Job Hunting - It is just not fair

Bob called me and said that he was sending a friend of his to see me about a job. William presented himself as a quiet intelligent person, who at the age of forty did not have much of a work history. He had spent his life up to the age of 38 caring for his parents. He had never worked outside his home. For the last two years he did not seem able to keep a job.

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Bob told me that William had been living in his van on his property for some time and believed that it was time for William to be on his own. I had asked William to make a list of tasks that he did when he was taking care of his parents. Well it seemed that William’s parents lived on a farm and Williams work involved keeping the farm running as well as doing repairs on the house. I found that he also loved music.

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William had great attention to detail in all the work that he did. I knew of a foundation that did its work out of a Victorian mansion on that was on a half acre of land. There were gardens around the mansion.  I called the vice president of the foundation and asked if I could have William apply for the position of janitor. I explained that William did not have a real work history but that through my friend Bob we could verify his life story.

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I brought William over to meet the people that ran the foundation and our conversation resulted in William being offered a chance to show he could be a good worker.

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The vice president said she would call at the end of the week to decide if William could stay. I was surprised when she called and asked me over to the foundation. When I got there she walked me through the building pointing out places on the floor and walls and windows. The VP said that all she wanted was for William to clean these areas. What William did was restore gashes and chips in the surfaces to look like new. She said that absolutely William could work there as long as he liked.

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Story over, not even close. Two months later the VP called and asked me to come over for some coffee to talk about William. When I got there she first wanted to go out into the gardens. As we walked around the building she was pointing out things that William had done. He had planted and pruned the shrubs and plants as well as improved the lawn. I had no idea of the talent and work ethic of this William guy. When we got back to her office she told me a story.

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The foundations mission was to help and council poor and homeless people that had emotional problems. Well since the foundation was downtown in the city I was living in there were often homeless people that would try to sleep in the gardens of the foundation. When people from the foundation would approach these people they mostly ran away. They did not run away from William. The VP said that William was bringing new clients into the council ling center along with his other duties.

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She wanted to run another idea past me. Would I approach William and see if he would consider living in a small apartment in the foundation and not have to commute every day.  William agreed but he said that he did not want charity.

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Well another two months went by and I got another call from the Vice president of the foundation and she wanted me to know that William had more talents that they discovered. As William worked his way from the basement to the attic he repaired stained glass windows that had been crudely patched and when he got to the attic he restored another larger apartment with hard wood floor.

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We then discovered another amazing talent of Williams. William had found the pieces of a pipe organ in the attic. He restored the pipe organ fabricating missing pieces. He then began classical music pipe organ concerts every Sunday. The foundation thanked me for the privilege of having William be part of their community.

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What can we learn from this story in today’s world of work? First William did not get his job with a resume as he did not have one. He got his job by showing he could solve problems. Second he did not get his job by interviewing well, he got is by demonstrating his expertise and his work ethic.

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