Last year, syndicated Boston Globe columnist and Madison resident Critics aside, Trunk has a devout following. Her suggestions for ways to dodge long hours and sage analysis of the modern workplace (likeability is more important than competence) have set the blogosphere alight, with many relishing her irreverent approach to upward mobility. Employees and employers alike have taken note, the latter less Born Adrienne Roston in Boston and an early online writer, the 41-year-old Penelope Trunk moved with her family to Madison in 2006. In addition to writing, she's an emerging presence on the national lecture circuit, speaking about 30 times a year. She met with The Daily Page last week to discuss why unqualified employees are good for employers and how women can leverage sexual harassment into opportunity. The Daily Page: As the country slides toward recession, how should people tweak their approach to job hunting? That's what they say. You've written about the difficulties people have strategizing. Why are more people not strategists? How can people break through the delusional images they have of themselves? You advise on your blog how to get the job you're not qualified for. You sound like an employer's worst nightmare. So it's more about having fun than making money? What are some of the biggest missteps people make in the workplace, in terms of getting ahead? In your book you advise people to ignore sexual harassment in the workplace. How can a person leverage opportunity out of being harassed? The next morning, she has power over him. He looks like a total idiot. Who cares about the harassment? Her life isn't in danger. And she knows that he is attracted to her, that he wants to work on projects with her, so immediately she should start asking for better projects. If he has power over her, she should ask to be able to do cool things with a client. It's like playing golf. Your golf buddy gets extra stuff that, if you don't golf, you don't get. If he says he wants to have sex with you, get extra stuff from him. It's just the way the world works. You know why everyone bitches about that? Because 50-year-old white men can't leverage sex, they can leverage golf. They can't leverage sex, so they're outraged that anyone's doing it.more kindly than the former.
Trunk: I've heard that Madison is recession-proof, because it's government. Is that true?
I don't think people need to worry, because demographically speaking, young people are in such high demand that it's not going to affect them. There's 2% unemployment amongst college graduates right now, and in some markets there's negative unemployment. So, people have four job opportunities instead of six.
It's a personality thing. Most people aren't detail-oriented. Most people aren't leaders. People have to work with the personality traits that they have.
If their career is not going really, really well, then they're in the wrong career. They should move around. When I started writing, I wasn't sure how I was going to support my family. So I pitched Cosmo, and I wrote a novel that was trashed in Publisher's Weekly. If you're doing something and if you're not great at it, then move to something else. That's scary for people, that they have to move if they're not great, so they don't acknowledge that they're not great.
Well, why would anyone want a job they already know how to do? There's no learning curve. There's not going to be employee engagement, and the employee is going to leave really fast, because they're bored. The employers should get a reality check.
Yeah, it's having a learning curve. Everybody wants to learn, everybody to be interested, so everyone is trying to find a job that is fun.
Most people don't make missteps trying to get ahead, they make missteps in focusing on the wrong stuff. They think that getting ahead means getting the next promotion or getting more money or more prestige, but getting ahead means getting more of what you want. It's a really, really hard question to answer. It's a much easier question to ask, "What's the next rung on the ladder?" or "What's a bigger number than $50,000." People need to be honest with themselves about what they want.
Most harassment, most "Do you want to have sex with me?' harassment happens on the road. Just imagine, a girl and a guy on the road and they happen to get drunk and the guy says, "I've never felt this way before. It's totally crazy. I can't believe how attracted to you I am." And the girl goes, "I'm not interested, I'm going to bed. Good night."
Comp Time with Penelope Trunk
Local author tells why being unqualified is a great job qualification
