Day: February 13, 2018

thecoldheartofspace:

so there’s this guy in three of my dance classes

and first off, I’m 5’7, 5’11 in dance shoes, 170 pounds, broad shoulders and big hips and not small in any dimension. For a ballroom dancer, this means a lot of time spent learning the men’s parts. Especially in lifts.

I’ve had years now of guys kinda just going “lol heck naw” when told to lift me. I don’t admit this part much, but it makes me want to sink into the ground and die when every other girl can be lifted, but I’m just too big.

So this guy, smaller than me and really cute, shows up at auditions and I see this girl across the room getting tossed about like the beautiful pixie she is, and apparently I looked a little wistful because this boy asked me if I liked lifts.

“Oh. I… Uh… I’ve never really done the girls part. I’m a little big, haha…” (laugh it off, as usual.)

He looked me dead in the eye and then picked me up like a movie princess, bounced me in the air a few times, and set me down effortlessly while telling me whoever refused to lift me before was just being a lazy wimp.

I seriously doubt this boy will ever really get how much that meant to me. But, holy cow. Some faith in humanity just got restored.

do you remember, approximately one million years ago, when you said on lj that the best response to the “where do you see yourself in five years” job interview question was that you prefer to focus on doing the job at hand to the best of your ability? i have used that in multiple interviews and it hasn’t failed me yet

copperbadge:

I’m so glad! I hope you have an AWESOME JOB! 

For those who haven’t read that post, the response I usually give is “I prefer to focus on doing the best job I can in the position I’m in, and I know that if I do a good job, opportunities will make themselves available.” It’s most useful for younger applicants, I think, who aren’t on a set career path yet, but it’s a good way of providing a thoughtful and somewhat confounding answer to someone who probably pulled that question off a list of “Top interview questions to ask”. Most people interviewing you, remember, don’t actually have a ton of experience interviewing people and don’t really know what answer they are hoping to get from that one. They often are just looking for how you react to it. 

Now, I have had people who have come back to me and said “They didn’t like that answer; they felt it was too vague or too rehearsed” but if someone asks you that question and doesn’t like the fact that you respond with wanting to do a good job in the position they are hiring you for, that’s a sign they are not planning to hire you into a healthy work environment. It can also be a sign they view interviewing as a competitive sport and are mad you had a good answer ready (some people are so anxious about interviewing others that they treat it as if it’s something you can win or lose, rather than a conversation about whether a given person is suited to a given job). I know some people just want a damn job to pay their bills and I get that, but if someone reacts negatively to that response, reflect on what it means for the culture of that workplace.