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July 20, 2008
A Good Person is Hard to Find
Yesterday, Alan Lenzi posted an abnormally humorous job advertisement, fictitious I think, for an entry level Hebrew Bible Instructor for the Department of True Theology and Other Religious Stuff at Our Lord of the Exclusive Way University. Go give it a read and have a laugh.
It reminded me of a real job search. One in which I was looking for a rather special employee. For a very short time while working for a large multinational company, a newly formed design center in Moscow (that's Moscow, Russia) was under my "leadership." Why? I have no idea. Being unqualified to manage such an enterprise, one of my goals was to recruit a competent manager. So, with the help of our amiable Human Resources Department, I put together a job description that had the following elements:
- BS (MS preferred) in electrical or electronic engineering
- 5 years experience managing remote design centers
- Fluent in written and spoken Russian and English
- 5 years experience in the design of digital processor based hardware and software for communication applications
- Familiarity with international and regional wireless and wire line communications standards
- Familiarity with Russian and American business practices
- Willing to travel 50% time
There were a few other minor requirements but these were the biggies. I wasn't sure we could find anyone that even came close to these requirements. Finding a good engineer or engineering manager who was willing to travel was hard enough. And just to make things more interesting, shortly after I posted the job offer, I got an internal letter from Human Resources informing me that my total operation was below guidelines on Hispanic staff and that I should delay interviewing candidates for the Manager of the Moscow Design Center position until at least two Hispanic applicants were in the applicant pool.
The Director of Human Resources' office was about fifty feet from mine and I was in his doorway in less than ten seconds. The good news is that shortly after this little bureaucratic fracas, I was able to trick a good friend of mine, a real engineering manager, into taking over responsibility for this endeavor. He was somehow able to find the required Design Center manager. I guess his operation had enough Hispanics on staff. The better news is that he is still my friend.
Posted by Duane Smith at July 20, 2008 9:06 AM | Read more on Odds and Ends |
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