I don’t know if this is true, but it’s what I heard, and it’s worth sharing.  I was told that at Amy’s Ice Cream (a wonderful Austin institution) the job application consists of a white sandwich bag. The prospective candidate is asked to put on the bag whatever he or she wants the employer to know.

Amy’s prides itself on its creative and fun loving staff.  Customers get not just an ice cream cone, but a show of sorts, yet another reminder of why Austin is so wonderfully weird.  So they simply give the applicant a blank paper bag.  The applicant who gets the job is the one who displays some creativity and humor, but also has enough common sense to include such basics as contact information, prior experience, and references.

This came to mind when I heard Sandra Carpenter, General Counsel at Round Rock ISD, speak at the December conference sponsored by the Texas School Administrators’ Legal Digest and the Texas Association of School Personnel Administrators.  Sandra’s topic was about how to conduct an investigation.  One of the “takeaways” was that a statement written by a person in their own words, in their own handwriting, is generally better than a statement typed out by a school administrator and signed by the person.  In fact, Sandra included in her presentation a sample form  that is not much different from the paper bag used as Amy’s job application.  The form gives the person’s name and the date, and then states:

I VOLUNTEER THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION AND KNOW THAT IT MAY BE USED FOR WHATEVER PURPOSE IT MAY SERVE:

The rest of the form is left blank, except for the signature at the bottom of the page.

Let the witness write it out, poor grammar and misspelling included. It’s much more credible.

DAWG BONE: BUT WE DON’T RECOMMEND THAT PAPER BAG JOB APPLICATION.

Tomorrow:  a creative solution to a problem…