Part 11

Post date: Dec 16, 2011 4:25:4 PM

The Life I Imagine

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.” – Thoreau

I’m living by that right now. The only thing that’s missing is money, but I’m going to continue going and living while that somehow gets figured out.

I heard time and again throughout my last two jobs that we should all be happy to have one, but I find myself a lot happier not having one.

I want to make it clear that it’s not that I don’t want to work. I just want the work that I want and I don’t want to take on yet another “in the meantime” job. The last job was for the meantime and now that’s over. At some point that cycle has to end and I’ve reached that point.

Plus I hate interviewing. HATE it. Most of them are a waste of time because for all intentive purposes, the positions have already been filled but the laws require them to be posted for a specified amount of time and I’m sure a certain number of candidates have to be met with for consideration, so companies are just covering their asses.

In those interviews, they ask the typical questions that I don’t like answering – “why do you want to work here?”, “why should we hire you?” and “what are your strengths and weaknesses” – that are geared toward weeding out candidates.

The interview I had for my last job was one of the best I’d ever been on. The questions were geared toward determining if and how I could fit into the organization – which is a different line of questioning.

I’ve determined that I come across too competent and knowledgeable, which some hirers find intimidating as if I’ll start gunning for their job once I start working with them. I am an ambitious individual but my name is not Eve.

Hire me to work and leave me alone to do it. If I have questions or problems, I’ll ask. If you need something, give me clear instructions and a deadline. If I can’t meet it, I’ll let you know. Don’t go changing shit just because the sky is blue. And don’t micromanage me. That’s a surefire away to draw my ire and lose my respect.

I’m really not all that hard to manage. I just need to know what the expectations and parameters are. Then I need to be left alone to execute.

This hasn’t happened much with the last couple of jobs, which is interesting since I came into those last couple of jobs with far more knowledge and experience than the first few jobs – where I had far less knowledge and experience but far more freedom to take the bull and run with it.