interviews

Having A Life Shouldn’t Be Optional

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Ever get the impression part of the job search is proving you have no life beyond what you do?

I see it sometimes when I apply for jobs, or hear of it when friends talk about their adventures. Perhaps it comes as a requested link to a portfolio or an example of code or discussion of a project. Sometimes in the interview process – and the application process – you discuss the hobbies you do that are, well, the same as your job.

This isn’t a given everywhere or in every job, but it’s something that keeps coming up. Show people your GIT repository, show them a website that you wrote. Show something that says your life is the same in and out of work.

Hell, *I* emphasize this. It’s great when hobbies combine with your jobs, as it brings fulfillment, shows dedication, and lets you monetize goofing off. But I’m thinking it’s gone a bit too far.

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How Blogging Helps Your Career #10 – The Trophy Case

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(The roundup for the “How Blogging Helps Your Career Series” is here)

Ever been in an interview and wondered how you prove you know what you’re doing in that short time?

Ever tried to convince someone of your competence if, say, you’re trying to run a convention or help them with a project?

Ever wonder how, in the end, we can kind of ever prove in a few minutes that we’re good at things?  Because it seems way, way too much of our life involves that.  If you’ve ever been on the job search or tried to justify a promotion, you know what that’s like.

We have to show wins.  We have to show proof.  This is one reason I try and end every in-person interview by giving someone a copy of one of my books, because it’s hard to say “you can’t do project management” when I can self publish.*

The proof in many cases has to come quick, fast and solid.

That’s your blog.  Your blog is a trophy case.

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Ask A Progeek – Desperation Gyrations

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We’re always churning resumes and burning time as we try to find jobs.  Well a question that came up from the depths of geekdom relates to that, as someone asks:

How many times can you apply to the same company without looking desperate?

I hear this one every now and then, and it makes sense.  Who wants to look desperate in front of a hopeful future employer?  It simply looks bad, or can hit that there’s something wrong with you.  If you look like you’ve got something wrong with you, you might not get hired . . .

However it’s not quite what it seems . . .

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