A week or so ago, we noted this Megan McArdle post on the importance of hiring "slackers." As someone who skipped more than the appropriate number of 1:30 Modern European History classes to finish up lunch time euchre games at the fraternity house, I have a soft spot in my heart for "ex-slackers." One of my favorite writers in the Intertunnel is The Epicurean Dealmaker. He weighs in on the subject here. His classic take on recent graduates with a perfect 4.0 grade point average and perfect resumes with perfect lists of extracurricular activities is here:
Most of them, if they ever had a personality or original thought in their head in the first place, have hammered it down so deep into their subconscious they couldn’t summon it on pain of death. Their résumés, their bearing, and their polished interview patter render them about as distinguishable and interesting to talk to as Brooks Brothers mannequins. Nothing in their conversation or revealed background indicates any appetite for adventure, risk, or enlightenment. Nothing they can relate indicates they have tried something they didn’t know they could succeed at, risked failure for a good reason (or any reason at all), or simply gave themselves up to powers greater than themselves—love, fate, chance—just because. They haven’t lived at all. They’ve followed a career path.
I call them carbon sinks.2
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