Dream Job

If anything, Luther Howard should be able to teach his Camden High football team the value of perseverance. That, after all, is what finally led Howard to his dream job. In a year in which South Jersey coaching changes were minimal - just seven schools switched coaches - Howard's hiring is one of the more interesting, if only because it seemed as if it might never happen. Howard, 53, is no stranger to South Jersey, having coached in the area since 1983. Since that time, he has applied seven times to become the head coach at either Camden or Woodrow Wilson.

Grads: Take a critical approach to job search I would like to address all the recent graduates who, like Lindsey Aspinall, find themselves in difficult job searches ("From a jobless graduate, some encouragement," July 15). When I see graduates who have reached this point, I encourage them to take a critical look at their preparation. Are all your written documents exceptional; has someone in the career field checked them; do they relate your skills and abilities and not just how you can "change the company's bottom line?"

He speaks in rapid, breathless bursts that are exhausting to listen to, if not to deliver. But talking, and specifically talking about sports, is what Michael Quigley does for recreation, and, if all goes according to plan, soon will do for his vocation. ESPN is the latest player to enter the oversaturated reality TV genre, and Quigley, a 40-year-old self-employed auto supplies salesman from Lansdowne, Delaware County, is one of 12 finalists in the network's Dream Job show. Starting tomorrow, Quigley and his fellow SportsCenter anchor wannabes will compete in a weekly series in which they perform typical on-air television tasks, such as sideline reporting, anchoring, reading scripts and interviewing athletes.

Sometimes, the backward way turns out to be the right way. As a student at the University of Kansas in the early 1980s, Gary Boyd wanted to become a historian after graduation in 1985, but the need to pay off student loans stopped that idea. "Historian jobs aren't exactly plentiful, and for most of them you need a doctorate in history," he said. "And I knew a lot of people who got their doctorates in history but couldn't find a job in the field. " So, he enlisted in the Air Force.

Jennifer Calcagno wanted to play football in high school. Her mother told her to try cheerleading instead. To her dismay, she made the squad, but her heart always stayed on the field. "They were all these girly-girls looking at their nails, and I'm screaming, 'Gggoooo!!!'" So when Calcagno, now 22, heard that ESPN was looking for talent in the Philadelphia area, she decided to put her enthusiasm to work. The Mantua, N.J., native was one of 262 who lined up at McFadden's Restaurant and Saloon on North Third Street in Center City yesterday for a chance to compete on ESPN's Dream Job, a reality TV show that promises a one-year contract as a sportscaster on SportsCenter to the amateur who rises to the top of the heap.

The Philadelphia Orchestra has signed a player from the Houston Symphony to fill its highly coveted principal percussionist spot. Christopher Deviney, 38, who twice substituted with the Philadelphians on tour, begins his new post Sept. 15. Deviney replaces Michael "Mickey" Bookspan, a popular orchestra figure who died in September after 49 years with the orchestra. The new hire beat out 204 applicants for a position that percussionists called, variously, one of the most sought-after anywhere, and the kind of job that opens up only once every 10 to 15 years.

Dear Son, It's hard to believe that your junior year at Penn is almost over; in just one year, that $148,000 diploma you've worked so hard for will finally be yours. Hey Day is Friday and even though it's a revered university tradition of many decades, your Dad and I are worried. We know that you and your classmates can't wait to sashay across campus in those bright red shirts - biting holes out of Styrofoam hats and swinging bamboo canes - before Dr. Judith Rodin gives you her benediction at College Hall, pronouncing you seniors.

If not for an ailing daughter who requires much of her time, Adela Rudzinski, 85, said she would work another 47 1/2 years at the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office. "I love my job. I'm very reluctant to leave," said Rudzinski, who retired Feb. 1. She must leave, though, to help her only child, Lorraine, 54, who is disabled and now requires constant care. Rudzinski started as a stenographer in July 1955. Since then, she said, the structure of the Prosecutor's Office has changed - as have the types of crimes it handles.

Chaos reigns when Joy Biletz dreams about her job. "I can't find something, or can't remember what I was doing or where I was going," said Biletz, who balances several projects and constant deadlines in her work in publishing production. "I could be on the phone and can't get through," she said, describing her dream. "I could be at the printer, and there is no toner and no paper. " Most people dream about their jobs, and Biletz, 48, of Lansdale, is no exception. "Work stirs up our conflicts and anxieties," said John Suler, a psychology professor at Rider College in Lawrenceville, N.J., who has taught a course about dreams for more than a decade.

From up-close contact with hardened criminals to jarring pagers that interrupt his sleep to inheriting the unsolved suburban bomber case, it may be hard to understand why Joseph W. Carroll wanted to be district attorney. But Chester County's new head prosecutor says he has fulfilled a longtime goal. "I always wanted the job," he said emphatically. "I knew what I was in for, and I'm very happy to be here. " Not surprisingly, Carroll, 52, of West Chester, would have preferred that the unidentified pipe bomber had been apprehended before he took over, but he is committed to solving the crime.