Learn from others mistakes

We had a candidate come in for interview this afternoon. With a few red flags already on her resume, she arrived 52 minutes late.

During the half hour task, she was very quiet and did not ask any question. This deemed to be another red flag because it was exactly her chance to make an impression by showing her thinking, her approach to problems, her interest in the position, and being engaging with us. As she started to speak, her voice sounded neither confident nor assertive.

Incidentally, Monte Carlo simulation was mentioned on her resume. The manager had no idea at all what that is so he asked. Her answer, not surprisingly, was very tedious, unclear, and technical, using terms like Brownian motion. But how would you expect those laymen to understand Brownian motion? Even more so if that’s not something they normally deal with, they wouldn’t be interested in either. Instead, a straightforward, simple but attractive answer would be much better.

Interview really isn’t about how good you are. Now I feel strongly that everything is personal branding.

So good they can’t ignore you 12/3

Today I have finished reading this book. The gist of it: focusing on what we are good at is more satisfying in the long run than doing what we love. In other words, the author persuades us to love what we do and become the best. I learned a new vocabulary “career capital”, which refers to rare and valuable skills that we can exchange for greater freedom later on. It is presumably the most appealing and useful part of the book.

Career capital can be obtained through only deliberate practice. To achieve deliberate practice, we must have great focus and build up enough momentum to push us forward. We must stretch our capabilities under the guidance of an expert and seek for immediate feedback. Once enough career capital is developed, we would have more control and greater freedom at work. This way, happiness will easily come by (Refer to Kobe as the perfect example here).

Although only the first half of the book is compelling enough, and many of the ideas in the book are kind of common sense, it gives me a clear direction by pointing out advices systematically. Getting better and better at what we do, and become so good they cannot ignore you.

Quotes of the day

How do I keep high efficiency:

“Your time is $1000/hour, and you need to act accordingly.”

“Set up a work routine and stick to it. Your body will adapt.”

“Work iteratively. Expectations to do things perfectly are stifling.”

“Only ever work on the thing that will have the biggest impact.”

“Break tasks into hour increments. Long tasks are hard to get into, feels like it all needs to get down.”

“Set deadlines for everything. Don’t let tasks go on indefinitely.”

“Set end dates for intense or stressful activities. Everything ends at some point.”

“Always take notes.”

“Write down anything that distracts you – google searches, random thoughts, new ideas, whatever. The point is, if you write them down, they will stop bubbling up when you’re in the zone.”

—Mark Zuckerberg