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The Job Interview

           Three men were applying as a building manager. During the interview, the executive in charge of hiring, gave each applicant a clinometer – device used to measure angle of elevation – and said to them, “You may use this device any way you want to determine the building’s height.” The applicants went out together deep in thought.

          After five minutes, the first applicant, a musician, came back whistling a tune. After ten minutes, a second applicant, a physicist entered the room with a large grin on his face. Twenty minutes more had passed before the third applicant, an engineer, reported back.

They gave the executive more or less the same answer, so the latter asked them how they determined the building’s height. The executive decided to interview first the engineer.

“I went out of the building, looked for a suitable spot the distance of which I can easily figure and measure the building’s angle of elevation,” was the engineer’s elaboration. He continued, “After that, it’s a breeze solving for the height using high school trigonometry.”

The physicist also explained his method. “Well, to save time, I used a better principle. I went to the rooftop, dropped the clinometer and measured how long it took to hit the ground. After that, the building’s height was just an equation away.” And he stepped aside, patting himself for the job well done.

Then, it’s the third applicant’s turn. He smiled and said, “I am confident that what you need is a manager who knows how to use resources and maximize personnel’s talent, and not one who knows an exotic knowledge. So I told the man on the information desk that he can have the clinometer when he tells me the building’s height. Now I have what I need and he got extra gift for something he will do for free.”

The executive smiled and the musician got the job.

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