It’s really not me. It’s him…

It’s an exciting time in anyone’s career when they apply for a job. Unfortunately for a lot of people in today’s economic environment the chances of success in getting a job are not always that high.

I’m probably biased in my outlook though but for certain professions I think there will always be a demand and anyone that furthers their knowledge in the financial and business functions will be ahead of the game.

What about politics and agriculture though? And more to the point how important is your name in determining whether you get a good job or not?

There was a rather amusing mix up the other day when following Silvio Berlusconi’s resignation, Italy’s new government got a bit confused in its appointment of a new cabinet.

They contacted Professor Francesco Braga who is an expert in agriculture at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada and told him that he had been appointed as the new deputy agriculture secretary in Mario Monti’s new government.

This probably came as a bit of a shock to Professor Braga as although he’s an expert in agriculture he’s lived in Canada for 28 years.

He reportedly told The Toronto Star newspaper: “I thought, ‘Oh, my God.’ I replied to their email. Suddenly, there is a flood of emails from friends, foes and industry associations, all kinds of important players in Italian agribusiness, congratulating me. So I thought, ‘OK, it must be true.’”

Alas for Professor Braga though the appointment was meant for another Professor who is also called Franco Braga.

Now the second Professor Braga does in fact live in Italy but the interesting point here is that he is not an expert on agriculture as he is in fact a professor of construction engineering at Rome’s Sapienza University.

He had been recommended by Altero Matteoli, the previous infrastructure minister and to make matters even more confusing, he was not recommended for the agriculture post but was instead recommended for the position in infrastructure.

So in conclusion, the Italian economy was in turmoil and Silvio Berlusconi’s government were widely blamed for the problems.

A new government led by Mario Monti is being set up to hopefully bring some stability to the economy.

One of the new government’s first appointments was a deputy agricultural minister who they mistakenly thought was a Canadian agricultural professor but then it turned out that it was a professor of construction.

In summary then things appear to be all under control…