Job interviews and interview questions, part 1

This post is a follow up to one of the previous posts that includes this comics. And it's a great coincidence that the first question discussed in this comics is 

Where do you see yourself in five years?

One of my favorites. Hopefully not answering such questions anymore? I ended the last post with talking about plans. This is pretty much a question asking about your plans. I'm not a planner, I'm more of a dreamer. Being either is fine, as far as I am concerned. But I just don't know, and cannot know, what the world is hiding from me and is going to reveal in the course of the next 5 years. So my answer would be... 

I don't have plans, I have dreams and values. I hope that in 5 years, I'll have a job I love, a job that will challenge me and a job that will give me the satisfaction of knowing that what I am doing is helping someone in need. 

Does it matter in what position? I can work for a great NGO as a field worker, I can work for a for-profit organization that does business in developing countries and helps to improve people's lives by creating jobs, I can have my own organization... Either is fine, as long as it feels right and as long as it leads to the ultimate goal - improving the lives of others, making other people happier. 

So - where do I see myself in 5 years? I see myself putting all my knowledge, experience, skills and enthusiasm into doing what I believe in, anywhere, anyhow. Is that not good enough? How is having a specific 5-year plan better when there are things you cannot influence (or at least not that much... like getting the job you're interviewing for...)?

And that's question number 1 from my perspective. I'd love to know what your thoughts on this are, so feel free to share!

The current state of affairs

It's been a while since I posted anything but I do have a few things to say now so I'll try to update you on my situation.

Where am I right now? I still live in Pittsburgh. I still live with my friend and pay rent in baked goods, the only change on this front is that we moved and now I have three roommates and a dog. Honestly, while I know that this isn't something to put on your resume, I cannot complain and I do know that this is one of the things that I'll one day be telling my kids and grandchildren about... How grandma lived for free in the USA when she was 27 because she had friends great enough to let her stay with them... And that's pretty cool, right?

What am I doing? Working part time, volunteering, looking for the "dream job" (if those exist; and yes, that means I still haven't found one), trying to enjoy my life every day (because in the end that's all that really matters - how do you help others to make their lives better when your own life sucks?).

What are my plans? Honestly, I don't know. I don't have plans as much as I have dreams. Maybe the fact that I have dreams instead of plans is the reason why I haven't given up yet. It's not easy, but nobody said it would be. My dream is to find a job in international development, a job in the sphere that focuses on improving lives of the "less fortunate" (depending on how you define being fortunate, of course)... It doesn't really matter what position it would be (although being in the field would be awesome, I'm not going to lie), as long as I feel constantly that it's worth it and that it's really improving someone's life.

As a matter of fact, talking about plans is a good transition to the post I actually wanted to write today - a post about job interviews and interview questions. So I'll stop right here and will continue soon.

Interview questions in pictures

This is how I feel sometimes...

I want to work with children

I know I haven't written anything in a long time here. There might be a new post coming soon. But I also think that everyone should watch this, if for nothing else, it'll give you one more reason why I want to work with children. They're the future. And if they get teachers like this one, we can feel better about the future.

Full of Life

Take the risk, and other advice

A couple of weeks ago, I had a chance to meet with a "senior human-rights activist", a person who has spent a significant amount of time working in DC, both for the government and NGOs, and in Africa trying to make things better. He came to my alma mater to give career advice to students. And while I appreciate that he did that, I don't think he really thought about what he was doing. (I also appreciate the work he is doing. He might be the best in his field. But...)

I never thought of myself as a risk-taker. I actually never really thought about what my attitude towards taking a risk is. I just always assumed that things are going to work and I never considered anything I've done really risky. Well, until now. I think I knew that coming back to the US might be a risky decision. I knew that in the back of my mind and that is why it was so hard for me to make this decision. But nothing else really seemed risky to me - going to South Africa, Ghana... I never thought there was something to be afraid of, or worried about. But then I met this guy and he tells me "You have to take the risk! You can't just go for the comfortable options! Otherwise you won't ever get the job you want!" 

So I heard this and I know that many people would agree with him and would think that his advice is brilliant. But I just got angry. "Who are you to judge me from your (comfortable) seat? You don't even know me and you just immediately assume that all I've done was sitting on my couch, doing whatever is comfortable?" That's basically what went through my mind. And then I thought about it... And maybe for the first time ever, I thought about risk-taking in my life. And yes - this is very relevant to my job search process.

First of all, I'm not American (as you know). Therefore, coming back to this country for me means taking a big risk. A huge one, actually. I came to a country that has a higher unemployment rate than my home country. I came here to find a job. I have basically no money and I didn't have a job secured before coming here. As you know, I still don't have a job. But I still did it and I still think that this can have only two possible endings - either a great happy ending, or I'll call my parents one day and will ask them to lend me money (yes, how about getting more into debt?) so that I can buy a ticket to go home. Right now I have a place to stay thanks to a great friend of mine, but I have no idea what's going to happen in a month and half. No idea... Is that risky enough for you? Because while people keep telling me that I'm in the same position as all the other people who are about to graduate, trust me, I'm not. They have parents in this country, most of them just a few hour drive away. I don't. And thus, for the first time in my life, I realized that I actually am a risk taker. I just tend to underestimate everything I do and thus I don't consider most of the things I do to be risky. (By the way - underestimating oneself isn't the best quality when it comes to job hunt. Trust me. :))

"That man's" advice has one more part (or sub-part of the previous one) - "just pack your stuff and go to Africa. Take a couple more thousands dollars in loans and go. It doesn't matter what you're going to be doing there, you can carry babies in an orphanage for a year; people will still consider that as on-ground experience."

Now, don't get me wrong. I do think that on-ground experience matters (but people from outside of the US don't have the Peace Corps to do it so "easily"), but if what he says is true than I don't feel like entering that field. All I've done so far I've done without any country's government's help (yes, referring to the Peace Corps), without any organization's help (now referring to voluntourism). I wanted to go, I found a way, I went. I don't think it's such a big deal. But at the same time, there are things I'm proud of. I'm proud of what I did in Ghana because I know it was hard. So if someone tells me that my two Masters degrees and my - albeit limited compared to many, of course - experience mean absolutely nothing, and that the thing that will save my career is doing nothing if I do that in a developing country, then I don't think that's the way I want to go. Would't that be waste of my time? Am I the only one who feels that way? I have skills and passion to actually do meaningful things. I know I have a lot to learn still, but who doesn't? It is impossible to reach any point of ultimate knowledge in this field anyways.

However, hearing this makes me, sometimes, wonder whether there's really nothing else for me. Whether I really have nothing to offer. But I don't want to give up.