ALexanders Qualifications

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What were some of Alexander the greats qualifications he could use for a job application today?

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2004

Answers

Well, he got his first job through blatant nepotism. He got to be a prince just because his dad was a king. But he got that job when he was very, very young. I'll figure he's filling out this hypothetical job application when he is about 22 years old. When he was 30 he didn't need a job - he had one.

He had a very good education - the equivalent of a Harvard degree in today's terms - from Aristotle. Actually, it would be more like having a Nobel Prize winner for your private tutor.

He also could claim something like ROTC (army officer training) because he spent time with his father's army, learning the ropes as an adolescent. By age 22 he had almost certainly led troops in battle.

He could claim to have served something like an internship in the diplomatic field - learning how to negotiate treaties and entertain ambassadors from other lands. He appeared in Athens as his father's ambassador as a young man, but I'm not sure whether he was older than 22 by then, and I'm not going to look it up.

He also could claim to know the law, since a king had to settle disputes among his subjects and know what his predecessors had done in similar situations.

On the whole, he had an amazingly well-rounded and highly practical education for being a political leader. If he were applying for an entry level job as a desk clerk, I'd probably consider him overqualified and hire someone else.

-- Anonymous, February 14, 2004


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