Spending time with (possible) future eBay employees

I spent a chunk of last Thursday spending time with the next generation of eBay employees. No, not at a job fair, but at our annual "Bring Your Kids to Work Day." It's a fun day - for at least a couple of hours, you get to see a side of your coworkers while they're with their families that you don't normally in the workplace. And the kids are having a great time getting their faces painted, playing carnival games (such as the "clown toss" game to the right), and munching on popcorn and ice cream sandwiches.

For the second year now, I was asked to do a really short presentation for the kids, who were generally between 8-12, so they could learn what eBay is all about. Since I don't have kids of my own (yet - it'll be a different story come late July), I put together a  demonstration of how my boss' kids use  eBay...with their dad, of course...to find coins and trading cards to add to their collections. I also had a secret weapon - the whiteboard, which several kids thought was the most interesting part of my talk.

But it turns out that these kids are already experts. Some were waiting for items to arrive (like a copy of Godzilla Unleashed for the Nintendo Wii), and others could perfectly state what it is eBay does. In fact, I almost hit the floor when one precocious kid described eBay as a "consumer-oriented marketplace." I heard a rumor our Marketing and Brand teams are already preparing employment offers.

Of course, the most important part was the Good Humor ice cream cart which I promptly pillaged as soon as my presentation was over. Now to figure out how to stash one of those things in my cube.