HOTELS

Bart Berkey

Are You Smarter Than A 3rd Grader?
August 7, 2008

One day in 2010 in Washington, D.C., a young man named Joe was working as a dishwasher.

"Joe!" his boss boomed. "I thought I told you to clean those dishes an hour ago."

Joe could be a little lazy once in awhile, but his boss was going too far. Joe was not enjoying himself one bit.

"Sorry sir," he stammered. "I woke up late and I forgot to eat lunch."

"No more about you," interrupted his boss.

"Well, then, I will… quit."

Joe was heated with anger, but as he stepped outside into a cool wind, he was brushed with a disturbing thought: How would he pay for food and clothes?  He was in trouble.

Meanwhile, about 100 feet above the ground, a cargo plane started to shake.

"I am the best pilot!"

"No, I am!"

The two pilots argued. The plane continued to shake.

"Whoops… Bob, we lost the library's shipment," one said as a wooden box went falling from the plane.

Zooming fast, a little book fell from the box and started down.

Below, Joe was moping around when some flying book (you know which one) arrowed right down. Joe looked up.

"Aaaaaaagghhhh!"  he yelled. "That book could have hit me!"

And then, wham! The wooden box made its landing and Joe was knocked out.

When he woke up, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the book "The Perfect Job."  Still dizzy, Joe started to wobble to the book and read the contents. It read:

1. Greatness
2. Likeness
3. Adding
4. Testing
5. Feeling
6. Item Finding
7. Choosing

After reading it, he wrote a list for each section.

Greatness- What am I good at?
Likeness- What I like
Adding- Add together Greatness and Likeness
Testing- Try it
Feeling- How you feel doing it
Item Finding- Items needed to do job
Choosing- Make a decision and run with it

After what seemed to be forever, Joe finally found a job he wanted--as an ice cream man. Now all he had to do was get hired.

"You look like you're willing to take the risk," his new boss said, and in an instant, Joe was hired. At least it was better than his old job.

About The Author:
Max Berkey is a 9-year-old boy who thinks he knows how to find a good job for someone. His story was dedicated to his sister Alexa, "because I found the idea when we helped her decide what to be when she grows up." He also shares a passion with his dad of trying to help others.

When I read my son's story, I immediately went to the Internet to search for the book called "The Perfect Job."  I thought his writing was a summary of a story he read in class, but he told me he just came up with it on his own. Who knew I was raising a recruiter and career coach?

I love his simplicity and application of the basics.

Determine what you like to do, find out if you're good at, try it, see how you feel, and make it happen. That is the best advice any career counselor could give.

Sometimes Max is smarter than me!

Posted by Bart Berkey on August 7, 2008 | Comments (2)