That’s what I think. What about you? The Color of Money Question of the Week: Are we pushing college on people – who could wind up stuck with decades of debt -- because we think it’s the only answer to the high life? Send your responses to colorofmoney@washpost.com. Be sure to include your full name, city and state. Put “Are You a Snob?” in the subject line.
Extreme Job Interviewing
There were extreme home makeover shows and extreme weight loss programs, and now companies are putting job applicants through extreme job interviewing.
“No longer satisfied with sorting through résumés and screening applicants the traditional way, some companies are using offbeat interview techniques to test the mettle of job seekers,” reports Tiffany Hsu in the Los Angeles Times.
For example, one company asked candidates for its internship program to apply via a series of 13 Twitter messages, which are limited to 140 characters per tweet.
As Hsu points out, with millions of people looking for work, employers have a lot of applicants to consider. “That gives the screening process heightened importance — firms have loads of qualified people to choose from, but a bad hire could hang around for years. Two candidates who look identical on paper and handle traditional interviews well may perform quite differently when pushed out of their comfort zone with extreme interviewing tactics.”
I’ve got another question for you. Have you experienced extreme interviewing techniques recently? Send your responses to colorofmoney@washpost.com. Be sure to include your full name, city and state. Put “Extreme Job Interviewing” in the subject line.
He Said, “I Don’t” to a Bridezilla
In a recent online chat, Slate.com advice columnist Emily Yoffe responded to a reader who wanted to end his engagement. They guy said his fiancée had become an over-the-top diva or, in his words, “selfish, temperamental and materialistic,” since they had begun planning their wedding.
He wrote: “My fiancée has turned into another woman. She expects her parents, who are approaching retirement, to bankroll most of the wedding, and she continually demands items that are beyond their means. She becomes very angry with me when we disagree on major decisions (like location, menu, the band) because this is her special day and she has been planning her dream wedding since childhood. She never behaved like this before our engagement, and a number of people have assured me it’s the pressure of planning the wedding that’s making her act this way. I don’t think there’s any excuse for her behavior and have decided to break our engagement.”
Yoffe’s response: “We so rarely hear what the groom ends up thinking when he watches his betrothed turn into a termagant. I love the excuses that get offered for this behavior. If the pressure of planning a party destroys one’s equanimity and perspective, real life is going to be completely disabling.”
Yoffe told the guy that he should put off the wedding planning and get some counseling. “If she simply freaks out, then the kindest thing to say is the simplest: ‘Courtney, I love you, but I don’t love what’s happening between us. We need to stop wedding planning, because the wedding is off.’”
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