Friday, May 25, 2012

Sheeps in Wolves' Skins

They call it job searching, or job hunting.

I prefer the latter term, for its brutal, more accurate meaning. As i get more experience with interviews, i realize that sometimes, it's a zero sum game. Many firms out there have very limited hiring capacities, and when it comes to the hiring decision, it inevitably comes down to a competitive game of comparison.

And in group discussions/interviews, like with hunting, the alpha male stands out. Outspoken and aggressive, they stake the game out for their own and bare their wolfish fangs to frighten the competition. Well, perhaps not that graphic, but still. And when this behavior is rewarded, even encouraged, guess what happens? Especially among engineers, who aren't bred up to be wolves unlike, say, business graduates, it gets into a bad case of 'wolf vs wolf', where people speak up for the sake of speaking, hogging up all the air time. These people try hard to be who they are not, getting all nervous with their thoughts and actions, and contributing less meaningfully to the task at hand.

And somehow, I tend to find myself as the shepherd. Getting the group focused and back on track. "Keep your eyes on the goddamn sheep!" I say. Even if wolves do stand out, it doesn't mean you should just blindly gnash your teeth in the air. Show your mettle in your individual style. Calm down so you can perform like you should. We need an analytical person. We need a creative mind. We need a data guy, a details person. We need a team.

I really see they can be so much more than they are showing to the interviewers. It's just very sad that there isn't always a second chance for them, for us. And I get very indignant when I feel that candidates aren't treated fairly. For example, I'm not just an engineer, but I have a business background as well. And I think I should be subject to harsher standards of evaluation when it comes to presentations and group work. In fact, I have raised it up as part of my introduction speech sometimes.

At the same time, I'm not so nonchalent as to completely put my chances down. All I want is a level playing field, to show our strengths equally despite working on the same exercise. It's not an easy HR challenge, but that's the interesting part, isn't it, to solve tough problems like this?

I just feel that I badly want to take some time out, revamp these recruitment practices, and make it work like it should. Perhaps something like: List out equally important roles in advance with separate skillsets highlighted from the job, allow candidates to choose the ones they feel most comfortable with, and split into teams. In that way, they can see who's a really good wolf, shepherd, or sheep. Metaphors aside, it's not about which role you play, but how good you are at it. After all, the basic things are always the same.

Well, that's all for my rant. I am still trying to strike the balance of performing my very best in the interview, and making sure others do just as well. If this sounds crazy to you... it sounds crazy to me too haha.

Oh, and good news regarding my studies: I earned an A+ for my final year project! Which comes with this (anticlimax) statement from the school:
REMARK: YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF BUSINESS WITH FIRST CLASS HONOURS. YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING (COMPUTER SCIENCE) WITH FIRST CLASS HONOURS 
Big thanks to all my professors and frens throughout these past four years.

Setting this aside, the next thing I'm looking forward to is Camp Rainbow 2012, coming up next weekend.

I'm still taking care of two kids, but this time round, the challenge has gone up 1529%... because they're the camp's notorious duo J & WH, naughtiest of them all!! I have to highlight this back to them, don't they realize I'm getting too old for this? Haha. Now these kids are the real wolves in sheepskin...

As for myself, I'll relish my role as shepherd for now... and leave exploring what's under my skin for later :)