The New(?) Chain Letters

Me and my friends stumbled upon the topic of chain letters while hanging out.  Now when I say chain letters I mean the letters which has a story and a condition attached to it (like “you have to pass this to all your friends or you will have bad luck for eternity”).  Some of us believe in it, some of us don’t. But really, the chain letter fad (if it ever was a fad) is now fading. Why so?

Is it because chain letters are proven to be useless or fake? Or is it because of the fact that people are just not into those kinds of stuff anymore.

Let us trace my experience with these chain letters. I experienced receiving these kinds of letters (hand written ones) when I was still in elementary. Even if I don’t really believe in them, there was this urge to distribute it again just for the “chain” purpose. My classmates would talk about it before, during and even after class. It really created buzz. In high school, emailed chain letters started to pop up. These were the ones that you have to pass to most, if not all, your contacts. There were also chain text messages that flood your inbox. When Friendster started to became an interest of all students the chain letters shifted gear and went for another medium. People using Friendster would still receive messages or bulletins that are chain letters.

Chain letters —> Chain text messages—>Chain emails—>what next?

Same content, same purpose, different medium of distribution.

Its amazing how fast things change. Even something like this uses the new social media. People surely know where and how to reach people. Now most people are more exposed to networking sites such as facebook and twitter. The closest to the chain letter I see in facebook are the quizzes and some applications that predicts the future and gives advices.  Maybe it was meant to be an alternative to the chain letters or maybe not. But still the essence of it seems to be just like it.

New social media is not only a faster way of communicating but also providing a new avenue for the things that were traditionally done before. It surely gave new meaning to things like chain letters.

Interview 101: THEN AND NOW

You cannot question the importance of self-confidence or communication skill in the success of a job interview. Well, that was before.

Many people in the past have this distinction of being great speakers. As most people would claim, they have their way with words. It is like how our grandparents are very good in poetry and music. It can be reflected to how job interviews are being practiced in companies. Normally, for you to be have good interview you must be very confident and very knowledgeable. How you communicate is also a very important factor in job interviews. Sometimes you even have to use flowery words  to make you look good in the eyes of the interviewer. When you applied these skills/ qualities before, you are surely in a good job right now.

Now aside from all these things you also have to be skilled in computer programs. You don’t just have to be just self- confident, you have to be self-confident +a good communicator + knowledgeable of the job + skilled in the new technology. Knowledge of the computer applications would certainly give you edge over your competition.

And then here comes the newer technology, the internet along with social media. People just join every online community there is. Filipinos to be exact are very fond of using new social media. But what does it have to do with skills in job interviews? Well, it is the future of job interviews.

One way or another, employers would be using new social media. By the number of people using it, companies would be more than willing to dive in the sea of skilled individuals. This way they would be exposed to some of them and be able to look into their skills, interests, ambitions that may be similar to what they are looking for. Online resumes may be part of the application process of most companies. It is similar to how some companies right now check online communities for professionals and also check the accounts of their applicants. This would enable companies to screen their applicants better and also delve deeper into the use of new social media.

With social media as a rising trend it is possible that most company practices are planning to try more online transactions. Just like scanning job applicants or even hiring through the internet.