Peter Coy, the economics editor of Bloomberg Businessweek, has applied for the upcoming open position of governor of Bank of England, at the request of magazine editor Josh Tyrangiel.
Coy writes, “I got to my desk this morning and found a ripped-out want ad from Her Majesty’s Treasury notifying job-seekers that ‘the position of Governor of the Bank of England will fall vacant when Sir Mervyn King retires in 2013.’ On the ad was a yellow Post-it note saying,
Peter—
Josh suggests
you apply …
“How flattering! Well, it’s not like Mervyn King has done such a great job. He kicked off the financial crisis by letting Northern Rock suffer a bank run in 2007, and the scandalous misreporting of Libor occurred under his nose. Maybe, just maybe, I could land this job and be done with the dirty work of journalism forever. (Or maybe Josh was subtly hinting that it was time for me to move on. Still not sure.)
“Anyway, so began two hours at the intersection of central banking and journalistic stuntsmanship, in five chapters.
“CHAPTER ONE: I DOWNLOAD THE APPLICATION
“I follow the link listed in the ad, which appears in the Economist, about which the less said the better. The position is buried under 10 other listings, after an opening for an independent claims examiner in Liverpool for the Department of Work and Pensions. Not to be a snob, but doesn’t such an important position deserve more prominent placement? Then I notice that the closing date for the posting is listed as 08/10/2012. Are they trying to throw American applicants off the trail by making them think the opening expired Aug. 10, when it’s really open until Oct. 8? It’ll take more than an obscure listing and an anti-American date format to shake me off.”
Read more here.
