Should I let persistence pay off?

[jim_p]

At one slow point during today's job fair the phone in the meeting room rings... and rings... and rings. I let it ring figuring it was a wrong number and the caller would eventually give up. When it kept ringing I finally picked it up and said "This is probably not the party you're looking for". The caller on the other end said "Is this the job fair?" Internally I stumbled and skipped a few beats but externally I recovered and started chatting with the fellow; depending on how you look at it he's either very confident or extremely arrogant. He said things like "I decided to try to call in because I'm on the other side of 495", and "I can be a valuable asset to your company".

Part of me is saying to myself "So let me get this straight: you couldn't be arsed to physically haul your ass into this job fair, but you want to be considered anyway. You think you're better than anyone else? And what's with this valuable asset crap anyway? WE will be the judge of that!"

Yet there are others who would admire his persistence (he obviously had to social-engineer his way through the hotel switchboard to ring that phone) and his confidence and give him plus points for that.

What irks me is that I get the funny feeling that if I were to try the same sort of thing I would get the first reaction above ("Who does this jerk think he is?!") rather than the second ("Hey, this guy must be hot stuff to act like this!"), so I'm strongly tempted to ding him on that reason alone. After all, why should I conspire to reward him for something that I myself would just as likely be punished for?

Yet at the same time there are shades of grey here. I remember talking to someone else about job-hunting and how it never goes "by the book". If you just go by the book and follow stated procedure, you'll likely be passed over. On the other hand, this guy's approach feels a little too far off the book, if you know what I mean.

I'm not sure what to make of it...

Comments

[marmota.livejournal.com]

It sounds to me like they need a lesson in manners, not an interview. They utterly fail the "plays well with others" test by not waiting for their fair turn in line.

[lothie.livejournal.com]

My feeling would be that he'd screw his colleagues over too. I wouldn't even consider someone like that.

I like his 'nads, but not his style

[madbodger.livejournal.com]

I'm arrogant myself and sometimes come to interviews with the "I can be good for your company and I can prove it -- but are you worthy?" mindset. But I don't think it can be very far to the job fair (nothing is far up where you live), so phoning in (without a good excuse) could well be a mark of that self-assured laziness that may well spell trouble.