How should I have been hired? (Part One)

As a kid, I never received much praised from my parents. This wasn’t part of their upbringing and their rather tough Alpine mountain culture. That kind of notice would have to come from my elementary school teacher who spotted my potential as a kid, give me an opportunity to shine and sent me on my way to success.

All this to underscore that when I talked about my favorite boss a few days ago, I should have mentioned one of the few regrets I got from my professional life and the fact that I sold myself, instead of having my prospective employers sold me about working with them and showing me (or not) how they would mentor me and participate to my personal growth while extracting huge benefits in the process. 

That’s right, I’m lamenting about the fact that I gave a lot, was compensated monetarily, but didn’t receive much in terms of professional education and I suspect that I’m far from being the only one in that situation. It’s true too that in most of my job searches I was so eager and desperate to get the position 

I wanted that I would have been afraid to have my employer laugh at me and, in the process, tell me to take a hike in being too demanding and difficult. I was simply not self-confident enough to dare ask for free mentoring. While this makes so much sense today, was this unrealistic to ask 50, 40 or 30 years ago? 

We’ll try to find an answer to that question tomorrow…