In this tanking economy, job interviews seem to be getting longer, and longer. They used to be a half hour or hour, tops. You met with your direct supervisor and if he or she liked you, that was it. Now they are two to three hours long and you meet with every single person who might graze your cubicle on the way to the restroom.

It's the marathon that kills me. I can sound great for thirty to forty-five minutes, but by the second hour, without any commercial breaks, or enough caffeine, my game face starts to crack. It's just too much pressure. Eventually, my diarrhea-of-the-mouth disease makes itself known, and before I know it, I am letting on that I have interests in other things besides working. [POTENTIAL EMPLOYERS PLEASE NOTE: I am a kick-ass employee!...and, no, I don't use words like "kick=ass" in client meetings or documentation]. So, although, I am a kick-ass worker bee, my extracurricular interests (salsa, blogs, play) can appear like creative energy flowing out of the office. But it's really not...in reality it ricochets back into the office.

Besides, do we want a job force made of steely worker-bots, who bill time in two minute increments and can stare down the Terminator with their laser like focus? Do we want to fill our vocabulary with enough Corporate Speak ("off-line" "bandwidth" "deliverables", etc.) that the old "think outside of the box," sound like rap lyrics?

Until the economy recovers, I think we do. Giant sigh.

Just for today, I believe I am a valuable asset to any company.