Friday, December 01, 2006

Skip to the End


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I just got back from an interview at Newsweek, which sounds a lot more glamorous than it actually was. It's not that I'm quitting my current job, which I adore, but rather the funniest thing happens sometimes when you find a cool job: it makes you piss-poor.

Even if I get this Newsweek gig, I don't think I'll take it because it would involve me staying in the bowels of a cube farm from 3pm-3am every Friday. But I must admit that I was rather enthused about the position when I first heard about it. I mean, Katharine Graham, come on!

Growing up in middle-class America, I think everyone is either part of a Newsweek or Time magazine family. My family was loyally Newsweek. In fact, my mother still swears by it.

Now that I am no longer living at home, I don't have the glossy on my coffee table every week and so it's been a few years since I browsed through an issue.

In the waiting room of the HR department at Newsweek, however, you only have Newsweek to choose from, of course. And you know what? The magazine seems so antiquated now that I've been drawing from a wider pool of other news sources.

The interview itself was okay, as far as interviews are concerned. Like a first date, there's no way to skirt around the awkwardness of an HR interview. At one point, the interviewer asked me to tell her about something I have done lately that I am very proud of, which is a standard interview question for which I am never prepared.

So I fumbled around for any piece of shlock I could get my hands on before formulating a somewhat articulate response. Then I asked her the same question because, you know, they say that every interview should flow like a conversation with an old friend. Heads up: HR people don't like it when you turn the tables on them. I watched with only the slightest bit of satisfaction as she scrambled around herself before changing the subject.

Well, Newsweek, I think I have finally arrived at the point in my budding career where I can afford to be a little more choosy with the jobs I accept. If that means that I'm a sucker for putting up with meager wages only because I'm slathered with free concert tickets on a daily basis, then so be it.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I grew up in a Time magazine household. Newsweek sucks it.

12:02 PM  

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