Forget resumes and job interviews - they're a waste of time

Forbes blogger Susannah Breslin says finding work is usually just dumb luck - and I must say she has a point.

The CEO wants to know if I am interested in a "work-life balance." I think about saying, "Balance? Ha-ha! No." But I don't. I get the impression this is what the CEO wants to hear. That I have no interest in life, only in work, that I am allergic to balance, that all I want to do is edit software-related copy for 50 hours a week. I respond in a way that indicates I have no life, that I live to work, that I am work incarnate.

[CUT]

After an hour and a half, the CEO leaves. The woman from human resources comes in to speak with me. We cover much of the same ground. Then she asks me if I have any questions for her. I ask her if she likes working for this company. She answers in the affirmative. At no point during her response does she smile. A week later, I get an email from the human resources woman. They are going with another candidate who knows more about this certain type of software than I do.

As for resumes:

In an office, I am interviewed by a copywriter. He seems nervous. He informs me that he has searched me on Google prior to my arrival. I say something like, "Ah," or, "I see," indicating nothing. The copywriter is younger than me. I am unclear if I am making the copywriter nervous, if what the copywriter found when he searched me on Google made him nervous, or if the copywriter is simply a nervous person. He looks at my resume on the desk and touches it. He spends about 10 minutes asking me questions. Then he announces he doesn't like to think up questions, or something to that effect. With that, he walks out of the office to find the next man who will interview me.