Now hiring: Woodland seeks manager First-year boys soccer coach to give postseason gift certificate to eager applicant

All summer long, the signs were all over the place: “Help wanted, Now hiring – All shifts, Flexible hours available, All positions open.”

It seems that the proliferation of part-time jobs and scarcity of people available or willing to work them hasn’t ended with the closing of summer. Just ask Woodland’s Rick Pullen.

No, Pullen’s not a shift manager at McDonald’s or supervisor at Shaw’s, he’s the Woodland Dragons’ boys varsity soccer coach and he’s looking for a manager.

“I don’t know if it’s just here or other schools are having trouble too, but managers are scarce,” said Pullen, who replaced longtime coach Mike Whalen. “Maybe the kids feel unappreciated. I really don’t know. I do know it’s a demanding job, and it takes a lot of time, and good managers are worth their weight in gold.”

That’s why Pullen has hit upon the idea of offering a little capital incentive. He plans to give his team’s manager, should he find one, a $50 gift certificate to the store of his or her choice after the season’s over.

“I got to thinking that kids respond to money best,” said Pullen, a rookie varsity coach who’s also a sixth grade teacher at Princeton Elementary School.

According to Pullen, the lack of interest in the manager’s job may be due to a few reasons.

“The kids here – especially a lot of the girls – who usually do it are taking heavy class loads,” Pullen explained. “I had a couple girls who were interested, but they really wanted to put their time into their schoolwork.

“Plus it’s a small school and most everybody here is already involved in some kind of sports in the fall.”

Pullen’s manager problem is somewhat strangely appropriate for a young team beginning a new chapter. Most of the starters graduated from last season’s team, Whalen opted to retire after three decades as the team’s coach, and the Dragons lost an experienced manager to graduation after four years on the job.

Already four games into the regular season, Pullen may see his efforts soon rewarded as he thinks he has a sophomore candidate to take the job.

“I hope so anyway,” Pullen said. “Check back with me again in a couple weeks.”

Pullen isn’t the only one affected by a manager shortage as both the cross country and girls soccer team had vacancies, although the cross country job was recently filled.