Seeking "Can-do" Attitude

One of my son's friends has just returned from the military, where he serviced aircraft in this country and somehow managed to avoid going to Iraq. He's going on a job interview tomorrow. I'm assured he will not be replacing striking Northwest Airlines mechanics.

Another friend is heading south, newly hired by Halliburton's KBR subsidiary to do construction in Mississippi. He'll work 14-hour days, but the pay is $3100 per week. (For those of you not doing the math at home, that's equivalent to a $155,000 annual salary, with two weeks vacation. We can only imagine what the big boys are pulling down.) Halliburton's site current lists 231 U.S. job openings, few of which seem to hold out hope for the displaced locals.

Here's a portion of a job description for a Communications Coordinator:

Must be able to work as a team player in a fast-paced environment and able to multi-task. Must be flexible and responsive to changing priorities and deadlines. Requires “can-do” attitude.

Job success often hinges upon interpersonal skills, or the ability to interact with employees across the organization at all levels. Job tasks require frequent interchange and completion of job tasks depend in large part upon effective interaction with others. Strong people skills with ability to interact with employees across the organization at all levels is critical...

Ability to detect redundancy in written communications, apparently not so critical.

No salary is listed, but I suspect it pays less than hoisting joists in Biloxi.

Most of the U.S. jobs are not directly Katrina-related. You're much more likely to end up in Arlington, Virginia, across the river from Washington, D.C.

Of course.

And the same people that would give my son and his buddies some of their own money to invest in private retirement accounts are now going to stick them with the bill for Iraq, Katrina and every other unplanned disaster...