Cool, you graduated, but your dream job is not there

It means that you are one of the 300,000 other lucky new graduates with minty fresh diploma looking for work on the job market. Add to that the number of the unemployed people and a few thousand of people looking to change their job and you have your competitors of the job search marathon. Some are holding out for that perfect job that you thought you would be doing after school. Yep those are the new grads like you.

Hate to break it to you but it’s simply not there.

Why?

1.     You don’t have experience for your dream job.

The job may physically be there but don’t let that fool you, for you it does not exist. You simply have no idea how much time it would take for you to practice to become proficient enough in that job to be considered competent.  You need to pick up some practical skill along the way to do well in that job with minimal training.

2.     Your dream job is way too popular

Face it, really nice jobs are usually in high demand. They have sought after titles, pay and benefits. So they have plenty of people to choose from. What makes you think they would choose you?

3.     You don’t know what it is

Your dream job is defined right now by your assumptions of what the job entails. You don’t know what you like yet because you don’t have the complete idea of what is done during the day. You don’t know if you like the industry and so on and so forth.

It’s not all spoiled milk and eggs however.                                          What do you have?

1.     flexibility to move for work

You just finished school, and presumably looking to move out, so you should be super mobile and be open to move anywhere for work. Do you know that it’s easier to get a job in provinces that have employment boom like Alberta, and Saskatchewan?

2.     clean slate and opportunity to find a job in any field

Most entry level jobs don’t require you to have prior experience within the industry which means you can choose any industry you think you like. And you can switch easily if you don’t like it. It’s not going to kill you.

3.     Tenacity

Roll up them sleeves, and put in work. It’s 4^th quarter mentality all day everyday.

How @safinr heard a podcast from #TBJ about #humanresources

This is my favourite podcast, and I think that these guys are the most entertaining reporters that cover NBA out there. It's a bonus that they are local and operate out of Toronto. Check out their latest podcast where they talk about job interviews. They got jokes and jokes and jokes.
 http://blogs.thescore.com/tbj/2011/10/06/the-blank-jones-job-interview/

@safinr trying to answer #Google #interviewquestions

I'm going to have to stop you right there, we know what you did last summer

I thought I'd test myself with these puzzles that became famous because Google used them in their interviews. I find them to be rather cruel and unusual punishment to have people try to answer these on the spot, but if it's suitable anywhere, it's suitable at the almighty El Goog.
I found these questions here: http://www.businessinsider.com/15-google-interview-questions-that-will-make-you-feel-stupid-2010-11#in-a-country-in-which-people-only-want-boys-3

In a country in which people only want boys…

…every family continues to have children until they have a boy. If they have a girl, they have another child. If they have a boy, they stop. What is the proportion of boys to girls in the country?
Job: Product Manager

Train of thoughts: So this is a probability question which seems hard at first, but once you start breaking it down it really crumbles quite nicely. First thing is crucial, the number of families = number of boys. Then you look at the probabilities, and you can draw up a little tree to make the answer come to you visually. There's 50 percent chance that the family will not have a boy and hence keep conceiving, then after that there's 50 percent chance that they will keep on conceiving and it's starts to look like a factor tree of an integer if you substitute probabilities with an actual or a sample number of families. You realize that the number of girls being born will always get reduced by half until it eventually reaches 0, when you add it up it will equal the number of boys.  
Answer: 1

How many piano tuners are there in the entire world?

Job: Product Manager

Train of thoughts: What classifies a piano tuner, it potentially could be anyone who owns the piano.
Answer: As many as there are pianos (C'mon Google this is just too easy)

How many times a day does a clock’s hands overlap?

Job: Product Manager

Train of thoughts: Let's assume that there are Hour, Minute and Seconds hands. They all overall only when Hour and Minute hands overlap, as Seconds hand is the fastest one. Minute hand overlaps with Hour only once an hour, which would make the total 24.
Answer: 24

Let's stop with 3 questions. I think I answered these questions pretty well, if you think that I have failed somewhere, you can contact me @safinr or troll away here. This product manager interview seems pretty easy, I am looking forward hearing from Google recruiters in the near future. :)