Who to hire?...and no job, no truck

This weekend I broke a rim on my truck making a tight right turn that resulted in an encounter with a 18" tall 6" concrete post protecting a fire hydrant.  It's a long story but it's because someone (not me) was helpful and chose to return a lost item.

Monday the truck was towed to the dealer.  The encounter left the vehicle with a tendency to only go in a circle to the right...serious alignment issue.

The dealer has confirmed the broken wheel and recommended a replacement tire.  Alignment issues were confirmed but it was more.  "The right rear axle housing is bent.  The part is about $3000 and the labor will be an additional $1000."  The total is now $4500+ from a 2 MPH confrontation.  The redeeming part is that now it's an insurance claim with a company that is a leader in online policy management and claims reporting.  All, now, is in process.  The downside is not having the F-150 for a week plus.  My insurance covers a rental vehicle but floods and hail have depleted the nation's fleet of vehicles. Global weather change hits home.

This AM I asked my better half if I could use her vehicle.  "You don't even have a real job.  You have no where to go."  Nice reminder.

When I did have a job I had the opportunity to hire people.  The challenge for the applicant is to get through the screening process, the review of resumes, including the right 'key words' (#keyword #resume #applicant #wantthisjobbad) and get an interview.  Reviewing resumes, mountains of them, was tedious but enjoyable.  My normal approach was to spend about 30 seconds on each resume.  You look for form, style, relevant experience and typos.  Typos typically indicate that they can't spell and you don't need them or that they are human and did not use a professional service to make a 'good resume.'  So much for logic and deductive reasoning.  Hiring needs intuition.

My interviews were always for an hour, the first never one-on-one.  I brought one of my staff.  It's good to put a face on the people they might work with; I was in charge but they needed to be part of a team.  My  role was scorekeeper, linesman, referee, umpire, etc., making and breaking rules and guidelines and convention.  My goal was to put the interviewee at ease, to ask a few questions, probe their knowledge, find out their individual working styles and learn about their interests.  Musicians always make good IT people.  My staff always wanted conventional candidates.  They all started as my unconventional choices.  It worked.

It's been a while since I interviewed anyone.  Last night's debate was a good opportunity to run through the "would this person be a good hire?" routine.

Attribute	Donald Trump	Hillary Clinton
Appearance/Dress/td>	Professional	Professional
Grooming	Polished. Power tie & suit.	Polished. Pants suit.
Facial Tattoo	None.	None
Visible Tattoo	None	None
'Private' Tattoo	'Donald Trump'	'Bill'
Grammar	Choppy	Polished, planned
Experience	Only at own business	Progressively more demanding government
Relevant Experience	Probably not	Yes
Sense of Humor	None apparent	Not sure. Laughs at odd times.
Has a Pet	Yes & No. Unclear.	One cat, two dogs.
Listening Skills	None.	Only to worthy.
Speaking Skills	Not really. Shouts.	Rehearsed. To detailed.
Demeanor	Arrogant. Elitist.	Arrogant. Elitist.
Can take direction	No. Can't.	Could but won't.
Years of Preparation	Not enough.	Too many.
Ego	Explosive.	Huge
Team Player	No. Only wants to be captain.	Would agree to be co-captain.
Would respect me	No.	Would tolerate me for a while.
Pleasant at happy hour?	Might pick up tab.	Would leverage time.
Plays a musical instrument	Unclear.	Appears not.

My conclusion:  I'm going to run through the stack of submitted resumes a second time.  This is tough.