smoke and mirrors

I got into work a bit early this morning and the hallways are still very quiet. I can hear the fellow two doors down from me interviewing a young female, who is probably about to be a college grad, for a position at the agency. He just asked her to talk about any trends that she might have recently noticed, no doubt in an attempt to identify whether she is a person who is outer-aware and curious. This came after he asked her to name some ads that she liked and disliked. I heard her ask whether she could get back to him on that.

Fair or not, that last request may hurt this girl's prospects; she is looking to work in advertising afterall. But, I feel for the girl. Interviewing blows, and hearing a live one brought me back to that scene in “Reality Bites”, in which Winona Ryder fails to land a job at that newspaper because she can’t define “irony” on the spot. At least Winona was asked for a tangible definition. The advertising industry lends itself extremely well to personal bias and subjectivity. If you don’t learn to run with your gut from the get-go you’ll kill yourself perpetually wondering whether you answered the hypothetical question “right”.