Are some women more likely to want to have more social interaction/or want more social interaction than their partners/husbands at the end of the day or end of the week? And are some men more content to just not caring as much to the extent that some of their partners/wives do at the end of the week? Are they more likely to lean on their wives and maybe children because that’s enough of what they need, and during the week their career/job friends give enough to them — but maybe for some women that’s not enough?
Hi Penelope,
My fiance (40m) has been fired from his last two tech sales jobs in the past 2-3 years. Both times for not meeting his quota. He has been insanely stressed (and taking it out on me/bringing it home) and wants to switch to a less quota-based role with a different kind of stress. He had been doing quite well in sales up until that point (well, actually until he was PIPed in early 2020). But the company he worked for and the general tech working environment was a lot easier at that point in time.
He tried to apply for channel management roles (where you are managing the relationship with the channel partner that sells for you) and even almost got in by being an internal hire at his last company, but they ended up going with an external hire with 5 years of experience. The hiring manager told him he wowed them in the interview and that there wasn’t anything he could’ve done differently, just that they needed someone with more experience for how the company is doing at this time. His former coworker who he worked with at two jobs has vouched that she thinks he’d be much better suited to channel management than to tech sales. But he can’t seem to get a foot in anywhere (he’s applied elsewhere too).
He hates personality tests, but he is extremely extroverted and everyone’s best friend at the office. A “personality hire”, if you will. Not only that, but he’s extremely tech savvy. Coming from a family of teachers, I feel like he has that rare gift of being able to explain and clarify complex tech to people in a way that isn’t patronizing or insulting. He also knows quite a bit about personal finance.
Part of his issue is also that he never finished his college degree and left after two years, so some of the temporary jobs that might be available to someone else (i.e. substitute teaching) aren’t available to him.
So my question is, what should he do next? What type of job should he look for? Or should he start doing something on his own? Are there any certificates he should try to get?
Thank you in advance,
E
My friend changes the job titles on her resume depending on what job she’s applying to. This doesn’t seem honest to me. Do you think she’ll get in trouble?
I used to write about this brother a lot. Now he’s older and he’s giving career advice to my son. Here’s what Z wrote my brother: Here’s a copy of my resume. Can you please give me feedback and also, I can’t decide between data analyst, AI engineering, or AI research. Everyone is applying to every AI job so I think I should probably do data analyst. What is your opinion?
Dear Ms. Trunk,
My dad has been a fan of yours for a long time, and he told me I should ask you about law school. I am a college senior at [top 10 school] and I’m pretty sure I want to go to law school. My dad wants me to try working in another field first, before I go to law school. He says he’s not paying for law school “over his dead body.” So I am trying to decide what to do. I really just want to take a year off after college while I study for the LSAT and then apply to law schools.
I appreciate your time, Ms. Trunk.
Sincerely,
[Redacted]
Tomorrow I’ll be in a training program with the head of our product division at [redacted company] and 30 other new employees. There will be 20 minutes for questions. Can you suggest a good question to ask?
What do you think about a music therapy / art therapy initiative for autistic people of all ages. My husband and I do a lot of music therapy work with children and adolescents reimbursed through Medicaid and scholarships. I am homeschooling a 6 and 2 year old and I won’t be able to work as much so I’m thinking of ideas that are not oriented to hourly fees.
I think what I want to ask is your advice. And also if you’re interested in partnership, as a research or curiosity. Or as a guide. Because I’m a music therapist and not a business person at all. My husband is also a music therapist and autistic and he is particularly brilliant as a music therapist. But he is getting older (54) and won’t be able to keep doing the same work forever and I’m trying to imagine new possibilities that are useful and meaningful in the world. He just quit his job as a school teacher to do music therapy privately so this is a good time to start something new.
Now I feel embarrassed for even writing this email because I know you’re going to see through it to the real question and the real issue, which I can’t seem to quite grasp yet.
I know you’ve told me. But can you remind me? Is it the most important thing we can do for the kids is be emotionally available and make them feel loved?
Dear Penelope,
I am so happy to have found your blog. I read What explains the outsized success of autistic applicants to college post. My 4-year-old son was diagnosed with mild to moderate autism. He has language, social, cognitive and motor delays. He is not intellectually disabled. His developmental pediatrician says that he is smart. Do these universities(MIT, Stanford, Harvard) have students like my kid? I know that these universities have students with autism, but they may be very smart and may have just social delay when they were young. I like to dream. My dream is that my kid will go to such great universities despite all the challenges he is facing right now. I feel his autism will help him get into these universities.
Dear Penelope,
Why does it seem that even people that I seem to align with are capable of finding a happy relationship, when I remain single and alone? How the hell do you do it (the normal being with another person thing, without pretending to not be you all the time? Or does ther person you are with love you just the way you are? How in the hell do I find that? Does he have a brother?