Had an interesting applicant come in

[majorminor]

We have a few openings here for woodworkers that start out at $10hr + benefits for entry level. We’ve had an ad in the paper and a listing with job service. Last night I saw an older guy who was in filling out an ap for one of those positions. I guessed him to be about 50 something and he was a little grizzled and…I dunno…Reverend Jim looking if anyone remembers the old Taxi show. Very well spoken and obviously pretty sharp and knew a lot about woodworking. Started looking over his application this morning and he is a 1968 Yale graduate with a B.A. in poli sci and then went on to pick up an MBA from Boston University in ’72. Now he may be misrepresenting himself but having talked to him I believe his creds. For the last few years he’s been making wooden drift boats from home and trying to sell them and apparently it’s not working out. And his prior jobs going back to 2002 are of the self employed and sporadic variety. Not sure what the point of this post is other than life can take many strange turns and I’m sure this guy has had an interesting one. My first gut reaction was "man has this guy slid a long way down" but I dunno...maybe he's the one that actually has things figured out.

[dradtke]

Does he play guitar?

[majorminor]

Y'know David I never thought to ask but that could certainly explain it.

[lakeside]

I remember in the 80's, when I co-owned a business down in Durango, Co, we would put an ad in for a delivery driver or whatnot and would get lawyers and professionals of all kinds sending in apps from all over the Country. They just wanted to live there and at that time the economy in the 4 corners area (AZ, UT, CO, NM) was in the tank. They were just willing to take what they could get until they had the lay of the land down, I suppose. I never quite knew, especially as a young 20 something, how to tell a lawyer he wasn't qualified to do deliveries for us.

I guess you can never tell what motivates some people.

[Doug]

I would guess that your first thought was right, but then who knows.

I have a sister that's a waitress in a beer joint/restaurant (the on that was lost, sister that is not beer joint. She's an active Mensa person, but that's the best job she's had since about '85. She's a drunk. Works hard and is super smart but keeping it together for more than a few weeks doesn't seem to be in her ability. But she seems to be content in what she's doing.

[Deleted]

I used to work for a man who had his juris doctorate and a degree in civil engineering. He was happy as a lark running his 1600 acre farm, growing corn and alfalfa, and raising a few cattle and hogs.

Ya just never know...

Tom

[Village Idiot]

Sounds like an interesting guy that will quit in two weeks.

[timfarney]

Hire him. I want the rest of the story. If it's a choice, not bad luck or bad habits, he might just be the smartest guy in the room. "Long slide down?" If I could afford to live very simply, and doing so wouldn't force it on my family, that slide would look pretty attractive some days.

Tim

[millring]

I'm always tickled to hear about the overeducated among us. I'm as comforted by the disconnect between intellect and employment as I am terrified to be in over my head.

[majorminor]

villageidiot said:

Sounds like an interesting guy that will quit in two weeks.

ding ding ding ding

[millring]

majorminor said:

We have a few openings here for woodworkers that start out at $10hr + benefits for entry level.

Would this involve finger-threatening work? I can assure you that I will not be similarly over-qualified.

[TDR]

Maybe he's one of those guys that look Timothy Leary's advice back in the day, and never quite dropped back in.

[davidhanners]

Reminds me of the garbageman character in "Dilbert." He's a genius (or at least he knows a lot about everything) and that once prompted Dilbert (or maybe it was Dogbert) to remark that those of us who aren't geniuses have no business telling a genius that he's in the wrong job.

And as has been noted, if I could live a simpler life, I would.

[patrick]

So, he got his MBA in 1972 and his resume only lists jobs of the self-employed kind since 2002?

Sounds like he may have spent 30 years in the grind, made more money than he needs and is now able to do what he wants rather than worry about putting food on the table.

[aquaduct]

BS in English Lit, Eastern Mich. 1987
MBA, U of M, 1995
Masters of Mechanical Engineering, Lehigh, anticipated 2011.

By 2020, I hope to be applying for that job. Can you hold it for me?

[majorminor]

He left a bright high energy lucid follow up call on my voice mail late last night and what he really wants to be is our national sales and marketing manager.

[TDR]

Watch out, the guy may own the company in a couple of years and you'll be calling him boss.

[majorminor]

tdr said:

Watch out, the guy may own the company in a couple of years and you'll be calling him boss.

Care to make a friendly wager on that ?

[Doug]

Care to make a friendly wager on that ?

HA HA I bet you sell out to anybody with the right $100 billion dollars.

[TDR]

Guess we'll have to find something else to have that friendly wager about, Mm. I don't like the odds on this one.