When a small Vancouver insurance brokerage firm advertised for a "person Friday," requiring no special skills or experience and paying only $4.25 per hour, it was astounded to receive more than 400 applications. Mr. Paul Nicholls, who placed the ad, said that 90 per cent of the resumes were typed or neatly written, and many of the applicants were over-qualified. One applicant even offered to donate the services of his home computer and word processor if he were hired for the job. Another held a master's degree and claimed that this was the 2,OOOth resume he had submitted. Mr. Nicholls, deeply touched by the incredible response, wrote a letter about this incident to the Vancouver Sun and copies were sent to every MP.
This situation received much media attention and revealed, according to Mr. Nicholls, that unemployment is far more of a problem than Statistics Canada figures indicate.
Add Your Comments
Parents and teachers want children to have the skills to make a difference. But what can we teach to help them survive their teen years, 20s, and 30s with convictions and charac... 
Why do so many of us have to work where the windows don't open? Engineers, architects, and lawyers have their reasons, but must workplaces be less humane than homes? 
In Santa Ana in California prisoners can buy a cell upgrade. In Dallas, Texas, underachieving children are paid to read books. These are, alas, some of the saner and less offens... 
SIX QUESTIONS . . . The new culture I am making is an attempt to say hold still and look at this. 
Our culture does not know how to deal with legacies. We either treat the dead with some combination of awe and fear, or we think of our forebears as unworthy of remembrance, to ... 
Acrylic on Canvas 18" x 36" This piece is a manifestation of life's "do overs". After priming over a painting I was unhappy with, I discovered...
Harry Antonides is the founding editor of Comment. ... read more »