Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright

I was driving home this morning listening to the local sports radio show and the talk was of course all about the upcoming Tiger Woods press conference. We are waiting, patiently, to see Tiger fall upon the alter of public opinion and be whipped like Henry II in the movie Becket. It is what we want and it is what we the public really believe that we deserve. As Tiger spin-doctors we can watch and look at him down our collective very moral noses and whisper “Tsk, Tsk”. How can we here in America do this when we very well know that it is our society that created the environment that was o.k. with this behavior as long as we did not know about it?  The fact, not the truth because truth is a belief backed up by only part of the facts, but the fact is that part of the American Dream is the ability to vilify someone for doing something we have also done or wish also could do.

That is alright with us. Being a hypocrite is an American right; I am surprised it has not been added as an Amendment to the Constitution it is so ingrained in us. Look at many of our American heroes: John Wayne cheated on several wives, President Kennedy and President Clinton had notable trysts. That is the society that we live in. It makes me wonder how many other golfers and how many of the journalists condemning or commenting on Tiger could be accused of the same thing. Very often we condemn most harshly those who commit the sames sins that we do. Of course that is the problem here: we still consider as a society what Tiger did was wrong. Well as a society, fact it, it wasn’t. The sin was in showing publicly what kind of people we are privately.

Now, as an individual I have no problem if you believe that Tiger was wrong and acted terribly in embaressing his wife, himself, and his sport. If your religious beliefs hold adultery as a sin or if you just believe in your own morality that his behavior was wrong, then good for you! Stick to your guns and show your children / people around you that you are a credit to your belief system. Do not forget however, that most religions believe in forgiveness and compassion as well.

As a society however, we need to realize that no matter what our personal beliefs, that morality is not synonymous with legality or even with good citizenship.  Plenty of compassionate and hard working good citizens are philanderers, addicted to sex, and have different sexual morals than the primary religions would suggest are appropriate.  We choose our leaders because we perceive them to be good leaders, not good people. We HOPE that they are good people but when your life is on the line do ou prefer the hard drinking hard fighting womanizer or the pleasant but mediocre general?  I know what my choice would be; your mileage may very.

So when Tiger kneels before us today keep in mind that what he is apologizing for is for being Human in an age of moral transition that is alright with imperfect heroes as long as no one knows about their imperfections.

Advice from Someone who has a Job… No not me

Here is a link everyone looking for work should read. Advice from The Career Builder Blog.

The blogger, Rachel Zupek, talks about how impersonal those old fashioned greetings can be. Shame on you job seeker for not simply calling the company and doing a little research. This is why you have no job and someone like Rachel does. Well to be fair she has made the most of her skills and judging her on one tired and trite blog would be simply unfair and unprofessional. You see, Ms. Zupek (or should I use another term? Is Mz or Ms outdated and old fashioned and showing a lack of research on my part?) is simply part of the Machine. Getting hired in today’s world is really similar to taking a standardized test. In my day it was the SAT but they have a great many acronyms now.  It is all about the process and feeding the machine. It always has been and it always will be.

Note: of course there are exceptions to the above, nothing is an absolute.

For as long as people have been seeking jobs, those who have jobs have been telling the seekers about the secrets to getting hired. It is a game and many people do not realize it. Like any meaningful relationship outside of friendship, getting hired is game of courtship and one might say seduction. The target holds out hoops and waits to see which one of the suitors can make it through the most before falling. It is a beauty contest where the most deserving often does not get hired. Make no mistake, one should take Rachel Zupek’s advice seriously. You are in this beauty pageant and at stake is some security at the very least and quite possible fulfilling your dreams and goals.  Companies think they hold all the cards and in many ways they do. Those of us who are unemployed or underemployed do not have the moral fortitude as a group to say “Well until companies as a whole start treating us a skilled resource instead of unwashed masses, we are withholding our skills from the workforce”.  Companies already hire subs-par workers because they can pay them less and fire them at will. So if we refuse to work, we will just be poor, socially unacceptable, and tragic figures holding out our hands for scraps while physically, professionally, or politically beautiful earn a paycheck every week.

Now, as far as the article itself, I wanted to make a few rebuttal points to Ms. Zupek’s blog.

1. How am I supposed to know who to address when you are going through a third party hiring company more interested in furthering my education than reviewing my resume for it’s content? The article suggests that the job seeker needs to show effort, but what about the employer? If you have an HR department are you not already paying someone to hire me? Why are you paying Career Builder and say American Career Group to do the preliminary work for you? Kudos to both companies because they have sold you on an unnecessary service (less so in the case of Career Builder but a company could probably get the same results with less output). Now why would I want to work for you if I see that you spend your money so unwisely?
2. How am I supposed to know who to address when the people I am calling do not even know you are hiring? Have you ever called even a mid-sized company and their answer person has no idea what you are talking about or worse, makes a guess? Even better have you been told the following: “Everything you need to know is in the advertisement.”?  I have and on more than one occasion. If you want me to work for you, perhaps your left hand should know what your right hand is doing?
3. Is the person who posted the ad and has his or her email as the email of contact really the person I need to address my cover letter to? This another common issue. Often it is just a company email but the person actually reading your cover letter is someone completely different. In an environment looking a reason to reject a resume, is havign the wrong name more or less likely to send my resume to the circular file than using “To Whom it May Concern”?

As a skilled worker in a supposedly Capitalist market, you need to make the companies do the seduction. Make them come after you and I think you will find (as will they when you show them they made the right hiring decision) that you can have your dignity as well as a well-paying career.