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Europe
What Glass Ceiling?
2005-01-06
World's cleverest woman can't find a job
A Bulgarian woman rated the world's cleverest wants a British firm to give her a job after spending two years on the dole. Bulgarian Daniela Simidchieva, a mother of three, has five Masters Degrees and an IQ of almost 200. She's listed by the country's Mensa office as the world's cleverest but despite sending off hundreds of applications she still hasn't found a job.
"Bob, I've got a resume here that sez the applicant's the world's smartest woman. We got anything for her?"
Her IQ is the same as that of chemist Marie Curie who was the first person to win the Noble Prize twice but cannot even get a cleaning job. Daniela said: "I love learning, but I also want to work. In the last 44 years I have studied economics, education and sociology at universities in Bulgaria and Britain. I am qualified as an industrial engineer, as an English teacher and as an electrical engineer as well as having my five Masters degrees. "But in Bulgaria I have found that employers do not want clever employees. Even when I had a job, the largest salary I ever managed was just £90 a month."
Once upon a time... Aren't there any Think Labs left, ala Bellcore? This is a stupid shame.
Somehow I doubt we're getting the entire story here. Paging Paul Harvey!
Posted by:.com

#20  Wait a minute. Five *masters* degrees? I know a lot of decent guys with masters degrees, but in general masters degree holders are held in low esteem - they're commonly held to be too dim or lame or whatever to get a proper doctorate. Mostly, this attitude is a crock of shit, but given that it is a common attitude, who in their right mind would go chasing *five* masters degrees? Sounds like the world's most accomplished mediocrity, really.

...says the guy who barely has a bachelors... oh, well.
Posted by: Mitch H.   2005-01-06 5:26:39 PM  

#19  In Europe staying in school until 30 or even 40 is not unusual. The culture demands that new hires be fully trained with all the skills and knowledge needed to do the job. My husband had colleagues who thought he must be a genius (ha!) because he outranked them with only a B.S. (ChemE). Over there that would have kept him a lab technician. Only PhDs are allowed to manage others, only those with additional degrees in Business Management are permitted to manage a real business unit. And if, when you graduate, there is no call for your particular skill set, you have to go back to school to get another degree.

Now granted, things are a little looser in, say, small entrepreneurships in the Czech Republic, but I'm not aware that Bulgaria is as free wheeling a place.
Posted by: trailing wife   2005-01-06 5:17:40 PM  

#18  I thought that our fr
Posted by: Shipman   2005-01-06 3:29:19 PM  

#17  hmmm what shock to Hillary - someone else is the world's smartest woman
Posted by: Frank G   2005-01-06 1:45:32 PM  

#16  learning isn't doing. Building your resume in school until you are in your 40s is of course going to end in disaster when you compete against someone who has been actually doing the job for years. As it is we rely too much on credentials vs. competency.
Posted by: Mark E.   2005-01-06 1:33:59 PM  

#15  How did she pay for all of this education? How did she have time to raise 3 children? Apparently, she has too much time on her hands.
Posted by: Rightwing   2005-01-06 11:37:07 AM  

#14  TGA and 2b nailed it. Intelligence, cleverness and -- particularly -- common sense seldom all reside in the same person. Its like that wisdom/knowledge thingy.

Truth to tell, I am quite, quite certain that this Bulgarian lady is completely unsuited for the real world. She would be much better off writing a few brilliant papers, then going for a professorship somewhere... perhaps in one of those trendy multidiscipline slots.

I, too, worked in an R&D lab for a few wonderful years. But the PhDs were generally kept away from managing anything more than a technician or two, and promoted up the Technical track rather than into Management -- and a wise decision that was, to be sure.

But I discovered that I, too, while not able to boast of anything even close to a genius IQ (darn it!), was completely unsuited for the rough'n'tumble of the real world. We are all much happier with me covering the home front while Mr. Wife plays all day at the Corporation. Quite a shock to Little Miss Liberated Me it was to discover this about myself, but there it is.
Posted by: trailing wife   2005-01-06 11:12:53 AM  

#13  200 IQ, 5 masters, a love of learning and a willingness to work... and it never occurred to her to go entrepenurial? WTF?
Posted by: BH   2005-01-06 11:01:42 AM  

#12  Watch out Fred, Larsons got savage lawyers.
Posted by: Shipman   2005-01-06 10:56:09 AM  

#11  Ya, but can she take shorthand?
Posted by: Captain America   2005-01-06 10:47:22 AM  

#10  geeks are my favorite.
Posted by: 2b   2005-01-06 9:59:01 AM  

#9  I worked at an R&D Lab for 5 yrs - and there were a few people there who would have been rather out of place anywhere else, but they had their names on the plaque in the foyer - for holding 25 or more patents. I believe the key was that, internally, most still had a child's gift of pure imagination and creativity. Frustrating, but fun, too, to program their ideas into applications for the desktops of the engineers for real-world use. I loved working and interacting with those characters.
Posted by: .com   2005-01-06 9:57:41 AM  

#8  She may be one of those people who doesn't interview well.

"I'm very sorry, but you are overqualified for this position. Have you tried the food service industry?"
Posted by: Steve   2005-01-06 9:46:58 AM  

#7  She may be one of those people who doesn't interview well.
Posted by: Mike   2005-01-06 8:48:08 AM  

#6  I have always asserted that clever and intelligent are 2 seperate traits. They are good to have in combination but are not commonly found together.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2005-01-06 8:39:37 AM  

#5  That just proves that "intelligent" does not equate "clever".
Posted by: True German Ally   2005-01-06 8:34:52 AM  

#4  If being smart was the sole qualification for holding a job, any company I ever worked at would have had much fewer staff...
Posted by: Carl in N.H.   2005-01-06 8:33:51 AM  

#3  no common sense or she would have already figured out how to purchase an airline ticket to a country that would pay her well.
Posted by: 2b   2005-01-06 8:20:12 AM  

#2  44 years study, 5 masters degrees?

Maybe she has an IQ of 200 but obviously no clue what she wants.
Posted by: True German Ally   2005-01-06 8:09:24 AM  

#1  I bet she's a woeful driver.
Posted by: Howard UK   2005-01-06 8:03:14 AM  

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