Recently a friend told me about a presentation he attended by Vinton Cerf, a.k.a. "the father of the Internet", in which he revealed an interview question or method for finding creative people during the hiring process.
First, screening a résumé can help identify a "T-shaped personality" which he defined as someone with broad knowledge of many subjects, but deep understanding of one particular topic. This is something Cerf considers essential before looking closer.
Then the next key question for Cerf is to ask, "What are your hobbies?" If the job candidate answers something like, "I like to watch sports" or "Just kicking back and relaxing with my family", he'll pass on. But if the person he's interviewing leans forward, eyes glowing and starts to describe his avocation with some real enthusiasm, it doesn't matter what it is -- he's found a person who is likely to tie his passion for that hobby and what he's learned from it into all sorts of other pursuits, whether job-related or personal. That kind of personality is likely to think creatively and bring a spark of innovation to a company.
Hi, my name is Kat, and I created this little niche of Locals.com to have a conversation about making and creativity. As you might surmise from the title, I tend to be a bit messy in my making, frequently starting several projects at once and maybe not quite following through on all of them. Still, overall, more of them get done eventually than might if I tried to stick to just one thing at a time. What's your experience? Do you have to clean the house (or room, or desk) before you can get started? Does a blank page terrify you? Is chaos necessary for creativity, or does it prevent it? Let us know what you think, and maybe share a few things you've made or are working on, or even just thinking about.
It's pretty obvious that in our culture creative pursuits are not usually rewarded finacially to the same extent other activities are. With rare exceptions, an art photographer, for instance, will not earn the same as an engineer. With that in mind, think about whether it is worth someone's time, effort and investment to try and make a living in some artistic craft if that person also has the ability to get a job in what might be considered a more mundane field. How much is job satisfaction worth? Is it even possible to earn enough doing, say, knitting or making hand-crafted jewelry or designing 3D models to support a reasonable lifestyle?
Another element to consider is how much business acumen is required to make a go of a creative-based occupation. Outside of academia there aren't very many jobs out there where an artist or creative writer can spend all their time creating or improving their skills without having to think about salesmanship or bookkeeping. Is this a problem for ...
The electric power has been out for abiut 24 hours this time, and it's snowing again. This is so abnormal .... South Texas only gets snow flurries every few years, but this is the 3rd "major" (for Texas) snow this year. And for it to last so long is also way beyond the usual. Tomorrow is supposed to be 44°F though. We can only hope!
