出身名校,成绩优秀,不代表求职就会很容易。“高分低能”是个什么后果,通过考试,获得文凭,意味着什么?英文作者:Lucy Kellaway
THE PROBLEM 问题My daughter is an Oxford graduate with a business degree and is bilingual in French. She works in marketing for a small company but is looking for something better. She has applied for 20 jobs and has had many interviews but keeps getting rejected. She has asked why and was told by an internet search engine that they were "not obliged to give feedback". A PR company said she was "very bright" but not "truly committed to a career in PR". Is there any point in asking for reasons? And what can be done to get her a job?
我女儿是牛津毕业的,有一个商学学位,而且通晓英语和法语。她目前在一家小公司做市场营销,但正在找更好的工作。她申请了20个职位,面试了很多次,但通通被拒。她曾问过原因。一家互联网搜索引擎公司告诉她,它们"没有义务提供反馈"。一家公关公司表示,她"非常聪明",但不会"真正专心从事公关业"。询问原因有用吗?她怎么才能找到一份工作呢?
THE ANSWER 回答No, there is no point in asking for feedback. Most interviewers can't or won't explain their decisions, and why should they? They are not running a careers advice service and giving reasons simply invites future lawsuits.
没错,寻求反馈是没有用的。大多数面试官无法或不愿解释他们的决定,而且他们也没有义务解释。他们不是职业咨询服务机构,讲出原因只会在日后招致官司缠身。
In any case, your daughter has already found out what she needs to know. She didn't get the job because she failed to act as if she was gagging for a career in PR. The reason, no doubt, is that she wasn't gagging for such a career. She is a clever girl and doesn't know if she will like PR for the good reason that she hasn't tried it.
无论如何,你女儿已经知道了自己需要知道的信息。她没得到这份工作,因为她没有表现出自己很想从事公关事业的样子。毫无疑问,原因就在于她确实也没有很想从事这样的事业。她是一个聪明姑娘,不知道自己是否会喜欢公关工作,原因就是她没尝试过。
Such ambivalence may be sensible, but getting a job doesn't involve sense. It involves looking about 1,000 times keener than you actually are. Before her next interview she should find out as much as she can about the job and the company. This will put her far ahead of most candidates - who can't even be bothered to check the website.
这种矛盾心理也许是理性的,但找工作跟理性没什么关系,而是要让你看上去比实际上的心情热切1000倍。在她下次接受面试之前,她应该尽可能地查找关于这个职位和这个公司的信息。这会使她远远领先于大多数应聘者--那些人甚至懒得上网查找信息。