The Coach Gets a New Job!

Way back in March I believe, a job advertisement popped up for the Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Covington.  I scoffed as The Coach updated his resume and prepared to submit his application.  Let's take some things into consideration.

1-No degree in Parks and Rec, which was required for the job.  Also required was a billion years experience working in lower level park and rec jobs.  He has none.

2- Race.  Don't roll your eyes, it's small town southern USA and there has never been a black person hired to a city department head job.  The city is just about 50/50 white/black so that's not a good sign.   

3-Small town USA.  They hand pick these jobs from the good old boy network.

So let's add 1+3 and the odds of him even getting an interview were pretty slim.  

BUT.  There's always a but.

Little did Joe know that when he submitted his application, the city had been under some pretty heavy fire and negative scrutiny for number 3.  The city put together a non-biased panel of people to hire the person for this job specifically to stop number 3 from happening.  

And he hoped and prayed that he could get to the interview stage.  About six weeks after he submitted his application, after he had long forgotten about it because he just figured 1+3 = not him, he received a letter in the mail requesting an interview.  

And so The Coach gets his foot in the door.

The interview process was lengthy.  It took several months.  It consisted of not only interviews, but they ran the candidates through different scenarios and had them create briefs, speak publicly, and all sorts of other things.  Joe shines at those things, public speaking is his strongest suit without a doubt.  The panel scored the candidates and the mayor did the final interviews.  

Guess who had the highest panel score and was the top recommended candidate to the mayor?

Yes, folks.  The Coach.  

The mayor is new and wants change for the city.  He thinks outside the box and welcomes change.

The mayor interviewed the top candidates and within just a few hours he had called Joe and told him he was his recommendation for the job and within the next week or so he was voted in by the Board of Alderman.

The mayor and Joe after he was voted in.

I am SO happy for Joe, and so proud of him.  This job is perfect for him.  He is in charge of the youth sports program for the city, the cities health and fitness complex, all the parks and ballfields, the museum, and the swimming pool.  He has already in just a month made so many positive changes and has been very well received by the entire community.  He has a big job ahead of him, he is nearly working with a clean slate with regards to youth sports, the parks need updating and the culture needs to change a little bit.

But, I'm 100% positive that if anybody can make those things happen, it's definitely The Coach.