The week ahead

Monday

World Bank releases governance report card.

Tuesday

Senate Commerce Committee holds hearings on data brokers and identity theft.

Wednesday

House Transportation panel holds hearing on Amtrak’s Acela service.

Economic indicator: March trade balance.

Thursday

House Ways & Means Committee holds hearing on Social Security.

Economic indicator: April retail sales.

Friday

Economic indicator: May consumer sentiment.

Real estate

For sale: Samurai-style home with ‘good karma’

Atherton, Calif. (ap) — No one has made an offer on Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison’s $25 million “samurai home.”

The 8,000-square-foot, seven-bedroom house was put up for sale in late March. Ellison bought the three-acre property in 1987 for more than $6 million.

The Japanese-style house has sliding shoji screen doors to separate rooms, views of a koi pond, a backyard waterfall, and a swimming pool designed to look like a lake. Japanese art and rare objects from Ellison’s collection are displayed throughout the house, including samurai helmets and armor and handpainted screens.

Real estate agent Mary Gullixson, who is handling the sale, said, “I think it’s a very fair price … and the house has good karma.”

Advice

This interview is over

Job interviews can make even the calm and cool slightly apprehensive at times. But your chances of landing that new position will be infinitely better if you avoid the following interview foibles, collected from more than 600 hiring managers by Chicago-based CareerBuilder.com, a job search site.

The following are actual accounts of what recruiters have seen:

• Candidate admitted she would not pass the mandatory drug test.
• Candidate disclosed she only wanted the job for the employee discount.
• Candidate brought his mom.
• Candidate asked for directions to another interview.
• Candidate came in wearing pajama bottoms and flip flops.
• Candidate brought wine to the interview and offered me a glass.