The Hot Prospect

Fired from his job as a salesman for an electronics company, Joe Sherman could not find another. At 54, his age counted against him. His real education was skimpy. So Sherman put a new and imaginary personality on paper. He subtracted 15 years from his age, added a cum laude degree from the University of Pittsburgh, work on a Ph.D. at the University of Florida and a broad array of engineering experience. Then he mailed his resume to a wide range of electronics firms all over the country.

Aerospace and electronics companies are desperate for skilled technicians, and soon Joe Sherman was flooded with responses from personnel managers. In accordance with now-current practice in this competitive field, all were eager to pay his expenses if he would just appear for a personal interview. Joe judiciously accepted selected offers, pocketed the money for his air fare, and took off cross-country from his Pasadena, Calif., home in his battered automobile.

Sherman never accepted a job, and he never intended to. But in a hectic two years, he collected some $15,000 from 40 companies, among them Brown Engineering of Huntsville, Ala., Laboratory for Electronics in Boston and Defense Electronics of Rockville, Md. Foresightedly he asked that the firms he talked with abide by "the code of the companies" and contact none of his "previous employers" until interviews were complete. Using alias after alias, he was not once asked for identification.

Such firms as Sperry Gyroscope Co. and Raytheon Co. actually offered jobs. So confident did Sherman become that he threatened to sue one firm that was tardy with his expense payment.

Finally, after Sherman had collected expenses from Radio Corp. of America for three separate interviews at four different plants, RCA got suspicious and notified postal inspectors. Later an engineering placement service sent one of Sherman's resumes to Radiation Inc. of Melbourne, Fla., a firm that Sherman had listed as a "former employer." Radiation officials checked with the federal postal authorities, and Sherman's jig was up. Arrested in Orlando, Sherman pleaded guilty to three counts of using the mails to defraud and now faces a maximum sentence of 15 years. Sighs Sherman: "I'm glad it's all over. It was horrible on the health. Driving 100,000 miles a year is more than anybody can stand."

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