Several days back a potential student requests a meeting
with me to talk about enrolling in my program. All under the premise of he
already has a B.S. degree but can’t find work in his field. Upon arrival to my
office I ask him to give me his back story, where he earned his bachelors
degree, what did he get it in, and where he saw himself ultimately landing. Blah
blah blah…
He begins his autobiography telling me he earned his B.S. in
Business. I ask him what area he says marketing. He told me he’s interviewed
with multiple firms and never gets a call back. Told me he’s been willing to
relocate, take a traveling job, and even work on commission yet still no luck.
Ok, a little stunned, this one doesn’t add up. The guy is clean cut, well
spoken and thus far acted professional. I’ve never been a fan of marketing
people but they are a necessary evil and if what he’s saying is true surely
this dude would have been sucked up into some type of commission high travel
job by now. Better dig deeper, need more answers here.
Next, I ask him where he earned his degree from. The
question had no more left my mouth and his volume escalates about 5 notches as
he blurts out, “UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS—GO HOGS PIG SOOIE!!!”
Oh what fresh hell was that???
At this point I have no words
and just stare at him for what seemed like forever, I’m also pretty sure I have
just uncovered why this dude is jobless. The silence reaches awkward level and
he finally leans back in the chair and takes a deep breath and says, “I’m
sorry, I’m a huge fan…I still travel down for games and have not missed one
since I graduated.” More awkward silence. I finally said, “So…tell me do you do
that every time somebody asks where you went to college?” His response, “Well,
yay….the hogs are great!” Still not sure how to handle this one, which is a
rare thing for me.
The best response I can come up with is, “Yes, I like bacon
just as much as any guy…but blurting out ‘Go Hogs’ just might be hampering your
job interview efforts. “ Now he’s staring at me like he’s just seen a unicorn
and finally replies with, “Yeah, but it’s our thing!” Oh boy…this dude really
drank down some serious Kool-aid. I tell him, “Yes, and the Florida Gators do
that stupid chomp crap with their arms and make themselves look like a bunch of
paraplegics who suddenly regained use of their arms for the first time. Adding
to the list I have no idea what the hell ‘Roll Tide’ means or ‘Rock Chalk’ for
that matter, but I suspect none of them go into job interviews chanting that
crap.” He’s still very confused, but I manage to divert the conversation away
from Pig Sooie and begin to discuss his academic options.
Long term I hope he does enroll. I’ll have to be sure I
teach his first class that way I can film the classes reaction when we do
introductions on the first night and everybody gets to see this dude nearly
have an aneurism talking about his college.
