YUBBA DUBBA DON’T – Fred Flintstone Shows How Not to Get a Job

Let’s follow Fred Flintstone in a job search to see how not to do it. As most of us remember, Fred worked in the rock pit at The Slate Rock and Gravel Company. Let’s imagine for a moment Fred lives in modern times, and he is one of the 86% who don’t love their job. He wants something better.

Fred hears about an attractive job as a salesman for Bedrock Counters. The pay is good, the company is stable, and the other employees seem to love it there. He’s really excited because if he gets the job, he won’t have to peddle his car very far to work every day. He tells Wilma (his wife) he is going to apply for the new job.

As luck would have it, Wilma has a friend who works at Bedrock. Wilma talks to her friend and learns Bedrock’s main customer base is women. Bedrock is looking for the kind, sensitive, understanding type to relate to their customer.

Fred does his homework and follows the job strategy others taught him. Fred produces a beautiful, professionally customized resume that matches his past to the requirements of the job. He highlights times in his past where he was the kind, sensitive person. He uses a frilly font on his resume to soften the look. He even puts a positive spin on his past experience, calling himself “Team Leader” instead of Rock Pit Foreman.

His resume works, and Fred is called in for an interview. He arrives at Bedrock expecting to talk to Mr. Bedrock. To his surprise, he is actually interviewed by Mrs. Bedrock, the Chairperson of the Board.

During the interview, Fred has to make sure he acts the part of the kind sensitive soul. He consciously talks to Mrs. Bedrock in the most diminutive voice he can muster. He politely crosses his legs and leans forward to listen like someone who’s actually kind and sensitive. He chitchats with Mrs. Bedrock just like women do when they get together. Fred is convinced he’s going to get the job, because he played the part to perfection.

And Fred is right. Bedrock loves what they see and they hire Fred. That’s the good news. The bad news is Fred is doomed to become one of the 86% who don’t love their job. He just played The Great Pretender Game.

Because Fred won the game, now he gets the spoils. And spoil is the right word. It’s just a matter of time before the real Fred Flintstone shows up. As we all know, Fred is far from the kind, sensitive, understanding type. Fred is actually somebody who is socially clumsy. His clumsiness is a part of his charm. That’s what we love about Fred.

Fred didn’t bill himself as that clumsy doofus in the interview. If he had, Bedrock might have placed him into a job that really did fit him. Instead, he pretended to be the kind, sensitive and understanding type that they described in their advertisement.

Fred fit himself to the job, instead of letting the job fit to him. Bedrock is about to find out they hired someone they don’t really know. They hired a Great Pretender.

If you’re playing The Great Pretender Game, there are one of two predictable outcomes.

- Outcome #1 – You are a great pretender, and you are forced to be a completely different person at work than you are at home. You’ve got to keep your personality on the curb on the way to work. Living two lives eats you alive. You can’t wait to retire to resume being you.

- Outcome #2 – You aren’t such a great pretender, and your cover is blown once you get hired. Your employer figures out you aren’t who they thought they hired, and the gig is up. This outcome typically ends in dismissal.

Either way, The Great Pretender Game isn’t a fun way to live.
Even though Fred is a mythical character from Stone Age days, his story represents many of you today. How do you know if you’re playing The Great Pretender Game along with Fred? How do you get paid to just be YOU? How do you know if the job is right before making the plunge? I’ll talk about that more in next week’s post.

Have some fun with just being YOU!!

Dave

p.s. Wanna have some fun and learn a bit about how much you’re using your Given Talent in your career today. Go to http://www.stuckinarut.com/survey.htm and take the 19 question Free Reality Check. It’s fun and thought provoking.

Author:

Dave Dutton – Founder of stuckinarut.com – “Simply connecting the dots between your career, home and happiness.”

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