Saturday, January 17, 2009

The Wisdom of Professor Sowell

This is a wonderful article from one of our country's smartest men, Professor Thomas Sowell of Stanford's Hoover Institute.

I find it particularly interesting after a day of frustrating and fruitless job searching.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Clearly, too much government intervention is not a good thing.
Most immigrants came, and still come, to the USA to get away from "too much government intervention".
Also, globalization is not a bad thing either. With a weak dollar, one good bit of news is the increase in imports.

However, there are so many people telling us how bad the economy is, or how bad it will be, that too many people are believing it. This breeds paralyzation for people who might otherwise be hiring.

But, with much job search experience in hand, the main thing is to turn over a lot of rocks, and to constantly follow up. These days email is a good way to "unobtrusively" follow up, but a phone call is good too. Worst case, the potential employer asks you to stop bothering them, but most actually are happy to have someone show them how interested they are.

Plus, before you call, know one pertinent thing to say about either their business or how you really would be an asset to them.

In any case, be patient. Your track record with employers of a variety of types is very, very good. If it were me, I'd hire you immediately. Right now some hardware stores are resetting for spring. Just a thought.

Chris said...

I really can't imagine a more diverse resume for a 23 year old than what yours contains, especially the Gaffers' Lawn-care elements:

*Dead animal burial
*Rat poison consumption
*Sun burns/copious perspiration
*Braving the poop deck
*Jumping my car 6 times in one day
*American Gladiator siestas
*Flying remote controls
*Etc.

Also, Thomas Sowell is the man. He's the perfect antidote to the race, political, and economic issues of the day. May his prophetic voice be heralded from the mountaintops!

Anonymous said...

Sorry, typo, should be "increase in exports" in first paragraph.

Anonymous said...

Hi. Time to come out of the shadows and admit that I've been reading your blog.

But... I thought you had a job? Are you looking for something else or did you get let go?

Samwise Gamgee said...

I do have a job as a teacher's aid in a special ed classroom but it's part time (30 hrs a week). But am looking for another ... because weddings don't pay for themselves...