News - the way it used to be

Following today’s noon news on TV, which was perhaps a minute or two shorter than usual, and which I had turned on while preparing lunch, there was a “news interview” by one of the station’s on-air talents of a local car dealership owner. Unless one paid close attention or knew “how these things work”, it was indistinguishable from the “news” that had preceded it – a murder, a boating accident, the imminent minimum wage increase, the 40th anniversary of the lunar landing – but the interview actually was a disguised advertisement. The car dealership owner advertises heavily on TV, in spots that are readily recognized as ads, and I guess he was “owed one” . . . .

Then I sat down with my lunch, opened this morning’s paper (The Financial Times) and read Walter Cronkite’s obituary.

Wow! Just as the differences between planet earth and the moon are amazing, without comparables, so is the difference between the news of 40 years ago and today’s news.

My first memory of Walter Cronkite’s broadcast genius was the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, then the 1969 lunar landing and all throughout, his coverage of the Vietnam war – as horrendously ill-considered then as the Iraq war of more recent vintage.

Television newscasts certainly have changed in the past half-century, and not for the better.

And that’s the way it is, July 20, 2009.

A Very Interesting Job Applicant Screening Procedure

I read this on "The Personal Branding Blog" and thought it was a procedure that makes sense for the hiring company on two fronts: it saves time and it exhibits each candidate's clear and concise writing ability. Smart!

The company. . . . listed the top five qualifications for the job and wanted you to write a short paragraph explaining how you uniquely met each of the five qualifications. The catch -- you had a small box to list all the qualifications and how you met each of them in just a few thousand characters (not words).

In the meantime, I just had an e-mail from someone I've known for 3+ years now, employed in positions of increasing responsibility by a global company; her name is on the list of new lay-offs, just announced. My son Alex, laid off about 5 weeks ago, has been getting at least one interview a week, but the only job offers are part-time, with hourly pay, and do not require the college degree he has. He has decided to take one, because it's better, he believes, than being on unemployment, while he keeps looking for something more suitable.

It's not a pretty picture in the employment world!