Humorous

I dusted off my resume last week, before leaving on this trip and sent it out. I got an immediate call from one head hunter. Not surprising, there are a lot of positions open in the field of capital adequacy and Basel II. The head hunter was super polite, although there was a huge pink elephant in her questions. She wouldn't come out and say it explicitly, but clearly she couldn't comprehend was: why someone would not work for 5 years mid-career?

This clearly baffled her, and I'm starting to learn most middle-class Americas. They can't comprehend it. Work in American is a right of passage. Everyone works because, well, that's what you do. All I can say is that I've done everything I have wanted to do in life, that most people wait until retirement to do, but then they are too old and don't do it.

Anyway the head hunter proceeded to inform me that because of the five year hiatus, I was not a viable candidate (i.e. a head hunter could make a large fee off of me). And she was looking or someone with more current bank capital adequacy and Basel II experience.

The moment wasn't lost. I casually (tough-in-cheek) informed her that anyone with recent (i.e. last 5 years) capital adequacy experience, especially at a bank that was bailed out by the government, was basically a failure. Recent experience means HUGE recent mistakes. She laughed.