Recently a young lady asked me to help her in writing her CV. Having been out of work for a couple of years after a degree in accounting from some private college or university she was about to land some job after looking for all those times. Of course it wasn’t much of a job and the pay is chickenfeed as she was nice enough to tell me. But the young lady coming for the humblest of families she has to grab at almost anything that comes her way. After all, these days something, anything is better than nothing.
Now she had already typed her CV the way she deemed was the right way to do it. Of course, her command of the English language leaves much, very much to be desired. This being a very crowded boat there is nothing to be sore about though as there is so much going in this world and to keep pace one needs to work on one’s “How do you do?” “I’m very well, thank you!” thing. It actually scares you when those of us supposedly to have been in better place seem to be losing the train at all the stations. Sad, real sad!
The young girl’s CV was four and a half pages long typed in single space. Reading it I couldn’t help being torn between two things; one is the innocence of the girl who wrote the things she thought might interest her would-be employers. Second is a recent official report which said forty something percent of college graduates are out of work; this girl was one of them.
So back to her CV and she had put the academic and other basic requirements of most CVs. Then, this being innocence at its best, she had written the types of foods she likes and hates. I didn’t want to run into conclusions and went on reading. Oh, she also says she is one of the best cooks. Not the CV is not for any restaurant, hotel or anything like that. It is for a rather insignificant sort of office and she’d be working in finance section if they take her in. She also wrote about what she says were her hobbies and, catch your breath that she’d one day want to go around the world. Three cheers for her! I mean you can call this lady a hundred and one things, but one thing I can tell you she isn’t is stupid! No way.
Time to talk to her; I told her that her CV appears a little too long and then asked her why she included the part about the foods she likes and hates. She says there’s this relative of hers who she thinks knows about such things and he told her to put that info into her CV.
“Why did he tell you that?”
“He said the food people eat describes the character of the person.” And by this ‘calculation’ the inclusion of the food list doesn’t have anything to do with culinary issues. Forget the calories and proteins. It was about her character! I’m not sure I have read any significant literature about the food one eats the reflection of their character. Maybe it is. Maybe your choice of food might land you the best high paying job. But then for the young lady to have taken the information at heart and write almost a full page in her CV is a little too much.
This guy whoever he was also told her to put things she didn’t know about as her passions. Her reading habits according to her were “Excellent.” One thing I liked about her was that she admitted she wasn’t much of a reader when it comes to books. That’s the toned down form of saying something like “I hate reading books!” Well, that might be an innocent sin which wouldn’t take that much to be passed over. (A year or so back I’ve heard of this person who was applying for a position in an international organization or something like that. Among his ‘hobbies’ was that he was an avid fan of golf and he “always watches golf games.” He had absolutely no idea of the sport! He included the part at the advice of some guy who claims to know about anything and everything there’s to know about such things. I can tell you currently we’ve more than our share of that breed. I think that could be one sector we can think of about ‘outsourcing’. I’m not joking; with all the things you hear these days from all over the place nothing, and I’m saying that loudly, NOTHING is out of bounds. The fact he doesn’t know one hell of a thing about this sport they call golf. Ask me about golf and I can tell you Trump had some golf courses and that the fellow they call Tiger Woods is still crazy rich even after that divorce settlement which washed quite a large chunk of his wealth. By the way the ‘golf fan’ never got the call he expected.
As to the young lady we cut her CV to a little more than a page and a half and once she submitted it she learned she has been picked out for an interview. About this choice of food giving away your personality I can tell you this. Only one thing decides the types of foods I consume and it is not my behavior; it is my wallet! When my wallet deflates so does my mid-section! When my wallet gains some’ flesh’ so does my…well, just a minute; the jury is still out on that!
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 25 DECEMBER 2022