germs and the job search

I spent the last two days at the Equal Justice Works Career Fair and Conference in DC, which one of my friends referred to as the hippie law conference. There were a lot of really cool offices - only a couple of firms (no surprises there!) at tables in long rows in these huge rooms and free coffee and like 800 kids in suits waiting in lines to explain why they should be the next great do gooder. I have come to realize that some people are really crappy at giving interviews. Here's a tip to interviewers: fucking look at the person. Typing is not interviewing.

I have also come to realize that even at the hippie law conference, you have to be competitive in very weird ways, and that looking for a job raises some real questions about your values. For instance, I had a terrible cold and had to think through whether or not to shake hands with people. So, here was a question that said more about me than all the hypos and requests to explain my career change: am I do gooder enough to make an interview awkward in order to reduce the spread of a cold? Answer: hell no, I'm trying to get a job here. However, I am a do gooder enough to wash up before planned interviews so I'm probably not spreading germs I wouldn't have spread by breathing anyway. Make what you want of that. Or, I could tell you what class I've found the most challenging or bullshit you about some crap you seem to want to hear about. At any rate, it was a better experience than my last trip to D.C., which you can check out in the June archives titled something like 'fuck D.C.'. And if anyone sneezing reads this, dude, I'm sorry. Hire me and I swear I'll make it up to you. I'm the next to the next great do gooder. Really.