oliviatamccue

I recently interviewed a company which produces birth control devices for women.   If not for the job search, it would take an unlikely coincidence to be aware of the progress in medical devices for birth control.

From my perspective, social challenges like Food, Shelter and Poverty have a lot to do with the population trend of the countries; and it is a surprise that would not be a visible topic in those economic summit of the country leaders.  It is as simple as demand and supply.  More people, more demand on the basic needs.

I have been in two places where population management was an agenda.  In Hong Kong, around 2 decades ago when it was still governed by British, there were educational commercials on how a family with 1 kid were cute; 2 kids were wonderful; 3 kids became burdensome; 4 kids the family became broke; or sometimes got a superstar celebrity to advocate the same thing.  That was really smart, its influences were not just for the current generation, but more to the next generation who listened to these commercial tunes as they grew up.    Time forward, in the current generation, it is not so often to find a family in Hong Kong with more than 2 kids; and with 4 kids, very uncommon.

China adopted a more forceful approach on one family one kid.  This is just so in line with its image; similar intent on population control, it caused so much international criticism in at least the first decade of the policy; almost two decades after, it only took one real bad situation to undermine the policy and made it really inhumane.

How about for other developing countries?

Could it be a win-win for company with birth control medical devices to link with government or non-profit organizations, and help folks in other parts of the worlds to be aware of the choice?

Technology may ultimately solve the social challenges around food, poverty, hunger; it is very hopeful.  At the same time, many social problems like environmental, hunger and others, don’t they have some relationship with the size of the population?

Recruiters have tough competition and have many challenges to overcome.   There are a lot of recruiters and recruiting firms.

There are some recruiters whose behavior are hard to understand, maybe all have good reasons.

Case 1: these recruiters reached you multiple times and told of a very urgent position and could not wait; just then after giving a  response and requested information, they vaporized as quickly as snow in summer.  Are they just trying to collect enough resumes and candidates for their clients?

Case 2: the recruiter conducted screen interview, and spent the phone interview to almost convince that the job was not the right fit for you.   Why bother to waste time on both sides?  Do they have a quota in terms of number of folks to interview before making an offer to the secret candidate they have in mind?

Case 3: the recruiter criticized a company on the resume, like “so-and-so company is conservative”. How would they know?  and if they know, why would they interview a candidate who used to work there?

There are mind-boggling yet real situations.

To write or not write a cover letter for job positions applied?

– Applying a job without a cover letter is like showing up in a house for a date, without asking first.

– Yet with a cover letter,  it can also be the quickest way out of the consideration if there is flaw easily noticed.

To reveal or not reveal age?

 – At 50, it may still be possible to be disguised as a 40ish.

– At 60+, it takes magic to be disguised as a 40ish.    Why bother?

In Chinese sayings, 三十而立，四十而不惑，五十而知天命，六十而耳顺，七十而从心所欲不逾矩 roughly translated to “thirty and independent; forty and not be tempted; fifty and know the fate; sixty and accept differences; seventy and everything is as wish”

– Share one  as a sandwich:  Strength at the top and the bottom; weakness in the middle.

– Share one irrelevant to the position.

Tell me about yourself?

____________________________________________

I was raised in a culture where the parents expected their children to be “concentrated” in their work.  At meal time, we should focus on eating and  no talking; at homework time, we should focus on “doing homework” and no distraction from TV shows.  It is more than the pragmatic concern of not delivering quality when we are distracted, it is more the courtesy and respect to the people around and to the tasks at hand.

How many jobs out there have put in their description on “ability to multi-task” and “ability to manage parallel projects” and “manage conflicts”?

Is Multi-Tasking a good thing or bad?  What would be the result of such a poll?

Here is my scoop

– in terms of mannerism, it is bad, we are now getting used to talking to people who are doing something else on the smart devices

– in terms of the effectiveness to the task at hand, well, it is not a problem; I have seen many who can use different parts of the brain at the same time, our 5 senses can be used at the same time, why not working intellectual stuff and trivial stuff at the same time; or why not read book while watching TV; it makes no apparent difference for most tasks that are not mission critical.

– in terms of comfort level – what would you think if a pilot driving planes while reading a book; or a driver in a self-driven car playing a musical instrument?

I suspect the multi-tasking requirement in job description is the corporate intent of getting more from the working hours of the employees.  Isn’t it better to have employees working 5 projects than 1 project at the same time, with same pay?

That said, I have a small belief that people, who multi-task well, could plan better, more adaptable, fast-paced, and learn quick.  Those are all very useful qualities in today’s market, aren’t they?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/38067053/about%20multitask%20-%20trial.mp3