Month: June 2011

Revealing Your Whole Self During an Interview? Good Idea.

Haig Chahinian

One of our most favorite Career Talk Live episodes starred Gen, a television producer. As is typical on our talk show, we discussed the highlights and lowlights of her career trajectory.

We were startled for a moment when she recounted an interview she had in Hong Kong, where she began her career.  She was interviewing for a junior video producer position at a prominent TV studio.

“Do you like to watch television?” she was asked.

Off the cuff she answered, “no.”

And she got the job.

Turns out her interviewers didn’t like to watch television either. Although they liked to produce it, so they saw her as one of their own.

It goes to show you: divulging your true thoughts and feelings — during an interview, especially — helps your colleagues see you for who you truly are.

Which helps them relate to you, as the people they truly are. Resulting in stronger interpersonal connections, which often lead to job offers.

When have you been candid on a job interview? What happened?

Newest Crop of Champions to Come Out at Work [video]

Haig Chahinian

There’s been a rash of prominent professionals declaring their gayness recently. Remarkably, in their respective industries few have come (out) before them, probably because these fields lean toward the macho. Take a look at the rundown:

  1. Don Lemon, CNN reporter and news anchor
  2. Jared Max, ESPN New York 1050 sports radio host
  3. Georgia State Representative Rashad Taylor (D-Atlanta), and
  4. Rick Welts, president and chief executive of the Phoenix Suns — it’s a basketball team.

We’re totally touched by the sentiments these fellows expressed about the process of revealing their true selves on the job. Consider:

Don Lemon, in an interview with the Washington Blade, said “I just feel like a new person,” and

[In coming out now,] at first there was a perceived risk. That, you know, my livelihood would be taken away, that people would shun me, that people would ostracize me, that people would turn off the television and not watch me. Sometimes the fear of the unknown is worse than actually knowing, right? Now that I’ve come out, and I’m on this side, then now I’m living in that risk and that fear. Maybe there are people that won’t watch me. Meh! I’ll have to deal with it. Maybe there are people who are going to write bad, dirty things about me. Meh! I’ll have to deal with it. Before I was dealing with the possibility, which isn’t real. So now I’m living it. So now I’m walking, and taking those steps, and every single day, if it does indeed happen, then I’ll just have to deal with it. And I’ll have to discuss it. If it doesn’t happen? Then all of that fear was for naught. So the actual fear was losing my livelihood. Who knows? That could still happen. But you know what? I don’t think so. I tend to believe in the goodness of people.

Next, Jared Max put new meaning in “Maxed Out in the Morning”, his ESPN radio show, by declaring live on air “I’ve hidden behind what is a gargantuan-size secret here in the sports world. I am gay,” and then Read more →

Climate Change Will Change Your Workplace

Haig Chahinian

In the last week, heavy rain caused rivers in Vermont to flood, and three cities needed to evacuate. A strong tornado leveled large swaths of Joplin, Missouri, killing 132 people.  The Earth’s climate is changing and we’re all being impacted, including our places of work. So how do we respond?

For an answer, we look to Bangladesh, whose citizens are featured in the May 2011 issue of National Geographic as they continue to persevere in a drastically changing landscape.

Numbering 164 million, Bangladeshis inhabit a country roughly the size of Louisiana, where in the decades ahead rising sea levels are expected to displace several million coastal dwellers — just as Miami, New York and other coastal cities may experience. From the National Georgraphic piece:

The one commodity that Bangladesh has in profusion: human resilience. Before this century is over, the world, rather than pitying Bangladesh, may wind up learning from her example.

Concrete examples of Bangladeshis adapting to the shifting world include:

  • Developing more salt-resistant strains of rice, and building dikes to keep low-lying farms from being flooded with seawater
  • Building housing in sections that can be dismantled, moved and reassembled in a matter of a few hours
  • Raising shrimps in ponds and growing vegetables on the embankments around them, because rivers are saltier than before, and water from the ground is too salty to grow rice.

If everybody emulates the resourcefulness demonstrated by Bangladeshis in these circumstances, we’ll likely weather the ravages of climate change less painfully.

What does it take to be more resourceful? Read more →