We had a very disappointed 7-year-old girl in our house yesterday because she had failed in her bid to be elected to the school council. But you can’t win them all and she had done her best, so that WOULD have been OK.
But it turns out that she had come second to a boy in her class whose campaign manifesto was nothing less than a bucketful of lies!
Two of his more outrageous promises:
· Free sweets for the whole class; and
· Longer break times for the entire school.
There’s no way he can deliver on either of these commitments – he’s not in charge of the school timetable and there’s a rule about giving out food – but by the time the class realises their mistake he will be sitting on his throne and laughing his head off at the naivety of his fellow students.
However, the seat on the council is only until Christmas. When his time is up the electorate will vote him out in favour of another candidate, perhaps someone making the more modest promise of ‘being kind and coming up with good ideas’ (e.g. my daughter).
So the message is this: don’t lie on your CV or try to bribe the interviewer with sweets. You might get the job, but you’ll be found out in the end.
A better career strategy? Just be kind – and come up with some good ideas!
