"You can do anything if you put your mind to it" is BS
Was sitting in an interview this week (for a fund controller-type position), and one of the questions was something along the lines of *edit: "If you weren't working here, what would you do?" and the interviewee responded that he has thought of working as a quant at RenTech or becoming an Astronaut.
He then went on a spiel about his answer, and we all nodded our heads, but like please be fr.
Like I get the whole "dream big" "you can do anything if you put your mind to it" and that it is a hypothetical.
But be serious..
you literally cannot/will never become either of those two even if you "put your mind to it". The former option is more likely than the latter, but both are like 0.0001%.
How are you even entertaining that as an idea? Surely you don't think answering that makes you seem smart for some reason.
Reminded me of those tiktoks of people getting interviewed at random college campuses in the middle of bumfuck nowhere and (without a job offer/even applying yet) said they'll "probably just work at citadel" and make 500k out of undergrad
AITA for thinking that way? Like the world ain't fair, some things are just out of reach idk
what are you talking about?
you asked what they HAVE (*************PAST TENSE************) considered
yeah in high school I wanted to be a pro athete, doctor, or hot dog maker.
and absolutely you can become anything you want including an astronaut
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonny_Kim
No what they are currently considering as a career.
Question was like "If you weren't working here, what would you do?"
And this is a job interview - when you were little, maybe you've "thought" of becoming a pro athlete, but you've never seriously considered pursuing that at a later age, say past high school or past college, when you realized it wasn't likely anymore.
Also, your example is like one person who has done that. Do you know how many astronauts there are? It's statistically impossible, even if people have done it before. So many people get filtered out just on the basis of something genetics related.
"and absolutely you can become anything you want including an astronaut"
so you're saying that you could become one?
fuck yeah I could become an astronaut
your question is extremely vague
it can easily come off as a tell me more about your interests outside of work question vs a tell me about a finance job that is adjacent to this job so I know you are actually interested in this role
for the athlete thing - who knows? maybe I played D1 golf in college and could've actually gone pro, but it was too risky
.
I personally want to hear working across the street against you but if I heard school teacher i would secretly be happy. If they said rodeo clown I would laugh and prob hire... if they said astronaut... i would laugh and AUTO DING....
I like a little bs but you not going up in space kid.. lol
At OP, not really a bad person for thinking its BS. It's weighted in two ways, you have to somewhat be able to do the thing and you have to define what is success at that level:
1. "You have to be able to do the thing". I think this saying comes from the idea that we all have equal brain power; we don't, its the same as height or speed. You can't put your mind to being 7 ft tall. Basically its a dunning kruger type mindset. I think this comes from a way in which, we've made certain things easier so no one knows how to work hard for things. For example, it use to be a big thing to say you wrote a book and got it published. Now, you can write a book and self publish it in a weekend. Or, it use to be difficult to get in a movie, now you can make your own youtube show. Both groups of those people are considered "authors" and "actors", but Brad Pitt is different from a guy getting 4 views on youtube. So I think, people carry this into other areas of, how difficult can it be to become an astronaut?
2. What do you consider success in the specific area? This is WSO, so take running a fund. Someone could say "I want to run a hedgefund" what they mean is, they want to run a $100B fund. However, running $100 is technically also a fund. Or someone says they want to be a singer, for one person that could mean selling out stadiums, for another maybe they just want to sing at the local bar and pay bills. The goal of the idea is different for different people.
3. I'd also add, whats the time frame? Sure, maybe you can become an astronaut if you take 30 years, but what have you given up in those 30 years?
Yes agree. Better way to put it. Rather than "BS" - maybe should have said "is unrealistic"
I still think some things are truly impossible just because of starting place/luck, so many things have to go right.
Not to mention politics/bureaucracy getting in your way.
Who cares? Maybe don’t ask dumbass questions
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