By Mitchell Baskin, MS, PE
The former TV producer that became a Mercedes Benz salesman – A TV producer took an early retirement package at age 60. He stayed home for awhile but quickly became bored. His career testing showed a lot of “manager type” jobs. He said he did not want the responsibilities at this time in his life and with his pension, he didn’t need to make anywhere as near the money he had been making. I asked him about his hobbies and among them he mentioned he liked cars. I suggested that he consider being a car salesman. He mentioned that he always buys Mercede Benz automobiles over the last 20 years. I asked if he always went to the same dealer and he said yes. I said since you know so much about the Mercede cars that maybe they would hire him. They did and he loves his new career!
The professionsl athlete that became a medical supply rep – A professional soccer player was around 35 years old, had numerous injuries and could no longer perform on the field. He wanted me to write a resume for him so he could get a “real world job,” as he called it. He said there are not enough coaching jobs for all the retired athletes. I asked him what work he did in the off-season. He said he didn’t work and all he did was go to the gym about five times a week. I asked him what jobs he had when he was in college, He said he never worked part-time because he was always practicing after classes. I asked what about the summers, and he said that was when he went to soccer camp. I asked what about when he was in high school and he gave me the same answer. I said to him “You are telling me you never had a real job.” He said that was correct. I asked him if he ever went with teamates to visit kids in hospitals and he told me yes he did. He then mentioned that in the aftermath of Super Storm Sandy, he went with the team in trucks handing out food and water. I said to him, “Then you were a team representative.” And so his resume was written around public relations and communications. He called me about three years later telling me that he got a job as a medical sales rep selling replacement knees, shoulders etc. He said with all the injuries he suffered as a player the job was a natural and he was very successful and wanted me to update his resume so that he could advance his career.