Yuppie Experience: The exam
Posted by Rio S.
A few months back, I realized that if I didn’t get an office job soon, I was going to starve (that and run out of money to buy cigarettes and pay for my internet – my priorities, go figure). Off I went to find somebody willing to pay me a steady income and maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to freelance during hours when I’m supposed to sleep. So anyway, during my search of employment I was invited to a PR agency to take their writers’ exam.
I like taking exams, what I hate is filling out application forms as they keep asking during what years I was in high school (high school has been properly repressed, dammit). On the same day Rica had her interview and subsequent run in with the HR person, I had to drag my ass off bed to Makati. Mercifully, I was scheduled for a 2pm appointment as it usually takes two hours and two mugs of coffee to wake my brain up.
I get to their office; after a little wait, I was presented with the questionnaire and an answer sheet. The HR person explains the test to me and to the other girl taking the exam, then he leaves the room. I’m sure he wasn’t worried we’d copy off each other, because the test was – tadaaaah! – a creative marathon.
Long story short, I had to write. I left some parts blank; I HAD to. Maybe my posts here have given you the impression that I’m always glib, but some topics like cosmetics and fashion, among other things, leave me at a loss for words. Here’s an example of one of the questions I left blank:
Question: An international brand that manufactures severely overpriced designer bags are about to launch a new line of bags – in neon pink. Fashion editors everywhere have proclaimed that pink has passed its run as the new black and glow in the dark is barf inducing. How would you spin your article? (Okay, that wasn’t really the question, but the gist is the same.)
What my answer would have been: One, I think that people who are prevailed upon by unseen gremlins to purchase a neon pink bag should be shot, unless they plan to use it as some sort of beaconing device. Two, I agree with the fashion editors.
By the way, the girl who took the exam with me left around 45 minutes into the said creative marathon. I’m not sure if she left some parts blank too, but I do wish I could hand write as fast.
The HR person called me yesterday asking me to show up in their office again tomorrow for an initial interview. So I guess they don’t mind that I’m such a fashion retard, or they just want to check out the girl who has the impression that she can write.
PS. Could somebody wake me up? The interview’s at nine.
PPS. Image credit to Metropolitican.
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