23 Oct 2023

Dress for success on your next job interview

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In his masterpiece “Crime and Punishment,” author Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote, “We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken.”

The great Russian novelist is referring to the fact that impressions can be made even before conversations begin. This is an important notion to grasp and can do a job seeker a world of good in every interaction during the hiring process, including the interview. Recruiters may have an understanding of you as an applicant from your resume and other correspondences, but it is during the interview – whether it’s in person or remote – that a hiring manager can really get a sense of your energy and professionalism.

While no one wants to be judged on appearance alone, what you look like and how you dress affect others’ first impression of you. Doing all you can to tip the scales in your favor may lead to favorable job outcomes.

The best outfit to wear on an interview varies depending on the company and the job, according to The Balance: Money. But there are some guidelines for dressing to make the best impression.

Follow the employer’s dress code. If you can gauge dress code in advance, dress to mirror what others are wearing and then take it up a slight notch. For example, while you wouldn’t wear a suit if you’re interviewing as a park ranger, you may eschew work boots and faded jeans for a collared polo shirt and khaki pants. For a tech start-up or creative company that favors casual wear, something that is more business casual may be appropriate for the interview.

Err on the side of caution. If you do not know the company dress code, it is always better to be overdressed than underdressed. A sports jacket and a button-down shirt for gentlemen and tailored pants and blouse for women may fit the bill.

Less is more. Distractions can derail an interview, and wearing too many accessories can be distracting to the interviewer and even candidates during the interview. Keep jewelry to a minimum and mute all alerts on a smartwatch and smartphone. If you have piercings, you may want to remove them until you learn more about which types of body art are acceptable at the company, which you should be able to discern when visiting the office. Distractions also can include heavy or drastic makeup and hair styles. Tone things down until you have a firm understanding of dress policies.

Choose neutral colors. Wear neutral or classic colors over more flashy options. You want to be judged on your qualifications, and neon shirts or a busy print dress could cause an interviewer to lose focus. During a remote interview, choose a high-contrast interview outfit so that you don’t blend in with your background.

Wear clean, tidy clothes. No matter how formal or informal the attire, it should be freshly laundered, free from wrinkles or damage, and fit properly. Interview attire can make or break first impressions, so attention should be placed on what to wear.

 

23 Oct 2023

Pipes: Most Americans don’t want Medicare for All

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Progressives’ entire rationale for “Medicare for All” is based on a lie. Or rather, two lies.

They assert that Americans are both dissatisfied with the health insurance status quo and that a single-payer system would eliminate that dissatisfaction.

But according to recent polling, neither claim is true. Americans are broadly happy with the existing health insurance system. And single-payer would manifestly worsen — not solve — the problems Americans do face under the status quo.

Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., aptly summarizes the progressive viewpoint. He recently described the current insurance system as “totally broken, dysfunctional and cruel.”

So he’d no doubt be surprised by the results of a new nationwide survey commissioned by my organization, the Pacific Research Institute, which found that 90% of Americans are “very” or “somewhat” satisfied with their current health insurance plan — an increase of four percentage points from last year’s poll. Asked to rate their coverage, three-quarters of respondents said it was “good” or “very good.”

Sanders has also argued that his Medicare for All Act is “legislation which ordinary Americans want” that “would make life a lot easier for the American people.” But in reality, just 16% of respondents say they would “definitely” support a switch to single-payer.

Among the minority of respondents who are dissatisfied with their current insurance, the top complaint is limited access to specialist doctors. The second-most common complaint was limited access to a primary care physician.

Such dissatisfaction would surge after a government takeover. Just look at the dysfunction in the Canadian and British single-payer systems.

Sanders and other progressives have long praised the healthcare system in Canada, where private health insurance for anything deemed medically necessary by the government is illegal. Yet nearly half of Canadians lack reliable access to a family doctor, compared to less than one-third of Americans. About 70% of Americans are confident they could access urgent care in an emergency. Only 37% of Canadians said the same. Overall, twice as many Americans as Canadians report having “comfortable” access to healthcare.

In Britain, meanwhile, fewer than three in 10 people say they are satisfied with the 75-year old government-run National Health Service. Britons pointed to long waiting times — 7.6 million people were on waiting lists for care in England as of June — and severe staff shortages as the main reasons for their dissatisfaction. Their concerns are well-founded, given that ongoing doctors’ strikes have caused the cancellation or postponement of nearly 1 million appointments.

Wait times for treatment are at an all-time high in Canada. Last year, the median wait between referral by a general practitioner and receipt of treatment from a specialist was more than 27 weeks. To clear the backlog, officials in several provinces are turning to private, for-profit  clinics that operate outside the conventional publicly funded system.

Some Canadians have begun traveling to the United States for urgent surgeries. In fact, health officials in British Columbia sent hundreds of cancer patients across the border to Washington state for treatment earlier this summer.

In Britain, private healthcare providers and insurers have recently experienced significant gains in popularity among those stuck on waiting lists for specialized treatments.

The American health insurance system is not perfect. But the proverbial grass is not greener north of the border — or across the Atlantic. A complete government takeover of the U.S. healthcare systems, a la Medicare for All, would make life significantly worse for American patients.

Sally C. Pipes is president, CEO, and the Thomas W. Smith fellow in healthcare policy at the Pacific Research Institute. Her latest book is “False Premise, False Promise: The Disastrous Reality of Medicare for All,” (Encounter 2020). Follow her on Twitter @sallypipes.

23 Oct 2023

Letters to the editor

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“See something, say something”

I assume this very effective public safety saying no longer applies in the City of Boston (“Mass and Cass crisis worsens,” 10/19).

The picture I saw when I opened the paper was of a man shooting heroin on a city street. This is the part that puzzles me when deciding what should be done with Mass and Cass.

I assume by looking at this picture that the City of Boston is saying it is OK to shoot heroin on a public street or does that just apply to Mass and Cass?

My father used to say when laws are ignored or no longer enforced, chaos will win and it will mark the beginning of the end and that is what is happening to what was once a beautiful city!

Everyone knows exactly what needs to be done but political posturing and non enforcement of laws is how we operate in the city now, thanks Michele!

Michael Westen

Malden

Shooting gallery

I am beyond disgusted with the situation at Mass and Cass, in which you continue to  publish pictures of the people shooting up.  Please, as customers we know what is going on out there. I do not think
anybody needs to see these pictures.  Thank you.

Nancy M. Bower

Parsonsfield, Me.

Foreign aid

Taxpayers should realize that the money our government sends in support of other countries to support conflicts with other countries are real dollars paid into our government through payroll and corporate taxes. This is the only source of federal money used to fund our schools, roads and a myriad of other government funded projects. Assuming these countries are in need of international support, why couldn’t this financial support be supplied in the form of a loan rather than an outright donation. Some of these countries have been around hundreds of years before our country was even founded and should be self sufficient by now.

Jack Moon

Ipswich

Evil of Hamas

If anyone doesn’t believe what Hamas did in Israel isn’t evil, time for them to see a shrink. Growing up and listening to my Dad talk about the atrocities the Nazis did to the Jewish nation during World War II made me sick to my stomach and I prayed something similar to that evil never happen in my lifetime. Killing innocent people is just wrong and whatever Israel needs to do to try stop Hamas, I back 100%.

Tony Meschini

Scituate

Migrant influx

Boo hoo, Governor Healey, I wonder if the southern border states share the pain we are suffering here in the capital of NIMBYism. Not one word was uttered by our state legislature and our congressional delegation for over two years until the illegal immigrant fiasco started having an impact here in Massachusetts. The upside of that is the fact that it kept Senator Warren rantless, and Senator Markey only opened his mouth to change feet. Now, according to Sen. Warren, she and Sen. Markey are working around the clock to resolve the conflict in the Middle East. She would never make it as a stand up comic.

John Lucente

Lexington

 

 

23 Oct 2023

Moore: Our public schools are a national disaster

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Perhaps what’s most distressing about the latest collapse in high school test scores is that no one seems to be very distressed.

You’ve probably heard the news that ACT scores have fallen for the sixth straight year. Our high school kids are less equipped for a job or college than at any time in three decades.

Why isn’t anyone in Washington or anyone in our $800 billion education bureaucracy sounding the alarm and declaring this a national emergency? It certainly puts our national security, our technological superiority and our economic prosperity in grave danger.

Instead of outrage, it is almost as if Americans have become anesthetized to bad news about our kids.

One theory is that Americans feel about their local schools as they do toward Congress: They love their own representative but think the rest of the members are corrupt and incompetent.

Exactly 40 years ago, the National Commission on Excellence in Education issued its findings on the state of the schools in its 1983 report entitled “A Nation at Risk.” Here was the grim conclusion: “If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.”

The nation never paid attention. If you think I’m blowing one bad report out of proportions, the National Assessment of Educational Progress report that came out earlier this year found similarly dismal student performance in the public schools. Reading and math proficiency collapsed over the past four years in part because of the teachers unions’ insistence that public school stay closed during COVID — a national act of child abuse.

The Left obsesses about income inequality and the gap between rich and poor. Yet, they are so captive to the teachers unions that they do nothing about what is arguably the most regressive policy in America: our failing public school system. The decline in test scores is only half the story. The other part of the story is that the biggest declines in learning and achievement are among the poorer families.

California recently announced it is going to make climate change a standard part of the school curriculum. Really? They are going to scare the bejesus out of kids with a propaganda campaign telling them the world is coming to an end. Why don’t they just try phonics so kids can read?

The school blob’s pitiful response to this abject failure to teach is to call for more money. We’ve tried that for 40 years. Per student spending in the public schools after adjusting for inflation is up 50% in 30 years, which almost entirely inversely correlates with the continual test score slide.

The one glimmer of hope is the burgeoning school choice movement in America, which allows the dollars to follow the students and parents to choose the best schools for their kids — public, private, Christian, Jewish, or whatever works. Ten states this year have expanded school choice.

Meanwhile, the teachers unions argue with a straight face that school vouchers would hurt the public schools. Have they seen the test scores? How could they possibly perform worse?

Stephen Moore is a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and an economist with FreedomWorks.