figure out that there is no way we are hiring your dumb ass. On the off chance that you have smart friends, send THOSE people our way. Feel free to look around our site for other opportunities for us to kill what remains of your self esteem.”
Ladies and gentlemen… it’s not just you. It’s DING season.. it’s happening to everyone (except for the author of this blog, because he is totally employable for all jobs in the universe. That’s right. ALL OF THEM.)
But, I wrote you a cover love letter telling you that I love you.
The roller coaster is coming to an end. The ups, the downs, the loopty loop. In this part of the roller coaster, you look to your left, you look to your right, and you see JOBS JOBS JOBS JOBS… but none of them are yours. Yet.
You go to the company presentations. You do some soul searching. You do some creative thinking. Hours and hours of anxiety after you hit the “Send” button.
But do they “like me”? or “like like me?”
You are armed with a bullet-proof sense of courage, a CV (that you’ve spell-checked 47 times) and a cover letter that should be called a “love letter”, all targeted to the company that you imagine yourself working at.
Continuing with the food theme, I was having dinner with some classmates the other night. Sitting down to order sushi, the conversation turned towards discussions of our future plans.
What can you say in times like this? Recession? Increased competition domestically and internationally? Doom, Gloom, Sadness and Strife?
No way! I refuse to believe that.
I did NOT come over here, make this kind of a commitment of time and money to just lay down and let this negative attitude prevail. Then again, I can’t exactly ignore these things either.
So what to do?
You might know this line from the now infamous video starring T-Pain and cast members from Saturday Night Live.
However, this is my reality.
Many of you have been avid readers of this blog, and I appreciate that. I had initially started this blog to document my travels (many of you remember my 7 continents, 5 years, 1 message mission). This space then evolved to a house for my Notion to Motion project, where I talked about building a business based on passion.
48 episodes later, we are up and running and have come to the end of that chapter in the journey.
So where have I been? What have I been up to?
