I was nearing the end of my Graduate School studies at the University of Maine in Orono in Forestry and beginning to reach out into the private sector for employment opportunities. My wife, who was nine months pregnant at the time with our second child, called my grad office looking for my help…as she was in the city shopping and had just blown out a tire on our car in a spring pot-hole. I went to help and while waiting for the tire to be repaired I spied a regional telephone office (hey…this was before iPhones, fax machines & the internet, or overnight mail), went in and perused their telephone directories for potential businesses to send out my resume’ to. As a result I mailed out some resumes on a Friday. That very Sunday as I reviewed the Boston Globe job wanted section I fell out of my chair when I saw a want ad from one of the firms I had just contacted describing me (my resume’) perfectly. Monday morning my office phone rang and it was Northland Investment Corporation wondering how in the blazes I got a resume’ to them the day after they had advertised for the new position. It simply wasn’t possible in their mind and they were mystified. They then laughed along with me at my story and it got me a trip to Boston to interview, and ultimately I landed the job, which turned into a 37-year career with that very firm as I ultimately rose to CEO and Chairman of the Board. The moral of the story is…get your wife pregnant, let her wreck a tire, allow the heavens to part and you’ll get the job of a lifetime tossed into your lap…and eventually a wonderful new baby to boot!
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