job talk/ social job search/ Looking past limits

Jan. 22 Job talk: I was working with one of my servers, and she's 50 yrs old. She said she thought of being a receptionist and getting paid $16/hr. However, she's getting paid that much right now. She gets paid $11/hr, with say $5 an hr on tips.

We talked about how I did get an offer on an office job position, but it was in an industrial part of town. (It happened in Oct. 2011). It was for a dry walling company. He said: "I will hire you right now, if you are able to start tomorrow." He gave me his card so I will think about it. I talked to my dad about it, and he said it wasn't really an office position because it's in the industrial part of town.

It's not really that good of a position. The buses aren't that frequent. I did a job interview at a car dealership, and the boss said: "If I were to hire you on the spot right now, you would be thinking 'Is this a good company to work for?' And I would be thinking 'Did I hire the right person'?"

The server told me I had to start somewhere, and it may not be in downtown. You need to start somewhere and build experience. I know. I should talk to the manager and ask for more hours by putting me in other departments. I have worked in 2 other departments before. I should ask for more duties and responsibilities. It's a big company, I can grow in it.

Jan. 26 Social Job Search: I got this through my blog. Jen Rhee emailed this to me last week. It's about how using social media like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn helps increase your chances of looking for a job significantly.

I emailed her this:

"This is a really good infographic. It's a fast and easy read. I got inspired by it and decided to put my professional info on Facebook. I only used Facebook to tell my friends I'm looking for a job, and contacted all my old school classmates about it. But now I will put my resume there."

I put a bit of my resume up on Facebook. There are tips from the infographic like:

1. Post "Notes": Notes stay on friends feeds longer than status updates. Use them to describe your situation and job interests.
Jan. 27 Job interview: Today I went to a job interview. The ad said it was for a telephone company, and it was contracted out to this marketing company. At the interview I learned that it is selling a package of TV, phones, and internet package. We go door-to-door selling it. I rather sell that, then go door-to-door selling energy. People are going to use TV and phones.

It's like 3 weeks training, paid $1000. You go to the office, and they will drive you and your team to a location and sell this package.

It's Mon.-Fri. and weekends are optional, so I can work at the restaurant on the weekends. There are 45 applicants for 15 positions.

They talked about how it's mainly college students applying and working for them. He mentioned how one 18yr old girl hit her sales target after 3 days. The ad really seemed to be aimed at young people age 18-24. The incentives were if you hit daily, weekly, monthly goals, you can win 1 of 8 trips to Vegas. Cool and fun technology like an XBox, and IPads.

Review: Let's be straight-up. That "left and right brain" article has an effect on me.

My left brain says: I don't think I'm going to be good at this job. I don't really like selling door-to-door. I've never done it.

My right-brain says: I don't have a good feeling about this job.

Highlight: The highlight of that interview was that the interviewer told me that I asked good questions. It was as simple as my question: "What are the duties?"

Looking past limits: I got this through my blog from Emma Taylor. It's called "20 Essential TED Talks for New Grads."

I was listening to the third one: "Caroline Casey: Looking Past Limits." CC talks about how when she was 17, she took her little sister to the eye specialist. CC also gets her eyes checked, and then she learned that all her life she was legally blind, and she didn't know it.

Her parents didn't want to label her, and put her in special schools and put limits on her. She was very successful, going to college and having careers like running a restaurant and working for a global company. It was very inspiring and uplifting.

Jan. 30 Motivation: I needed to hear the above TED talk. It motivates me, and is a pick-me-up.

Reject: I did a job interview on Fri. about being a door-to-door salesperson. I didn't get a callback. They said they will call or text me by the end of Fri. It's Mon., so I can assume that they didn't hire me. That's fine.

Commercial: This is relevant to my job search. I just posted this on twop.com "TV Moments that Angry up the Blood":

This doesn't totally angry up my blood, but it does annoy me. It's that new Pepsi Max commercial. Guy #1 goes into a job interview and he starts throwing stuff in the interview room, and beating himself up. The applicants in the waiting room start to get up and leave. Guy #1 throws himself out, pretending the Boss is beating him up.

Boss sees that Guy #2 is the only one in the waiting room, so he interviews him.

Cut to outside of the office building, and Guy #2 tells his friend Guy #1, that he got hired.

At first when I saw it, I thought it was creative. Then the second time I saw it, I was annoyed by how unrealistic and unbelievable it was. If I was an applicant in the waiting room, I would be knocking on the Boss's door, asking: "Are you okay in there? I'll call security."

I thought about it some more, and the Boss was unrealistic too. How come the Boss isn't saying: "Stop breaking my stuff! Why are you beating yourself up?"

Then I thought it was kind of like the movie Liar, Liar where Jim Carrey beats himself up the washroom. However, that was a little bit more believable because a man in the washroom asked why he was beating himself up.

It's been a few hours since I wrote the above. I then checked twop.com, and someone commented on it:

Actionmage: "Sounds like someone has now proven that Fight Club is over. Guy 2 was probably hired because he was 1) sane and 2) around. Guy 1 waas a bud who "acted" nuts to scare the others off, but it's also similar to a scene in Fight Club (1999) where Ed Norton's character beat himself up to frame/blackmail his boss.

Either way, yeah, why security wasn't called by someone else outside that office, I don't know aaaand they advertiser lost me. Especially since you don't have to hire the last remaining person. What would Guy 2 have done if the hiring guy took the rest of the day off? All that scheming for nothing.

Stupid ad folks."

Zombie restaurants: A few months ago, I was reading in the National Post business section about "zombie restaurants." It's about restaurants like Sbarro that aren't doing very well, but they stick around like a zombie. The restaurants barely make a profit and are able to pay for the worker's wages and supplies. By having these zombie restaurants around, they are hurting business from other restaurants from making more money.