Eat Better America

Why is it that I get my periodic accountability emails from Eat Better America (the ones I signed up for at the beginning of the year to keep me accountable to my goal of eating healthier this year) right when I’m sitting in front of my computer eating the most unhealthy thing I’ve had in weeks??

Oh, and just for kicks and giggles, that interview we’ve been talking about the last couple of days…I SO GOT THAT JOB!

Worthy is our God of all praise and glory! Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support!

Now back to my lasagna…

Obama’s Acceptance Speech

I listened to Obama’s entire acceptance speech. I listened to no commentary before or after.

He is good. He is very smooth and polished. He even, at times, sounds like a conservative. He pushed for more personal responsibility from fathers. He asked for more accountability from schools and teachers. He promised lower taxes to the working class. He wants a balanced budget. These things are awesome.

I firmly believe that Barack Obama believes what he says. I believe that he does love this country.

But if you listened closely, what did you really hear? Barack thinks that every American deserves a top-notch education. He believes that every person deserves top-quality health care. He believes that it will be his job to make sure that companies provide more time off to workers and that they are penalized for shipping jobs overseas.

Oh, and he’ll pay for it all by taxing the best and brightest in America.

Doesn’t that sound more like Robin Hood? Tax the rich and disperse the money through government programs to everyone. That’s standard liberal thinking. It penalizes those that succeed. If we tax the high performers in this country, we severely limit the growth of the very people Obama wants to help. Companies should never be penalized for having huge profits–as that is what drives growth in our economy.

Many Christians are even starting to support Obama, as they see the Democratic party as the ones that will actually help hurting people. But we have to change the way we define help in this country. Help does not mean money or insurance or programs. And help certainly doesn’t mean that you deserve anything. The conservatives–and not necessarily John McCain–understand this.

If we remove the restraints of taxes and government, the American people will have more money and time to help those that are hurting. You see, it’s not the government’s job to help people, it’s ours. And it’s the government’s job to make that as easy as possible for us to do.

That’s what personal responsibility truly is. Obama’s definition is only about 80% truth, which makes it a bold-faced lie. It’s evil and it’s wrong.

Obama, your plan will not succeed. Your type of change is not welcome here.

A Tough Interview Question

When interviewing, it is imperatve that you understand why a particular question is being asked.

For example, the most popular interview question around is “Tell me a little about yourself.” The smart interviewee knows that this isn’t a time to talk about enjoying long walks on the beach or a 3 minute description of why you liked elementary school. Rather,it is a time to give a brief and powerful summary of who you are as it relates to the position you are applying for.

Other interview questions are much easier. If you are asked, “What excites you about working in this field?” they really mean, “What excites you about working in this field?” Hopefully you would have a good answer for that one.

Yesterday, Hallie got asked a very tough question. “Tell us why we should NOT hire you?”

What could they mean by that? Here are some thoughts:

• Can you tell us a way in which you may struggle if you get this position?
• Are you stupid enough to tell us that you aren’t qualified for this position?
• Or, a twist on the classic, “What is your greatest weakness?”question.
• Does any part of the job description scare you?

All of these are things that I could perceive people thinking when they are asked this question. And they would all be dead wrong.

Hallie correctly identified the true meaning of the question and it just may have clinched her the position. Here is the real question being asked:

“We have evaluated your resume and we believe we understand your qualifications. But do you really want this job? Will you be passionate about working here? Is this just another job for you? Please, give us a compelling reason to want you.”

In the next 60 seconds, you can either deliver a passionate, heartfelt message about why you would love to work for this particular company.

Or, you can choose to talk about how you believe you are well qualified (again) and how your weaknesses will not be a problem in the position. Good luck with that.

Congratulations to Hallie for picking up on this in real time!

Question of the Day

Tonight one of us will be preparing for an interview. Since Michael loves his job, I’ll leave it up to you to guess which one of us it is. There has already been a phone interview which consisted of 40 minutes of straight questions. There were the usual questions like, “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” and “What’s your ideal job look like?” But there were also some really tough questions like, “What’s been your most recent spiritual attack?”

That was the phone interview. Now we face the face-to-face interview (no pun intended) with four people: the supervisor of the department, the head of HR, an HR specialist, and a wild card employee. Slightly intimidating. I’m out-of-my-mind-nervous.

There is some debate in the Finney household about whether or not preparing and rehearsing helps or hinders someone in a interview. However, I find that rehearsing a little bit gets me in the language and mood of an interview, which in turn calms me down, allows me to think more clearly, and produces a better interview. And I really hate the curve ball questions since I don’t think very well on my feet. So the question of the day is:

What are some really tough interview questions that you’ve heard of or been asked yourself?

Thanks in advance for your help. Getting this job will be a team effort!

GO TEAM!

In the meantime, enjoy these funnies: