Monday, October 17, 2005

A Feast for Crows...finished!

Yep...I polished off this bad boy in four days, bettering my record with A Storm of Swords by one day. Of course, Crows was shorter than Swords, but I am proud nonetheless. Neat book, but one chapter disturbed me enough to make me put down the book for an hour or so. That rarely happens to me with any book, so take note.

Can I say that job-hunting is reminding me more and more of dating?* When a prospective employer tells you that the job you wanted is filled but they'll keep your resume for the future, it's the same as a boyfriend saying "It's not you; it's me." That's what we call a lie. Geez Louise...I haven't been single for coming up on two years, yet I get to hear this bullshit from another source.

I'd like to recommend to prospective employers the following policy: Be brutally honest. If you thought my resume sucked, or if my interview made you want to rip off my head, say so. Don't tell me you're going to keep a resume you really intend to trash, and for Pete's sake don't use the rejection letter as an opportunity to compliment me on my skills. That's too close to being told, "You're going to make someone very lucky someday." Too close for comfort.

Hey, I'm now wondering how the "rip off your head" rejection letter would go. Let's see...

Dear Applicant:

Thank you for your interest in Smith and Company. Although we appreciate the time you took to interview for X position, we wish you'd spent that effort in an activity other than wasting our time. We really hated your interview; I mean, you suck. Man, you suck. After you left, we sat around and discussed how we just couldn't believe how much you sucked. Seriously, dude, you need to do something about that, because if that interview had been three minutes longer we'd have ripped off your head. With rusty pliers.

Good luck in your career.

*The big difference is that, with the former, you're trying not to get screwed.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

TrackerNeil,

Nice post, most especially the GRRM part.

This is going to sound wierd ... but although i stumbled across your blog from technorati, I know your name. Not exactly sure, but have you been a long time member of the asoiaf message board? I think that's the place I remember it from. Way back, 98 maybe. Not sure.

Anyway, sorry for the bizarre comment :).

TrackerNeil said...

I am the very same TrackerNeil who joined the ASOIAF board back in 2000. Given what transpires on that board, your post is NOT weird. At all. But who are you?