Paul from Paris

Did you see Farhad Manjoo’s article in Slate, reporting on the decline of the desktop computer compared to the laptop?

Sales of desktops and portables are roughly even today, but laptops are ascendant; by 2015, desktops may decline to only a small minority of total computer sales.

Of course, how a computer looks is secondary to what it can do and how it is used. The desktop-to-laptop ratio recalls the rotary-to-pushbutton phone ratio.

But there’s more to the story. What I took from Manjoo’s piece was confirmation that a laptop is becoming standard issue: something that almost everyone has, as a matter of course.

As a candidate, I interview poorly. This I’ll freely concede. But after having conducted many interviews, in academia and in business, I’ve developed a sense of what makes a good impression, and what doesn’t. Here are nine points that I would like candidates to keep in mind:

1. Present yourself in the best possible light with information and data: explain, don’t assert.
2. Lead with your strengths, not your weaknesses. Lead with recent accomplishments, not history from long ago.
3. An interviewer is more interested in what you have done than where you have worked or gone to school. These facts can make a good impression on your CV, not in an interview. Apart from your excellent school and excellent employer, what excellent things have you done?
4. Being in the top of your class is a reason not to reject you (to say no); it’s not really a reason to admit you or to offer you a job (to say yes).
5. Be generous with information on study abroad. I want to know: where? for how long? as an auditor or observer? in a program for foreigners? in a degree program? There is not a right answer, but an interview gives you an opportunity to provide much more detailed information than your CV.
6. If a job was routine, describe how it mattered to you. What did you learn?
7. If you say, “I want to do X”, don’t follow up with, “but I’d accept to do Y”. This undercuts your motivation for X. You can either focus on one thing, or try out several things. Avoid sending mixed signals.
8. “I don’t know” is an acceptable answer.
9. Why mention interests on a CV or in an interview? The rationale seems to be a bias in favored of well-rounded people. Being truly well-rounded means that you are good at a few things. Maybe you aren’t; it should be OK to say, “I like math, and I’m really good at it” (as demonstrated by papers and prizes and accomplishments) without also having to justify athletic prowess or humanitarian zeal. If you list interests on your CV, they should be current (a swimming medal won at age 10 probably should not influence a hiring decision) and demonstrate personal investment and implication.

Après avoir participé pendant des années aux jurys d’admission et de recrutement, voici quatre conseils à l’attention de mes étudiants :

1. Ne pas devenir un candidat professionnel ; le CV est un moyen, pas une fin. Tout CV peut être analysé, décortiqué, critiqué, perfectionné. Son objet est de présenter le candidat de manière succincte et de donner envie à son lecteur de l’interviewer (voire de lui faire une proposition). Le CV est un outil de sélection, de qualification. Chercher la perfection à travers un CV est un leurre et une perte de temps.
2. Au lieu de présenter beaucoup d’informations, privilégier plutôt la bonne présentation de quelques informations. L’entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki préconise une règle 1/2/3 : une page, deux points clés (dont le lecteur devrait se souvenir pour se rappeler de vous), trois parties. Trop d’information tue l’information.
3. L’ordre chronologique inverse. Ce que vous faîtes maintenant est autrement plus déterminant que votre situation d’il y a cinq ans.
4. Ne fabulez pas, n’inventez pas. Vous vous sentez obligé d’inventer ou d’exagérer afin de vous aligner sur d’hypothétiques attentes ? Vous ne vous sentez pas à la hauteur du recruteur tel que vous êtes ? Pourquoi ? Si vous méritez d’être sélectionné (c’est-à-dire, invité pour passer un entretien), pourquoi mettre en péril votre crédibilité ? Si vous pensez ne pas être à la hauteur, pourquoi postuler ? En cas d’une sélection chanceuse, qu’est-ce qui vous permet d’espérer une réussite future ? Si vous estimez souffrir de lacunes, comment pensez-vous les combler ? Comment une lettre d’admission ou un offre d’emploi peut-elle vous apporter des qualités que vous estimez manquer ?

Ad seen in the Paris metro, line 3, Villiers stop

The advertisement’s tagline reads, “Wake up your career by posting your résumé on careerbuilder.fr”.

That’s mundane.

What surprised me is that the ad also promotes Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, a movie coming out this year that’s a sequel to Wall Street, from 1987.

Careerbuilder.fr is running a contest whose winner will enjoy a trip to New York.

The Wall Street pictures, both directed by Oliver Stone, view players in the financial services industry critically: they’re the other side, the bad guys. The judgment of those who choose Wall Street careers is shown, in the movies, as misguided or villainous or nihilistic. The characters in the movies don’t have careers that you’d want to emulate.

Don’t the people at careerbuilder.fr know this? What were they thinking when they approved this campaign?

The World Health Organization just condemned binge drinking. Of course, binge drinking –consuming a lot of alcohol in a little time in order to induce drunkenness– has been around for a while. And, of course, WHO adopted a non-binding resolution, so as not to force its members’ hands.

In France, binge drinking has been an oft-cited reason to ban so-called apéros Facebook, informal gatherings in public parks that are announced through social media, such as Facebook pages.

French authorities have no problem with apéros. In fact, the French state pays people abroad to host and hold French-themed cocktail hours. France is full of cafés and bars. In fact, there are citizen groups that petition to “save” cafés from closure (in the sense of going out of business). There are plenty of places in France to buy or to have a drink.

French authorities likewise seem unconcerned by drinking in public, or even public drunkenness.

What seems to generate concern are: young people, especially in groups.

I like to think of myself as young or youthful, but the French authorities certainly aren’t talking about me. They’re talking about teenagers and students. I teach, so I have regular contact with hundreds of people in this age bracket. Admittedly, I don’t teach rabble-rousers. But those whom I get to know seem responsible enough to choose, themselves, whether and how much to drink.

This having been said, I’m prepared to hide my libertarian stripes and concede dangers to public health and safety presented by drinking, especially bridge drinking.

But I would like to know more about changing patterns in alcohol consumption in France: data seem to show a fall in the number of those who drink regularly in smaller quantities (a glass of wine every evening with dinner); and a rise in the number of those who drink episodically in large quantities (binge drinkers who consume cocktails made of vodka and Red Bull).

And I would like to hear more from binge drinkers, especially about their motivations: what is it, precisely, that they find so seductive about drunkenness?