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Hunter S. Thompson's brutally honest Canadian job request

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Re: Hunter S. Thompson's brutally honest Canadian job request

#31

Post by helium »

pacemkr wrote: post #19

I don't know anything about Thompson as a person, so I'll refrain from judging. I'm only glad that I'm finally able to put a term to what I despise most about journalism in our country (U.S.), evidently the term is "Gonzo journalism." "Gonzo journalism tends to favor style over accuracy and often uses personal experiences and emotions to provide context for the topic or event being covered." --Wikipedia I don't care…

Yeah, you obviously don't have the slightest clue what Gonzo is. Doing a quick scan on Wikipedia will not help you understand something. Read a few of Thompsons' works and then decide if you really would compare it to the current style of journalism that's prevalent in the west.

Re: Hunter S. Thompson's brutally honest Canadian job request

#32

Post by ErrantX »

cubicle67 wrote: post #29
thaumaturgy wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course it's possible -- people just don't do it, and I don't know why. I recently needed to bring someone on to take over the basics on a bunch of my web projects, because I'm overcommitted, as usual, and trying not to be. I tried a local resource first, and then I went to Craigslist, which has worked out well for me in the past. My ad was simple and direct; it spelled out what we were about, what we were looking…

Did you get many applications from people who hadn't read your instructions?

I'm going to take a shot at: yes.

We tried this approach too, and it worked great. But for every correct application we got two or three wrong ones.

We emailed them explaining the problem, to give them a chance, and only one replied - to tell me I was being unfair not to consider him....

Re: Hunter S. Thompson's brutally honest Canadian job request

#34

Post by awt »

dasht wrote: post #18
awt wrote: post #17

I remember once telling an HR person at M$FT when interviewing for an internship ( 12 years ago ) that "I don't like to be micromanaged." I've since learned to be less forthright in my job interviews.

In other words, you do (it turns out) like being micromanaged. :-)

Not really. But I don't think that most people interviewing a candidate would be pleased to hear something like that brought up by an interviewee. Perhaps you would, but I think most people would get the impression that someone who brought that up in an interview would be difficult to work with, even if their management style did not include "micro-managing."

Re: Hunter S. Thompson's brutally honest Canadian job request

#35

Post by pmichaud »

jmspring wrote: post #5

I think the letter is a great example of how I would like to see resume submissions / job requests written. It gets to the point pretty directly in "this is how I think I can help" and "here is the type of environment I am/am not interested in". Instead, a lot of time these days is wasted in "here is my resume", phone back and forth with some HR person, phone with the hiring person, if in person, then you may or may…

I think it's fear. It's easier to "be normal" because it doesn't feel as risky. But then, not every employer responds well to that sort of thing either. I've tried this same approach more than once, and it's never worked yet. Not a valid statistical sample, but people seem to be afraid to hire someone who is forthright.

Although, I don't think it's a question of whether I'm forthright or not, that's too simple. The whole interview process, starting with the initial letter/application is actually a kind of mating ritual. If you get the sequence right back and forth, then you get a chance to get hired. If you don't get the sequence right then you make people feel uncomfortable, and they won't hire you probably.

Basically, by being brash during this process, you make people wonder if you're capable of the mating ritual, and if you aren't, then why not? Are you socially inept? Professionally incompetent?

The off chance that you're perfectly ept and competent, but have just chosen to apply for a job in an unconventional way is too great a risk for most people, so they pass, and look for the next guy who follows the rules of the ritual.

Re: Hunter S. Thompson's brutally honest Canadian job request

#36

Post by gambhir »

I did part of my MA on Thompson and even reviewed a collection of letters for Canada's National Post newspaper years ago (http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/msg57692.h...). I don't know if people will read anything but Vegas in 100 years, but his style and humour made him a standout in his time. He was influenced by Hemingway but he also typed out The Great Gatsby to try pick up on the style. Another strong stylistic influence was Revelations. A great letter that brought it all back.

Re: Hunter S. Thompson's brutally honest Canadian job request

#37

Post by semanticist »

cubicle67 wrote: post #30
spiffworks wrote: post #20

I have always hated writing bullshit cover letters. Now I just write short, honest introductions. As an aside, should I make a plain text version of my resume and put it in the body of the email itself? Or is a pdf attachment enough? I figure the overhead of having to download and open the pdf could be overcome by putting the resume in the body itself. Thoughts?

Last resume I wrote was in html (not on a site, I'd just attach a html file). It served two purposes; gave people a chance to see what my html crafting was like, and allowed me to include a number of links to previous sites, projects etc I've always included a pdf version, and I don't think I've ever submitted a resume in .doc format

90% of CVs are in .doc format, at least the ones going through recruitment agencies in the EU. From what I've seen the numbers for the US should be similar, but I don't think my experience there constitutes a large enough sample.

(Day job is at a company providing CV parsing to recruiters.)

Re: Hunter S. Thompson's brutally honest Canadian job request

#39

Post by resdirector »

jonasvp wrote: post #22
pacemkr wrote: post #19

I don't know anything about Thompson as a person, so I'll refrain from judging. I'm only glad that I'm finally able to put a term to what I despise most about journalism in our country (U.S.), evidently the term is "Gonzo journalism." "Gonzo journalism tends to favor style over accuracy and often uses personal experiences and emotions to provide context for the topic or event being covered." --Wikipedia I don't care…

I've always been a big admirer of Hunter S. Thompson's style. His point was that there is no way you can separate the author from the story so you might as well go in whole-hog. No author can give all the facts and "just the facts". They can't help but shape and spin a story by selecting what they deem important, leaving out the rest. Their choice of words determines how the reader views the subject. I'd rather know…

His point was that there is no way you can separate the author from the story so you might as well go in whole-hog.

I couldn't agree more. Every now and then I hear people talking about setting up a truly unbiased media company, and I roll my eyes.

Re: Hunter S. Thompson's brutally honest Canadian job request

#40

Post by mseebach »

awt wrote: post #34
dasht wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In other words, you do (it turns out) like being micromanaged. :-)

Not really. But I don't think that most people interviewing a candidate would be pleased to hear something like that brought up by an interviewee. Perhaps you would, but I think most people would get the impression that someone who brought that up in an interview would be difficult to work with, even if their management style did not include "micro-managing."

There's a fine line between being honest about what you like and don't like, and then voicing an expectation that a certain workplace has certain negative properties.

In other words, there's probably a million other thing you also don't like, why are you bringing up micromanagement?

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