'Natan' was my name in high school Spanish class. Apparently the letter 'h' gets lost in translation; perhaps because 'j' claimed the sound first, kind of like Tom Cruise in the movie 'Far and Away' where he waits obscenely long before planting his stake in the ground, and then yells in dramatic, Cruiseian fashion "This Land is Mine!". That's what I tjink jappened to "h".
I've enjoyed writing a bit over the last few weeks. I was out of practice. I've also realized in the same time how far out of touch I've fallen with many of my friends. I could blame school, but I make the time I make, and reaching out to a friend is not time-intensive. While I bet most are guilty of this to some extent, my fault is my own, and I'll try to do better.
School is moving along, careening towards closure. I have so much to do in the next 15 or so weeks, and top on that list is - no surprise here - find a job! I'm covering a lot of ground on this front, and I feel like something will land, but I'm not letting up until I receive a written offer. The University has a great network of employers, and I'm doing all I can to leverage those connections. As much as I would love to detail what those are, I expect that any employer intent on evaluating me will find this website, and far be it from me to say too much too soon. Actually, I've just now received a speck of inspiration. My next post, due out soon, will be an open letter to investigatory employers. If they want to sift through my virtual life, I am happy to meet them there and show them around.
The one snippet of specifics I will offer is that I was recently offered an internship role in China. That's right, China. Feels wierd saying it.
...China...
Anyway, a company in ...China... is looking to take their services to market in the US, and my role, as I understand it, is to help consult them through that process. As you may have guessed, this leads me to a significant philosophical contrast in how people respond to me when I tell them about ...well, you know...
The parties fall in two camps. Both congratulate me, and then pick a side.
Side 1: Congratulations! This will be a great experience for you.
Side 2: Congratulations! This will look great on your resume.
You'll never guess to which side I assign value. Resumes are a necessary evil in the modern recruiting environment. They are necessary because recruiters don't have time to do much else in front-end evaluations. They are evil because anyone can write any combination of words on a page that make them look like Christ incarnate. I liken resumes to a modeling agency issuing an open call for candidates to take a head shot, photoshop it without mercy, and they then pick the prettiest 20 faces, or 10, or 5. What a mess. I feel a lot of sympathy for recruiters.
I value experience not because it makes me look good on paper, but because I have a better perspective with which to make difficult decisions. I look forward to this internship because it will challenge me to think and perceive challenges from a non-American standpoint, and because I get to meet new people, develop relationships with those people, and help them out. I will gain new friends I would otherwise never meet.
I look forward to those relationships not for what I will gain from them, but for the enjoyment of community and a common purpose. I've tried to take that attitude into my MBA program as well, and I've developed some friendships I expect will carry forward a very long time. Perhaps business opportunities will come out of some such connections, but I subscribe to the view that people want to be loved unconditional of what they are prospectively worth. This is not a groundbreaking idea, but with many, love separate from perceived worth runs thick in praise and thin in practice.
Beyond these thoughts, a year in grad school has given me a year to reflect and mature in many of my perspectives. I am very excited about what lays ahead, and soon enough I'll be on my way.
But not too soon, of course.
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