The Job Interview; What to Wear

The mere prospect of being perused, face to face, by an interviewer, or even a panel, is daunting for most first time job applicants. Usually, it is not fear of the actual interview but fear of the unknown: What should I wear? What should I bring? What should I say? What should I expect?

a.       A. What should I wear?

You are overdressed if other job applicants appear as if they're sidetracked from their scheduled trip to the supermarket, while you look like you’re on your way to a wedding, rushing to buy a last-minute oven toaster as a gift.

Consider yourself underdressed if other applicants are garbed for a prom while you chaperone for one of the darling spoiled princesses. But being the lone underdressed applicant rarely happens, there is more than one darling spoiled princess in a prom, so there are a few other ‘chaperones’. Kidding aside, these nonchalant jobseekers are the type whose resumes speak for them. Capitalizing on years of work experience, it would be foolish for the Human Resource (HR) personnel to lower their chance based solely on attire.

Here’s the thing, it is always better to be overdressed than be underdressed. Always go for a corporate professional look, unless otherwise advised, or you’re planning to work at a high crime rate area.

It is often recommended to avoid wearing black or dark colors for an interview because you'd appear gloomy, and such a feeling might transmit to the interviewer. However, the trend is classy apparel. So it's safe to say, looking elegant in black, or poised in beige won’t ruin your chances. Just make sure that you beam, or smile, to counter the possibility of a lingering mournful aura.

On the other hand, I think it’s heinous to walk like the morning sunshine, or a neon light of a Vegas club for job interviews (or for any other reason). There’s yellow and there’s painful yellow, there’s pink and there’s pink of eternal scorn, there’s orange and there’s hell-on-earth orange to name a few. Others would be scandalous neon green, death-by-electric-chair blue and killing spree red.


Point is, don’t be an eyesore.

Wear warm and cool colors, and not scalding hot or blistering cold. More importantly, wear something you are comfortable in. Comfort boosts confidence.


B. What should I bring?
C. What should I say?

Read more...

Book Review: When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

No one enjoys waiting. While PSPs and Nintendo DSs whip the minutes or hours to move faster, the lesser techie, more scholastic, or 10,000 peso-deprived, would prefer a novel as a handheld companion. And a funny, opinionated and perceptive companion makes time fly, which are traits of David Sedaris’ When You Are Engulfed in Flames.

Author: David Sedaris

Released: June 3, 2008

#1 International Bestseller

#1 New York Times Bestseller Non-Fiction

Synopsis

When You Are Engulfed in Flames is a collection of essays, on almost anything under the sun. Topics would come from the author’s childhood up to his present day-to-day encounters. Here are certain essays that I really enjoyed:

Ø  It's Catching – Hugh’s mother, 76, does house chores, which are considerably herculean for her age, while her leg worm deeply bothers David.

Ø  The Understudy – At the time when Americans discriminate against blacks, David and his sisters condemn their white babysitter.

Ø  Road Trips – A truck driver straightforwardly asks for a blow job, implying his personal advocacy that oral sex should be casual.

Ø  Solution to Saturday's Puzzle – An unreasonably demanding airplane seatmate. Enough said.

Ø  All the Beauty You Will Ever Need – David tries to make coffee without water. Again, enough said.

Ø  The Smoking Section – How quitting smoking brought them halfway around the globe, and halfly speaking Japanese. A necessarily extensive journal on the hardship of quitting cigarette smoking.

*You can check the other essays with their short descriptions here.

Reading Experience

Funny and witty. These two adjectives are perhaps enough to sum all the essays in When You Are Engulfed in Flames. Even the title itself was captured from a Japanese brochure on what to do during a fire.

Readers are lucky for Sedaris to have shared his funny experiences in this book. As this is a collection of essays, you won’t be daunted by the number of pages you need to finish. It’s not something you can finish, or would want to finish, in one seating. You would want to read it in the waiting room before a dental appointment, in the bus during rush hour, or during an uninteresting class. You can simply pick one essay, read it at a coffee shop while waiting for a friend who’s beyond 30 minutes late.

Sedaris’ perspective is not only entertaining but also interesting, hitting the mark from a different angle, since most of the essay topics are not entirely foreign or unheard of. 

But his delivery is on a higher level, it is a unique, fresh and perceptive presentation of opinion and outlook. There is liberal use of metaphors to further expound a point and the often cause of hilarity. Furthermore, a reader is bound to feel he is conversing with the author rather than just reading his thoughts.

In Conclusion

For those who are already reading a certain title with a convoluted plot or weighs heavily on drama, then this is a good side dish. It would detoxify you and serve as refreshment for the current hardcore novel you’re reading. For the rest, you won’t be making a mistake by taking this off the shelf.

Read more...

Book Review: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book One: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

I jumped on the bandwagon, so what? I enjoyed the ride.

Quick Scan

The Greek gods are still alive, and procreating, with mortals. Percy Jackson is a by-product of an Olympian Deity—more specifically, a son of Poseidon. Kicked out of school every year, friendless, dyslexic and has ADHD, no one knew, especially Percy himself, that his fate will shatter the barriers of myth and reality. Well no one but the Oracle perhaps, since its reason for existence is riddling out prophecies.

Mount Olympus, with the address; 600^th Floor, the Empire State Building, New York City, NY, is at the brink of war. Someone stole Zeus’s Master Bolt, a symbol of power and also a potent weapon of mass destruction. The indignant Zeus points his finger at his proud brother, Poseidon. With his pride hurt, Poseidon is willing to make a stand, refusing to prove his innocence, deeming the act ungodly. 

But as Percy reaches Camp Half-Blood, the blame is passed on, and Percy is suspected of a grand thievery. Fresh from the discovery of being a demigod, Percy has to prevent Mount Olympus from ripping apart and has exactly ten days before a war between the sky and the sea is declared. And to do that, he needs to return Zeus’s Master Bolt, clearing his involvement in the process—or so he thinks.

The OC

If you’re looking for a mature read, as early as now, I’m telling you not to read it. But if you are willing to let the child in you play, then by all means get a copy.

The first of the series ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ is the Lightning Thief. Rick Riordan certainly has a flare for light reading as he toyed with Greek mythology and adventure, and the two already sounds redundant. To review it in comparison to other titles with more depth and maturity in them would be unjust, not to say that the entire plot lacks depth, but not as frequent. It lacks the quality of making you contemplate on a thought, or passage, marvel with the depth of interpretation—but it makes you grin, grope for some knowledge of the Greek gods, if you ever had some.

Riordan’s writing is well-paced, and enjoyable. The pages continually flick from one to the next. His style has this fluidity and adequate humor immersed in Percy’s storytelling. Like Twilight the book is told from the protagonist’s point of view, but unlike Twilight, it doesn’t have a sort of school girl love story fantasy. It is fantasy yes, but more along the lines of Harry Potter; adventure and magic, well in this case, mythology.

Riordan also nailed his characters’ persona and aura well. With use of dialogue, description and behavior the three main characters: Percy, Annabeth, a daughter of Athena, and Grover, the satyr, it is easy for the reader to establish their signatures, preventing a volatile personality.

Mentioning Harry Potter is purposeful. There are a lot of similarities between Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, aside from both of them being listed on the New York Times bestseller list. However, most similarities are acceptable because they are original in Riordan’s way. I just have to note such likeness because anyone who have read Harry Potter would be compelled to compare it, and trust me, it would take a lot of willpower not to.

There’s a strong resemblance between The Sorcerer’s Stone and The Lightning Thief, like Harry was 11 when he got through a dungeon full of obstacles designed by adult powerful wizards while Percy is 12 when he defeated Ares, the god of war, in a swordfight.

But it would pay to enjoy the book as it is, well at least I did. A new conceptual world, mythological creatures coming to life and attacking, an oddly similar yet different chase with two demigods and a satyr are all for the readers’ taking. Riordan has his own brand of storytelling, and so far it’s good. You may need to brush up on your Greek mythology but Riordan is able to snug adequate snippets within the storyline. Or better yet, another kudos to Riordan, in making the reader interested in Greek mythology.

Gavel Down

I’m not encouraging you to read the book, well at least for now, since it has already hit the cinemas. And movie adaptations rarely satisfies avid book readers, I would recommend watching the film first, not that I have seen it yet, but I do intend to. In that sequence, you’ll enjoy your seat inside the movie theater and your couch at home. But if you can set aside your expectations from the book to the reel, and judge the film as it is, then go ahead and read it first.

Overall, it was a good, fun read. You may even want to read it again after reaching the last page. As for me, I intend to buy Book Two. Let’s just say that Riordan ended the Lightning Thief well. Well enough to make you wonder what’s up next.

image from: http://whatsonyourshelf.files.wordpress.com

Read more...