A Parable about Preparation

Once upon a time, there was a graduate who was hungry to earn some money. They were prepared to work hard for it, so wanted a job where the amount of money earned was directly impacted by how much effort they put in. A commission scheme, you might say.

After searching around for a while, they managed to land a job as an apprentice lumberjack, where they would get paid for every tree chopped down – perfect!  

On the first day, the Chief Lumber Officer (CLO) gave the young apprentice an axe and sent them off to the forest. The young apprentice knew that if they worked hard, they could earn well, so spent a full day in the forest and on returning to the yard had 20 trees to show for a day’s work. The CLO was suitably impressed at the effort, paid the young apprentice for each tree and they went off to the pub to celebrate. This was a great job!

On the second day, the apprentice came in early, picked up the axe and headed off to the forest again. They worked as hard as the previous day but when they got back to the yard to collect their earnings, realised they had only managed to chop down 18 trees. This confused the apprentice a little, but on reflection it must have just been one of those things and they’d be able to put it right again the next day.  

The next day came and the apprentice was in earlier than before to make up the numbers, picked up the axe, headed off to the forest and chopped harder than the previous day and stayed later than the previous days. Totally exhausted, the apprentice trudged back to the yard and was almost brought to tears when the trees were counted up and realised, they had only managed to chop 15 trees down this time. How could this be? The apprentice had worked harder than before and longer than before yet was producing worse result. It didn’t make sense. 

Too exhausted to go to the pub, the young apprentice headed home. They were in serious need of rest if this was going to put right. The next morning while it was still dark the apprentice got up, headed to the yard, grabbed the axe and off they went. There was certainly no fear of a hard day’s work and had always wanted a job where the effort put in reflected how much money was earned – they were prepared to give it everything!

At the end of the fourth day, the apprentice crawled back to the yard and the CLO counted up the trees. “8,9,10. That’s ten trees’ today”

“Ten? Ten?!! How is that even possible? I’m working as hard as I can and longer and longer each day, but the number of trees is getting less each day. What’s going on??”

Feeling a little sorry for the young apprentice, the CLO turned and asked, “when was the last time you sharpened your axe?” 

“What?” said the apprentice “I haven’t had time to sharpen my axe, I’ve been too busy trying to chop down trees!”

The End.

Finding a new job can sometimes feel like a full-time job in itself. There’s no denying that having a lot of interviews will likely increase your chances, but if you find yourself going to loads of interviews without taking the time to fully prepare for each one (sharpen your axe) then you’ll likely find that you’re not going to get the return you want on your efforts.

Harrington Starr offers a whole range of services including interview guides and preparation, even if your interviewing for roles that you haven’t found through us. Feel free to give me a call any time if you need some help - I’m ready and waiting with my axe sharpening tools.