Have you ever been in a position to hire someone?

Over the years I’ve hired a lot of people, some I look back on with a smile, and some I look back on with a cringe, and a what the heck was I thinking.

We’ve recently had a few positions to fill, mostly due to promotions, so it’s a good thing.

A lot of you know John Berry, he was my online editor with the massive beard that seemed to be taking over his entire upper body. He was promoted to editor of a couple of papers in Connecticut. Ashley Campbell, recently named community engagement editor, was promoted to take John’s place.

So the newsroom shuffle resulted in an open entry level position.

Always a great opportunity. Every chance to hire someone should be taken seriously and entered into with eyes wide open.

There’s always that hire that turns out to be nothing like the person you interviewed.

Think about it. Someone trying to get their foot in the door of a company is going to put on their Sunday best and come prepared to dazzle.

When you’re the one doing the hiring, though, it’s your job to make sure you see through the spit and polish.

I’ve told people for years, if I have two candidates for the same position and one went to Harvard and the other went to Kutztown and the one from Harvard was completely arrogant and the one from Kutztown was down to earth and seemed like someone everyone in the newsroom would get along with, everything else being equal, I’d hire the kid from Kutztown.

Well, what would you do if one of the candidates already worked for you and was going up against someone from the outside?

Seems to me that kind of puts the person doing the hiring in the catbird seat now doesn’t it?

And that’s where we are today as we head into the final weeks before the presidential election.

One candidate has the job and wants to be rehired, and the other is coming in fresh, trying his best to make a good first impression.

While both candidates did indeed go to Harvard, I still have to hold true to my thought process on determining who would be the best candidate for the job.

We’ve had more than four years, counting the campaign leading to the last election, of President Obama telling us what we need, and the best way for us to get what we need.

I don’t know about you, but I just don’t think we’ve gotten anywhere near where he said he was going to get us, and I don’t think giving him four more years will get us any closer. I know he has that one month of unemployment dipping below eight percent to hang his hat on, but I don’t think anyone believes for a minute that the dip was a bellwether of great things to come.

And on top of it all, Obama seems to carry a little bit of arrogance with him as he tells us how and why and when we should be doing things to get ourselves back on the road to prosperity.

But at this point, I’m not even sure his own party is buying it.

While he does seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time hobnobbing with celebrities, he has at least attempted to accomplish some of his assigned duties, one of which is putting a budget up before Congress.

The problem is ... he couldn’t get anyone to vote for it. And I mean anyone. Not a single member of his own party would even give his proposal a vote of confidence, much less a vote on the floor, of either arm of our legislative body.

How is it possible that not one member of Congress saw fit to vote for his spending plan?

Perhaps it’s because he spends like a drunken sailor on leave? No offense to any drunken sailor anywhere by the way, because even drunken sailors only spend the money they have on them at the time. Obama is spending all the money he has on him, and all the money we have on us, too, and not just now, but all the money we might have on us in the future.

And I don’t know about you, but I haven’t heard much remorse in his voice during the past couple of debates about the fix he’s gotten us into. All I hear is about how much more we need to keep spending, and all of this coming on the heels of yet another company Obama gave millions to only to have them file for bankruptcy a short time after. First there was Solyndra, the solar panel company that received $535 million in loan guarantees, and then A123, a battery manufacturer that received $249.1 million. Since when did we authorize the federal government to go into the venture capital business?

So, we’re bringing the two candidates back in for their final interviews. Pay close attention. Both went to Harvard, but everything else here just doesn’t seem equal.

Which one do you hire?