Evening star., 1940-01-14

He has made So much good will for the
agency that his employers have raised his
salary three times in as many years.
Joe Burns was clerk in a men S clothing
store. From long experience he had acquired
that second sense that good clothing sales
men have: he could pick out, before a Gus
toner did, the suit or hat that the customer
would eventually decide to buy In other
words. he knew types. When the store was
closed, Joe counted that knowledge heavily
in taking account of his own stock. The
logical place to sell it came to him one day
when he was glancing at magazine. A pic
ture in an advertisement was supposed to
represent a businessman - and the suit on
the man, Joe decided, was definitely wrong
for the type. He grabbed his hat and started
for the Office of a commercial photographer.
Joe quickly convinced that photographer
that he was find. The photographer put
him on call as model. He still poses occasion
ally but has full time job now directing
other models and making sure that they wear
the right clothes for their roles.
Experience, you see, doesn't mean simply
familiarity with the routine of one particular
job. BY the time a man is forty, he has usu
ally absorbed, more or less unconsCiously, Il
breadth of experience that goes far beyond
routine.
Experience even means what you have
learned about the Wr0ng way to do things.
The youngster has to find that out by trial
and error The older man and woman kn0W.
I've heard people say that once a man has
failed in business nobody wants him. Non
sense He may be just the man who will save
his next associates from making the mistakes
that he knows to be disastrous.
know a man who was the head OF a we'll
known advertising agency in NlldWestern
city He saw his business sink further and
further from the big black figures into the
red Every step he took seemed to be the
wrong one. BY the time he had figured out
why each step was wrong, 1t was too late. lie
closed up shop, finally. and went to the firm
that had been his chief competitor. He told
them Just how he had analyzed his errors OF
Judgment Il think | could help you AVOID
similar mistakes he suggested. They hired
him, and today he is partner IN the firm
with which he formerly competed.
EXPERIENCE may even mean Just broad
human understanding Miss Hill, for instance,
was registrar Of conservatory of music.
She was forty-seven when she decided that
she wanted to take a crack at the larger
opportunities in the commercial world.
"Oh, you can't change from institutional
to commercial work" she was told. Not at
your age"
Miss Hill didn't believe it - and she was
right As matter of fact. her forty-seven
many younger applicants for a position at the
head of filing department. The department
had been warning hive of young girls. What
was needed was someone with deep under
standing of human nature and an ability to
face problems with poise and placidity. Miss
Hill qualified got the job and soon had things
we'll in hand.
The other day securities s-Company presi
dent sent me word that he needed a secretary.
Do you think that he asked for some cute
young thing who could pass for a Follies
beauty? He did not He specified woman
over thirty, and married. He wanted someone
who would be stable, done with hutter and
fluff, sobered by responsibility. The woman
he finally chose had two children and dis
abled husband to support.
Many employers prefer older, married
women for these same reasons. Not so long