[TopAce]

I've applied for a job as a communications assistant. I meet all the requirements and the job overview looks good enough. The problem? The company organizes international opera competitions, and I know **** about opera. From the top of my hat I couldn't name anything more alien to me than overdressed people singing frigging loudly about angst, doubt, and pain. I know some authors and I recognize some pieces, but that's all.

To make my application valid, I have to submit two 15-line-long pieces of writing, due Monday noon. I could do my research and write them easily enough, but the fact that I'm not too keen about the subject matter may have its repercussions later, provided I receive employment.

Now I'm not sure whether this position requires some opera-related knowledge, and I definitely won't ask the HR guy about it. It's not among the job requirements, which may imply the applicant needn't know much about opera. I could surely look stuff up and learn some of the basics of the art, but it will still be an alien field to me.

What do you think? Should I finish the application process or look for something else?

[StarSlayer]

I am confused, do you not want the job?   The only reason I can think of to pull out is that if it was offered you don't want the position.   It's not as if life keeps track of the number of job applications you applied for that did not come to fruition.   So the prospect of you not being accepted isn't really a reason to back out.   If you are concerned that not having fore knowledge of Opera might affect your performance if you were accepted, then yeah it might be worth bring up.  But in today's day an age of the net and wikipedia its not like there are not easy outlets to rectify the situation.  Quite frankly when it comes to getting a job, the old Soviet Armor school maxim of throwing so many tanks against the front they'll eventually punch through isn't a bad strategy.

As for Opera, your description isn't particularly accurate.  This statement and particular: "overdressed people singing frigging loudly about angst, doubt, and pain." could be applied to pretty much any genre of music of any period   Opera is actually incredibly diverse in its content and story lines, remember these where essentially movies for way back when.  Besides like it or not you gotta respect the fact the practitioners have to belt out their lines perfectly, live in front of an audience, without any of the auto tune studio bull**** that most modern artists are completely dependent on.

I'm not saying you need to love opera or anything, but calling it old fogey music doesn't do you any justice.

[Mongoose]

Not that I have much employment experience myself, but given your description of the position, I don't think that some intimate knowledge of opera as a whole would be required.  So long as you meet the stated requirements, I don't think you'll be expected to conduct the orchestra or anything.

[NGTM-1R]

I spend most of my days working for active-duty members of the US Navy. This doesn't mean I need to be at all conversant in their work (and arguably I'm not). It merely helps, and often, not more than a small bit. They like it if you can speak the language a little, but most of the time it doesn't come up.

[newman]

"Communications assistant"? Hell, people I actually met with job descriptions like that didn't know much about anything, least of all the field their company was in

Seriously, if you want the job apply for it and do some homework on opera. I'm not saying buy a subscription at the local Opera House - do some reading on the internet. It may not be your favorite subject but you *are* (potentially) getting paid for it so reading a few articles shouldn't present a problem. What Slayer said was amazingly close to what I was going to post when I read your first post, so I'm not going to repeat any of that. Just do your homework and who knows, maybe you'll discover it's not completely repulsive. Then maybe you'll figure out there's a method to that madness. Maybe one particular piece will intrigue you and you never know - you may end up liking it. If you don't at least you're going to know very well why it's not your cup of tea - dismissing it before knowing much about it because it's, as Slayer put it, "old fogey music", would be kind of infantile. Especially since there's a paying job in the equation - you don't have to adore something to be professional about it. And your job wouldn't include actually going to the Opera, at least not frequently..

[Nuke]

reject the working world and live off the government.

this has been my strategy thus far, and so far its worked out great.

From the top of my hat I couldn't name anything more alien to me than overdressed people singing frigging loudly about angst, doubt, and pain. I know some authors and I recognize some pieces, but that's all.

i think were gonna need to tape him to a chair and force him to sit through the entire ring cycle. i have a pretty good xvid rip of a taped performance from the 80s complete with subtitles, its well worth watching, once.

[Klaustrophobia]

not applying would be very unwise, even if you want to look elsewhere.  you don't have to decide until you get an offer, but if you don't apply and nothing else turns up, you're not too good off.

[Veers]

Apply:
- Get job
- Get offered job
- Do not get job

Dont apply:
- Not considered
- Never know outcome.

Considering some people have a lot of trouble getting work atm, I would suggest applying, you can always turn the position down later when/if you are accepted or learn more about it.

Still comes down to what you want though, I am personally applying for nearly anything I can get my hands on.

Best wishes with this TA!

[Unknown Target]

I've applied for a job as a communications assistant. I meet all the requirements and the job overview looks good enough. The problem? The company organizes international opera competitions, and I know **** about opera. From the top of my hat I couldn't name anything more alien to me than overdressed people singing frigging loudly about angst, doubt, and pain. I know some authors and I recognize some pieces, but that's all.

To make my application valid, I have to submit two 15-line-long pieces of writing, due Monday noon. I could do my research and write them easily enough, but the fact that I'm not too keen about the subject matter may have its repercussions later, provided I receive employment.

Now I'm not sure whether this position requires some opera-related knowledge, and I definitely won't ask the HR guy about it. It's not among the job requirements, which may imply the applicant needn't know much about opera. I could surely look stuff up and learn some of the basics of the art, but it will still be an alien field to me.

What do you think? Should I finish the application process or look for something else?

What do you know a lot about, TopAce?

[Colonol Dekker]

Apply for all. Go for all. Accept the first. Use it to fund improvement/quals/gym membership/social/experience eventually leading to better job x

[StarSlayer]

Apply for all. Go for all. Accept the first. Use it to fund improvement/quals/gym membership/social/experience eventually leading to better job x

With the caveat of availability though, if the market is good enough that you think your can snag more then one offer you don't necessarily need to jump on the first one that comes back.   If the market is poor by all means get what you can as Dekker says, but remember your going to spend most of you're time at your profession, so finding one that has a corporate culture that you click with is important.