Are you experienced?

These last few weeks, far too much of the space in my head has been taken up with "The Apprentice," the newest reality show from the genius of the genre, Mark Burnett. Though I've never been particularly drawn to watch people eat disgusting things for money or form tribal councils, there was something about this particular show that grabbed my attention.

No, it wasn't the hair; I think it was that, unlike most reality shows, there seemed to be the hint of something beyond the show, that the contestants were actually competing for something extraneous to the program itself. Theoretically, at least, there was life after "The Apprentice" for the winner, who would then have a great job running one of Donald Trump's companies for one year. (Though I have no idea, at this point, what company it is, and whether or not there's the possibility of staying on after the year has passed. My instinct, quite frankly, is to encourage him or her not to sign any long-term rental agreements.)

But it's the fact that the show could call itself "the ultimate job interview" that drew me in. Given that, there were a few things that seemed somewhat odd to me: the first, of course, was that I'm not sure exactly how Donald Trump can actually fire someone from a job that they haven't yet gotten. (That said, "You're fired!" certainly sounds more dramatic than "Your qualifications, though quite satisfactory, have been deemed to be insufficient for our current workplace needs!")

But I'm also fascinated by the fact that, for a job interview, business experience seems to be an entirely irrelevant concern. Yes, all of the candidates have some form of business experience, but one might reasonably expect to be skeptical about having a copier salesman run, say, a company involved with food services, just as if you were hiring a head of sales, you might not think that a restaurant owner would be your first choice. That's one of the reasons that Trump and the contestants alike play down the particular jobs they do, since you never know how the fit between ultimate winner and job title is going to fit. Still, you have to be a bit concerned, since generalized, all-purpose business experience is a lot less useful than actually knowing how to do the job you're hired for.

Now, I don't particularly care so much about the success or failure of this particular job search (and I suspect that Donald Trump, for whom this is of course a massively successful publicity stunt, feels the same way - another reason for the winner not to get too comfortable), but I bring all this up because there's a much more important ultimate job interview going on in 2004 for an office slightly more important than running one of Donald Trump's companies. Even Trump might agree with that.

Page: 1 | 2