THE PROBLEM 问题
My daughter is an Oxford graduate with a business degree and is bilingual in French. She works in marketing for a small company but is looking for something better. She has applied for 20 jobs and has had many interviews but keeps getting rejected. She has asked why and was told by an internet search engine that they were "not obliged to give feedback". A PR company said she was "very bright" but not "truly committed to a career in PR". Is there any point in asking for reasons? And what can be done to get her a job?
我女儿是牛津毕业的，有一个商学学位，而且通晓英语和法语。她目前在一家小公司做市场营销，但正在找更好的工作。她申请了20个职位，面试了很多次，但通通被拒。她曾问过原因。一家互联网搜索引擎公司告诉她，它们"没有义务提供反馈"。一家公关公司表示，她"非常聪明"，但不会"真正专心从事公关业"。询问原因有用吗？她怎么才能找到一份工作呢？
THE ANSWER 回答
No, there is no point in asking for feedback. Most interviewers can't or won't explain their decisions, and why should they? They are not running a careers advice service and giving reasons simply invites future lawsuits.
没错，寻求反馈是没有用的。大多数面试官无法或不愿解释他们的决定，而且他们也没有义务解释。他们不是职业咨询服务机构，讲出原因只会在日后招致官司缠身。
In any case, your daughter has already found out what she needs to know. She didn't get the job because she failed to act as if she was gagging for a career in PR. The reason, no doubt, is that she wasn't gagging for such a career. She is a clever girl and doesn't know if she will like PR for the good reason that she hasn't tried it.
无论如何，你女儿已经知道了自己需要知道的信息。她没得到这份工作，因为她没有表现出自己很想从事公关事业的样子。毫无疑问，原因就在于她确实也没有很想从事这样的事业。她是一个聪明姑娘，不知道自己是否会喜欢公关工作，原因就是她没尝试过。
Such ambivalence may be sensible, but getting a job doesn't involve sense. It involves looking about 1,000 times keener than you actually are. Before her next interview she should find out as much as she can about the job and the company. This will put her far ahead of most candidates - who can't even be bothered to check the website.
这种矛盾心理也许是理性的，但找工作跟理性没什么关系，而是要让你看上去比实际上的心情热切1000倍。在她下次接受面试之前，她应该尽可能地查找关于这个职位和这个公司的信息。这会使她远远领先于大多数应聘者--那些人甚至懒得上网查找信息。
She would also do well to get a trusted friend to give her a dummy interview and tell her some home truths about how she comes across. If she can do this, a brilliant future awaits. I couldn't contemplate doing such an exposing thing myself, and I'm twice her age.
她也可以找一个可信赖的朋友来一场模拟面试，对她的表现提一些逆耳忠言。如果她能做到这一点，光明的未来就在前面等着她。我自己倒不打算做这种暴露自己缺点的事，毕竟我的年龄比她大一倍。
Some readers have suggested that your daughter's real problem is that she has a pushy mother who writes in on her behalf. I don't think you're necessarily pushy: it's horrid to watch your child fail, and the older the child the worse, as there is little you can do.
有些读者提出，你女儿真正的问题是，她有一个很要强的妈妈，甚至替她写信提出这个问题。不过我认为，你未必是很要强：看着自己的孩子失败是一件可怕的事，孩子年龄越大就越糟糕，因为你也无能为力。
My guess is you wrote for a simpler reason: you read the newspaper and she doesn't. In which case, get her a subscription. Even if she doesn't actually read it, a folded pink paper sticking out of her bag is a nice fashion accessory.
我猜，你之所以写信来，只有一个简单的原因：你看我们报纸，她却不看。如果是这样，那就也给她订一份吧。就算她实际并不看，但从她的包里探出一卷粉红色的报纸，也是个不错的时尚装饰。
