How to select the best candidate?Have you looked at the candidates resumes carefully?In any profession, when they are looking into hiring someone, first they look at each candidate's resume, and there, first thing they look at is his/her education, to make sure he/she has the required degree with enough & related training from a credible univ./collage and with a high standing. If that's not the case, they don't waist their time any more - just through the resume out, and move to the next one. If the candidate passes that, then they look at his/her related experience. If that one is also good then probably interview him/her to know more about his/her character & personal values and physical fitness for the job, and also how much his/her vision/goals aligns with the company's vision/goals.For more than 20 years, every time that I've applied for a new job, I went through the same cycle of resume writing & interview process. Every time that I hired someone - from ordinary things, like car oil change to a family doctor for check up, to a repair person for the house, to hire someone for the company, I've performed the same steps.Education without experience is lame, and experience without education is blind.Probably, government positions are the only ones that may skip that process, and put someone with no, or little, or unrelated education and/or experience in the office. Ironically, higher the public responsibility, more people ignore following the above process in hiring a qualified person for the office. Positions like member of municipality, mayor of city/town, governor of state, state representative or senator of congress, or president of the country - in fact any position that you can vote for.In any election, we should look at it as if we are hiring someone for the office with the fix salary & all the benefits that come with it (and of course, the high responsibility), and try to evaluate each candidate's resume with the same process as mentioned above, i.e.:1- Education2- Experience3- Character/Personal values & Physical fitness4- Vision/goalsLet me break them more:-Education: .high degree .degree be related to the job .from top university/collage .good grade-Experience: .number of years in related field .successful achievements & progress .references/colleagues feedback-Character/Personal values & Physical fitness: .honesty, trustworthy, loyalty, integrity, leadership, good judgment, teamwork, good problem solving & decision making, good negotiating, understanding, care about people & environment, civilize/humane/moral values, intelligent, mature, good attitude .physically fit, healthy, high energy, passion-Vision/goals in related areas according to the job, like: .economy .peace/war .security .education .health .energy .environment .Tax .family .crime .employment .civil rights .foreign affairs & human rights .etcFor example for this coming presidential election we can try to define above parameters:1- What education a president should have?I think a president should have at least a bachelor's degree in one of the following areas:LawEconomicsPolitical ScienceSociology or Social WorkInternational/Foreign affairAnd enough courses/training in all the above areas as well as the following areas:Public Policy (local or global)Management & LeadershipPlanning (for cities, environments, social & economic well-being)I think a president needs to have academic training in all those areas that when he/she discusses issues in each area with a team of experts to find the best possible solution, be able to understand them and analyze their recommendations to be able to make the best decision (e.g., sitting with a team of economists with high degree & experience on economy issues).2- In terms of experience, a president should have good public service experience like US senator, US representative, governor, mayor, state official, state senator, state representative, civil rights attorney, community work, etc. But let's be careful about this. As I mentioned above, experience without knowledge is blind and has little value because he/she has never had fundamental theory to fully comprehend and build those experiences on top of knowledge.3- Character/Personal values as mentioned above are essential for a president to have, especially leadership, good judgment, good temper, and being able to work with people with different opinions. And being physically fit, healthy, and with high energy for such a stressful job is also very important. A president with little of these values can (for example) lead the country to an unnecessary war and risk the lives of millions of people, leave so many disables, and destroy so many families.4- How much the vision & goals of the presidential candidate & VP, in areas that you think are very important, is compatible with yours? We should list those areas (similar to ones I listed above) and evaluate each candidate for each area. And when you do that, you shouldn't think about the things that are important ONLY for YOU and/or have immediate benefit for you but also for the people in your neighborhood/town/city, for your state, for your country, and also for the world. We should realize that we are responsible to all people of our country and the whole world who we elect and put in the office. A president can push the green button and lead the country toward peace & prosperity or push the red button toward world nuclear war & destruction of earth. Don't forget, in the face of history, people like Hitler didn't fall to office from sky; some people voted for & elected them.We should carefully study each candidate and grade them for each & all of the parameters mentioned above to elect someone wisely & responsibly.For example, for the first element, i.e., the candidate's education, I did some research and found the following info for this presidential election:Obama:.Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a specialization inInternational Relations.Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude, first black president of the "Harvard Law Review"Biden:.University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science..Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)McCain:.United States Naval Academy (2.5 yrs training as a naval aviator); class rank: 894 of 899; he had conflict with higher-ranking personnel; he did not always obey the rules; struggled with mathematicsPalin:Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semesterNorth Idaho College - 2 semesters - general studyUniversity of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalismMatanuska-Susitna College - 1 semesterUniversity of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in JournalismFor the rest of qualifying parameters, I suggest you do your own research. We should keep in mind that presidency is a serious job. Lives of millions are at stake. So, we want to hire some people who satisfy the education & training requirements for it, as well as experience, integrity, vision, etc.While we should study & select our candidate carefully, at the same time, someone who doesn't have enough qualification for the job shouldn't apply for it - shouldn't candidate for it. Like any profession, if someone likes to have a specific position in public service, or become a politician (for example, become a mayor, governor, member of congress, VP, president, etc.), he/she should study in that field & work for it. It’s very ridiculous that some people with no or little qualification become candidate for these types of jobs. And what is more disappointing is WE contribute, support, vote for & elect these people for the office.Vote wisely & responsibly.By: Jaabeej================One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.--Plato--================Some of the References:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obamahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mccainhttp://www.barackobama.com/learn/meet_barack.phphttp://www.johnmccain.com/About/http://obama.senate.gov/about/http://mccain.senate.gov/
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