Thursday, September 6, 2007

Interviews, Exercise, Poker Dream

I talked to my friend Jake Shank yesterday. He works at Aerotek, one of the places I've been shot down by. I'm not at all mad at him, as he got me an interview and really hyped me up, but in the end, my own honesty got me the boot. They asked me to describe myself in three words and I did; happy, fun, easy to get along with. I know it would be best to say ambitious, motivated, over-achiever, ass-kisser, but I can't say those things for a couple of reasons. The first is that I feel when you describe yourself, you should describe yourself on a Sunday afternoon. A person that is truly motivated is the person who runs errands on Sunday. A person who gets ready for the week ahead. That's not me. That's not most people. Second, as an interviewer, I would instantly write any person who responded as such off. Motivated is a bullshit answer. I don't like bullshit, I like honesty. The interviewers were younger guys, so I figured they would appreciate honesty as well. Apparently the fact that I'm happy, fun, and easy to get along with means that I would be totally unable to recruit engineers to work for other companies. Whatever. The two guys that interviewed me told Jake to call me and tell me that if I ever wanted a job, that I should NOT respond the way I did. The bad news is I'm going to do it again because I want to work for the person that can see that I'm being honest and appreciate that. The problem is that I think that person is unemployed too.

I haven't exercised this week. Monday I was out of town all day, so that's not TOTALLY my fault, although I could've squeezed a workout in if I had really tried. Tuesday and Wednesday I just couldn't drag myself over there. I'm trying to stay upbeat about this whole constant rejection theme that is presently in my life, but no matter how big your smile it still weighs on you. The last thing I want to do is add aching muscles and joints to my aching ego and self-esteem. I'm going today no matter what. It is on the "To Do" list that I made for myself.

Still no poker. I think part of my non-playing can be attributed to my presently sagging self-esteem. I don't feel like I can win at anything at the moment, so I think I've subconsciously avoided playing, which isn't all bad. Although I had a dream about poker last night which made me want to play today. I was in a casino somewhere (not Vegas) playing a HORSE tournament. I was on vacation with my family, and had been spending the day with them while blinding away in this tournament. I came back to see that I had made the final table by blinding off, but was ridiculously short-stacked. It was hold 'em, but the were playing the hold 'em round as no limit. I got all in with AQ vs AK, AQ, and AJ. We chopped it on a final board of KJTQx, but somehow I came out way ahead. When it switched to Omaha, I had amassed more chips without playing a hand but then got booted from the tournament when a played called me on a technicality. A guy had busted and I moved over into his seat. When he busted, he forgot to throw his cards to the dealer. A few hands later the dealer realized the cards were missing, I found them and offered them up, and another player called the floor and had me bounced from the tournament for trying to cheat. I handled it well (because it was a dream and not for an actual $2,000) and then I woke up. I take the dream as a "despite bad odds against you, you can still beat people at poker" type of deal. I think I'll give it a shot today.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lies and deception get you paid. Don't get in the way of yourself. Resume's get you an interview, interviews get you a job, and job performance gets you promoted. Do whatever you have to do to get yourself employed. Hiring managers want to hear things that will make them look good for hiring you. Then you have to follow through and make them look good through production. Not necessarily doing what you told the hiring manager you were going to do. I know it sounds confusing, but say what it is they want to hear. I know I don't really have much room to talk since I work for my father-in-law, but I did go on about 12 different interviews when I moved down to Springfield. Keep your head up and something will smack you in the face. Keep your head down and that same opportunity will take your head clean off. good night and good luck.

bretlonder said...

I feel like I'm about to go into the jungles of Vietnam. Actually, I just got back from the workout room so I feel like I just got OUT of the jungles in Vietnam. Without my legs. Too soon?