By MARY WARD
I was going to be a Virgo.
I was going to be an an anal, hypercritical, Beyonce-esque mid-September birthday.
To be fair, I am still anal, hypercritical and oh so Beyonce-esque. It’s just that I was born two weeks late, so my very Virgo personality traits (confirmed by many a peer-reviewed Buzzfeed quiz) have been glossed over as non-astrological personality flaws, while every time I can’t choose between ham or chicken on my sandwich I am met with cries of: “She’s a Libra! Definitely such a Libra!”
I am Virgo-identifying. But, alas, not a Virgo.
However, it turns out that I am lucky my oversized baby head had to be yanked out from its uterine overstay by a pair of salad tongs. Because, had I been born a few days earlier, I might not be able to get a job.*
In an article for New Republic, Christopher Beam explores the Chinese fascination with star signs in the recruitment process. Beam reports that a recent study found 16 per cent of Chinese people thought Virgos had the most trouble finding work. He writes:
Why the obsession with Virgos? I asked Felicia Jiang, who runs the popular Chinese astrology website NoDoor.com. “Virgos are perfectionists, so they’ll often criticise other people,” she said. “It’s easy to notice, and easy to exaggerate.” Jiang pointed out that, as with all signs, Virgos’ weaknesses are also their strengths. Their attention to detail, while potentially irritating, actually makes them excellent workers.
Yeah. Yeah we (and by ‘we’, I do mean the people born during the star sign before mine, who I identify with on a spiritual level but definitely not in a concrete, ‘we are born in the same randomly allotted – oh, I’m sorry, I mean astrologically based – period of time’ level) are excellent workers.
Some Chinese Virgos have set out to prove that fact with a social media campaign that roughly translates to #RectifyTheNameOfTheVirgo. Taking to Chinese social network Weibo (think Twitter, but with more censorship and – unbelievably – more Kevin Rudd) to share why being crazy perfectionists actually makes them ideal employees.
And, as a Virgo ally/sympathiser/wannabe, I absolutely concur.
*In China. But that’s where all the cool, tertiary-educated kids are getting their entry-level professional jobs, am I right?
Do you think that star signs influence personality type?
Top Comments
As my late father would say, "Astrology is a load of Taurus". 'nough said.
Several virgos in my family, also glutton for punishment I've dated a Virgo, all I can say if someone gave them a million dollars they'd be worried about the tax ramifications (they wouldn't hide the money under the floorboards because they're virgos which means they follow the rules). They'd also whinge about how the money they received was crinkled. They'd hold a family meeting, which they would facilitate (and of course take minutes - the virgos arguing whether it would be best to use blue pen or black pen), in their words the meeting would be an open dialogue in which we could all suggest what we should do with money. Each suggestion would be met with an encouraging smile "hmm that's an interesting suggestion, thank you for that, but I think there could be some flaws in the implementation." The end result would be that whatever suggestion they came up with would be the one we would be manipulated into going. Not that this would be implemented because they would spend months worrying about whether this was the best option. In the end the money would just sit in the savings account. (Though the more daring virgos might splash out and take out everyone for some Chinese before putting the rest in the bank.
Oh well at least it all wouldn't get blown on a time machine (I have some other non Virgo star signs in my family)
Ha ha! This is wonderful.