I’m working with a client here in NYC to build their fledgling (already profitable) software company; one of the positions is for a senior sysadmin. Aside from direct sourcing which I prefer to do, I still have fun using Craigslist – as we say here in New Yawk, you never know.
So this morning, I check my Inbox and there it was…from a sysadmin serving in Baghdad appeared the following that pretty much left me with coffee streaming from my nose while I spit out bits of the buttered roll I was eating. Enjoy!
“I’ve been bouncing boxes for Uncle Sam 2.5 years now in some of the most god awful places on earth. I’ve racked servers during indirect fire, maintained contact with a bird while our vehicle was shot up, mastered the finer art of the many uses of duct tape and how it applies to IT in a warzone. I’ve put up racks in Namibian provinces while cheetahs and jackals watched me from 100 yards away, I’ve even chased an ostrich who tried to steal my CAT5 from the box. I’ve worked on military projects where the dotmil PM/leadership had a more difficult time making decisions than my wife, I’ve danced in the Red Zone with Iraqi locals after a support call to a Forward Operating Base. I’ve mastered the chemistry of the ‘essential caffeine stack’ and I debunked the myth that if you untie your belly button, your butt will fall off (it won’t!). I’ve been shot at, shot up, blown up, broken and put back together again; from Baghdad to Namibia and from Sudan to Djibouti. I strongly feel that I have the skillset, experience and thick skin to take on the world of IT in the greatest city on earth.”
I called him right away; while he may not end up as an employee, I can assure you I’ll remember him and his made-me-pee-in-my-pants letter the rest of my recruiting days.
Jobseekers take notice!
The Recruiting Inferno 