At Fred’s behest, indeed insistence, I convey the following tale.  Dogs long have been known to men (single or otherwise) as potential “chick-magnets” (to use the vernacular) – a man walking a dog can elicit female interest in the walker, via the walkee.  But did you think that dog-walking also might result in happenstance networking leading to employment?  Fred calls it “canine networking.”

As I understand the story, while my wife Daryle was walking our dog one day in November, she bumped into our neighbor Christine who was walking her own pup.  As they chatted, Christine, a senior executive with a large pharmaceutical company, asked about what our son Harlan was doing since he graduated college in May.  Daryle told her that he was taking a post-baccalaureate course locally and also had two part-time jobs (one at Gothamite John Dugan’s physical therapy clinic in Farmingdale, where Harlan has worked part-time for 6 years, and one in construction, which was winding down for the winter).

Christine said that as a recent Colgate Univ. graduate, and knowing his personality, she thought that he’d make a great candidate for some job openings that had just been posted at her company.  She gave Daryle a link so that Harlan could check it out.

Harlan did some research to understand the nature of the pharmaceutical sales job a bit better.  Partly for the experience of applying and perhaps being interviewed, and partly to seek the job, Harlan applied.  Apparently, according to the information we received, so did 60,000 others (!!), for 300 positions nationwide.  Approximately 20,000 of them sought the 100 slots available in the Northeast.  A handful were available on Long Island.

He made it through the first couple of rounds of cuts, and then was invited to the Hilton Hotel at Logan Airport, Boston, where the company paid for travel expenses and put him and 300 other candidates up for a Wed. night in early Dec. (it now was down to a 3:1 ratio of applicants to jobs in the Northeast region), so they’d be available for several rounds of face-to-face interviews starting early Thursday morning.

Harlan called me at noon on Thursday, saying that the interviews were completed, he thought he’d done well, and they’d learn the results that evening or the next day.  That evening, while we were at a holiday party, Daryle and I received simultaneous texts from Harlan saying he’d gotten the job offer, which he accepted.  As it turns out, the job pays pretty well for entry level, has a wealth of benefits like I’ve never seen before, provides high-quality sales and related training, and should be a great learning experience for him.  All because two dogs needed to be walked at the same time in the same neighborhood.  Pardon the pun, but do I smell a new group called “Gotham Canine Walkers,” anyone?