As Seen On TV?
Sometimes, we all wish life could be more like a TV show. Without the commercial breaks every five minutes, of course. Nobody likes those. But everybody likes the thought of snatching their dream girl/guy away from a nemesis. And the thought all problems could be solved with a well-timed, insightful monologue, and that no matter how bad you screw up everything will be back to normal in 22 minutes. And if we all had goofy, yet loveable sidekicks, how could the world possibly not be a better place as a result?
Or how about the way people get jobs on TV? I am going through the help wanted ads and, oh, this looks interesting. I circle it and BAM, it's training day! I will not last one day because of some hilarious complication that arises, but that is okay, because the next place I go to has a sign on the window that says "HELP WANTED." I go in and because the person doing the hiring is a mind-reader, the sign is removed as I walk in. Said sign is replaced as I am literally being booted out the door, things did not go well there either. Depression kicks in as I sulk down Main Street. But wait, nothing has been resolved and the 22 minutes are almost over! (Perfect job falls into lap\get old job back\find new life mission that does not require money\aliens intervene) WOOHOO!
Two things are great about the magical TV way of solving you job-hunting troubles. First that anything you come across is yours, like the simple act of seeing it first is the only job requirement. Even if there is work involved in getting the job, there seems to be no way to fail at getting it. Second that there is always a happy ending, whether the situation improves or simply goes back to the way it was. Of course, that is not the way things are in real life. The trouble is, that is how easy a lot of young people perceive the job search as being. I have never met anybody who thought the whole thing would go they way they saw it growing up. However, I have never met anybody who fully realized how hard job-searching is before doing it either. We know that TV is fantasy, but wishful thinking leads us to believe there is some truth to what we see, it can't be that hard. But that just is not true. Although if I could transfer one thing from TV into real life, it would be how easy it is to get a job inside that little box. Actually, I take that back. I forgot about the sidekicks. Who needs a good job when you have a sidekick?
You're right, job hunting is so hard. It also depends on what your career is and where you live. I wish I lived in California or New York where Journalism jobs are a dime a dozen. Being in Dallas is so hard because only a few companies exist and they own everything. I wish it was like TV, life would be less stressful.
If only,indeed. And then there's that sidekick. Always a sidekick who does those quirky things but never a show *about* the sidekick.
TV has become just about as complex as real life with the scripts they're putting out these days. The job search (espcially as you describe it) is about as complicated and disappointing as the real thing. At least with television, you can sit back and *watch* what the hero / heroine does to cope with the multitudes of setbacks and circumstances. And with television, there's the luxury of armchair quarterbacking -- "Well, I'd have done this or that." Thank God it's just TV! The real stuff is much more exciting and rewarding.
At least there *is* television as a painless place to practice or just to see what would unfold if we took alternative "X."