Archive for the 'Interview' Category

Page 2 of 2

the sta interview: amy genovesi

Published on November 20, 2007 in Interview and Survival Guide. 0 Comments

Amy Genovesi was like many of you: she graduated from college and thought she’d automatically land a job. However, she soon realized that her college’s career center had left her unprepared for job-hunting, so she made up rules as she went along until she landed a gig. Along the way, she became really great at writing resumes–so great that she now earns a living helping other people write theirs via her Raleigh, NC-based company, Amy’s Resumes. She talks to STA about the art of the resume.

STA: How did you end up writing resumes for a living?
AG: I got good at writing resumes because when I first graduated from college, I had a hard time getting a job. I kept sending out resumes and sending out resumes, and finally I found something that worked. 99 percent of my interviews came from one resume. After that, people started asking me for help. I thought, ‘Maybe I should do this for a living.’

Continue reading ‘the sta interview: amy genovesi’

the sta interview: melissa plaut

Published on November 6, 2007 in Interview and Saved. 0 Comments

Melissa Plaut was like many of us: she had a couple of random jobs, including a memorable stint as a beleaguered assistant at Miramax. After a few years of the working life, Melissa had had it–she quit, and ended up as a New York City taxi driver. She began blogging her experiences, and those experiences have been turned into a book, Hack: How I Stopped Worrying About What to Do With My Life and Started Driving a Yellow Cab, which was published by Villard Books this summer. She agreed to sit down with STA–over diner food, of course.

STA: Can you tell us a little bit about your job history?

MP: I worked at Miramax in the late ’90s. I started as a concierge–getting water for people, getting coffee, picking up packages. Then I was an assistant for a music agent. It was crazy. I’d get kept until 12 at night and then bitched at about my overtime. After I left, my boss was let go. 

Continue reading ‘the sta interview: melissa plaut’

the sta interview: richard telofski

Published on October 4, 2007 in Interview. 0 Comments

Richard Telofski runs the always-readable blog Managerial Pyromania, which gives us some insight into what your boss is saying about you when he’s out on his expensed cocktail hour. He sat down to dish with STA.

STA: Exactly what is “managerial pyromania,” and how does it occur?

RT: Managerial pyromania (man’ e jir’ è el pi’ ro ma’ ne a): n. 1. characteristic of a business manager or employee who metaphorically, through selfishness, starts destructive “fires” within an organization; 2. managing or working in a company in such a way that seems rational to the manager or employee but crazy to others, and resulting in financial damage to a company; 3. the name of a website about the death of common sense in American businesses.

STA: What are some of the worst management mistakes bosses make? How can employees cope when their boss makes one of these mistakes?

RT: It’s not a question of what mistakes bosses make against employees or vice versa. The real issue is a lack of respect in the workplace, in both directions. What I’ve seen far too much of in my career is selfishness. Witness all the blogs and other website that rant about work, or let workers post comments about their workplace. Read these comments carefully, and you’ll find that the comments are always about the workers’ wishes, dreams, and desires.

People approach work from a false perspective. They think work is about them. It’s not.  Continue reading ‘the sta interview: richard telofski’

the sta interview: jeffrey frank

Published on October 3, 2007 in Interview. 0 Comments

I’ll admit, it was a little intimidating to meet Jeffrey Frank. He’s a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of the hysterical but cutting DC-set satire Trudy Hopedale. To make me even more nervous, we were going to meet for lunch in the famed Conde Nast cafeteria. Conde Nast is the hugely powerful media company that owns magazines like Vogue and Vanity Fair. Their cafeteria was designed by Frank Gehry and was the model for the cafeteria in The Devil Wears Prada. Let’s just say I changed outfits three times before leaving the house that day. I was also so nervous that I forgot to bring a notebook.

I’m happy to report that, fancy credentials nonwithstanding, Jeffrey Frank is a really cool guy. He’s also an incredible boss. His former assistants have gone on to work as editors at magazines like Variety and Vogue. He told stories of interacting with his assistants that involved a) knowing their full names, b) caring about their lives outside of work, and c) doing work that was useful and interesting. I almost fell off of my glass-plated chair. In fact, one of his former assistants recently edited a piece that Jeffrey himself wrote–talk about coming full circle. It’s so nice to see someone who has had a successful career and also manages not to be a jerk. I was able to get him to spill about the worst boss he ever had, a newspaper editor who did the bidding of the evil new owner all while pretending to like the employees.

Continue reading ‘the sta interview: jeffrey frank’

the sta interview: anita bruzzese

Published on August 22, 2007 in Interview and Survival Guide. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Anita Bruzzese, author of 45 Things You Do That Drive Your Boss Crazy, knows her office spaces. While working at Gannett Newspapers, she was one of the first people ever to write a workplace-advice column. Throughout the years, her experiences and interactions with workers have made her an expert about all things cubicle-related. She sat down with STA for an interview and agreed to impart some of her wisdom on us.

[FYI, you can read Anita's reciprocal interview with Lilit here.]

STA: Our website primarily deals with bad bosses. However, we occasionally admit that assistants are not always perfect themselves. What are some of the worst mistakes you’ve heard of assistants making?

AB: I think probably the worst mistakes involve lying. Once you lie, and the boss finds out about it (and they almost always find out), then he or she will feel you can never be trusted again. And, let’s face it, the boss doesn’t want someone around who cannot be trusted — there’s too much critical business information and too much competition these days to not believe you can trust someone close to you, such as an assistant.

STA: What inspired you to write your book, and what did you hope to accomplish?

AB: I’m a journalist, and I believe information is power. I have been writing the column for 15 years, and I often hear of the same mistakes being made over and over. So, I thought: Why not put all the rules in one place, explain WHY the boss cares about them and then provide the information people need to have more successful careers, happier lives and lose weight (OK, so maybe not that). You know the book about why a guy just isn’t that into you? Well, I thought: I’ll write a book about why the BOSS just isn’t that into you.

Continue reading ‘the sta interview: anita bruzzese’

the assistants meet the interns

Published on August 6, 2007 in Interns and Interview. 0 Comments Tags: , .

As you may have noticed, Save the Assistants has some new working-for-free friends over at Intern Memo. Last week, they interviewed us, so now we turn the tables and find out exactly what makes someone qualified to run an intern website. Meet Intern Ted, in his own words.

When my brother suggested we write the Intern Memo, I hesitated at first. I mean, what did I know about internships? What could I offer oogled-eyed college students? So what if I did one summer at Bear Stearns and another at a small money management firm in New York? From a professional standpoint, the lessons learned were not immediately clear. I didn’t know much about careers, I knew very little about landing jobs outside of the financial industry, and my behavior during both summers was incredibly inappropriate. So what in the world was my brother talking about!?

Well, I thought and thought, and suddenly the memories came back. I remembered that time my boss caught me sleeping under my desk. I remembered when he asked me what I was doing, I pointed to him and said “what are you doing?” and we laughed it off! I remembered that time I learned morse code over a few afternoons and tried to relay messages through the lights on the 6th floor of Metrotech. I remembered that everyone in my Money Management Firm called me “Intern Ted” after the second week of work. I remembered the time the Bear Stearns janitor (also named Teddy) presented me with his work shirt and insisted I wear it every dress-down Friday. I remembered the time I sent a farewell address to every Bear Stearns employee and got a standing ovation on my floor as I cleaned out my desk. Basically, I remembered that from a human perspective, I was the greatest intern probably in history.

I mean, hell, I am Intern Ted. In-tern Ted. Author of Intern Memo. 

the sta interview: min jin lee

Published on July 19, 2007 in Interview and Survival Guide. 0 Comments

Min Jin Lee’s debut novel, Free Food for Millionaires, tells a story many of us can identify with. Casey, the daughter of working-class Korean immigrants in Queens, goes to Princeton and then returns home to New York thinking she’ll land a job in no time–only to discover that an Ivy league degree doesn’t go as far as the ‘right’ last name. The book is based on Lee’s own experiences navigating the work world, and she agreed to sit down for an interview with Save the Assistants. Even cooler, she has also offered to give away two free copies of the book to lucky STA readers. To enter, send an email to contact@savetheassistants.com by Friday, July 27 with the subject line “Free Food for Millionaires.” We’ll choose two winners at random.

STA: What was the worst job experience you ever had?

MJL: Right before I quit being a corporate lawyer, I worked seven days a week, for well over twelve to fourteen hours a day for a solid month. The work in of itself was fine enough, but I think, ideally, no one should have to work in such quantity for whatever kind of money. After that month, I tendered my resignation. I am not sorry that I did.

STA: What should recent college graduates focus on in their job searches, particularly if they have to choose between a creative pursuit and a desk job?

Continue reading ‘the sta interview: min jin lee’