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"Job Fair" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of The Office. It was written by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky and directed by Tucker Gates. It first aired May 8, 2008.

Synopsis

Jim hits the links with Andy and Kevin to try and land his biggest sale. Meanwhile, Michael sets up a booth at a local job fair, which happens to be Pam's alma mater, to find the "Best and the Brightest" for Dunder-Mifflin's summer internship.

Deleted scenes

  • In a talking head interview, Michael explains that kids today have a short attention span, preoccupied with texting, video games and sex. And today, they are being distracted by other booths.
  • Michael calls a student to the booth and tries to convince him that Dunder Mifflin is a lot of fun. Pam arrives with the paper, and Michael points out that the student could look at Pam all day. He gives the student the paper and says he can keep it. Pam is stunned.
  • Michael tries to convince that student (who is clearly not interested) that Dunder Mifflin is a fun, sexy place. The student manages to escape, but Michael follows him. The student goes to the bathroom and is disturbed to find Michael waiting for him. The student finally tells Michael directly that he's doesn't want to waste his life "selling paper for your stupid company."
  • Kevin anticipates that the winnings from the golf game will help cover his gambling debts.
  • Jim confides that inviting Andy was a calculated move: The client hates Cornell.
  • Pam sees a picture of Roy and says, "9 Years of my life"

Trivia

Connections to other episodes

  • Pam tells the intern candidate Justin, "We uh eat a lot of cake." In the episode Survivor Man, we learn that every employee in the office gets an individual birthday cake.
  • Michael previously used the "And don't call me Shirley" joke with Jan in Valentine's Day. But in that episode, he used it correctly.
  • Jim and Pam share a polite handshake even though they would rather kiss. In The Return, Dwight and Angela share a polite handshake even though they would rather kiss.

Amusing details

  • Kevin once again gambles the petty cash. He did so previously in the Webisode Things Are Getting Tense.
  • Creed openly plays Spider Solitaire on his computer. He stopped caring a long time ago.

Goofs

  • Pam returns to the office for a sheet of card stock, but she takes it from the copy machine. It is very unusual to use card stock for a copy machine.

Cultural references

  • Michael says that he wants to youthanize the office, a made-up word combining "youth" and the verb suffix "-ize". He inadvertently says the word "euthanize", meaning "to kill in a humane way."
  • Valley View High School is located in Archbald, Pennsylvania, about nine miles north of Scranton.
  • Kelly tells Darryl, You look like Barack Obama. Obama was a leading presidential candidate at the time the episode aired and is currently the President.
  • Andy mentions his grandfather spinning in his urn. The idiom "spinning in one's grave" is used to describe a situation which would have made a dead person furious if they were still alive. Andy adapts this idiom to accommodate the fact that his grandfather was cremated.
  • Andy refers to the client as a Dartmouth boy. Dartmouth College is a university in New Hampshire, a member of the Ivy League of prestigious universities (which includes Cornell) in the Northeast United States. (Incidentally, writer/actor Mindy Kaling went to Darthmouth).
  • Kevin lists several golf betting games: Skins, Acey Deucey, Bingo-Bango-Bongo, Sandies, Barkies, Arnies, and Wolf.
  • PMS (known as PMT in British English) is short for "Premenstrual syndrome", a collection of adverse symptoms tied to a woman's menstrual cycle.
  • Dwight says the American workday ends at 5pm. The traditional American workday runs from 9am to 5pm.
  • Junk mail is an informal term for unwanted advertisements received in the mail.
  • Michael blames Dateline for his lack of success at the job fair. Dateline NBC is a television news magazine known for its "To Catch a Predator" segment which identifies child sexual predators.
  • Michael suggests that Justin could be a migraine worker. He means "migrant worker."
  • Michael says And don't call me Shirley, repeating a joke from the movie Airplane!. His use of the joke is incorrect, however, since Pam merely said "Are you serious?" instead of "Surely you can't be serious."
  • Michael describes Justin as the ugly girl in the movie, who takes off her glasses and she's hot! And you realize she was always hot, she was just wearing glasses. This is a movie cliche[1] a special case of the Beautiful All Along cliche.
  • Michael derides the job fair as bush league, originally a derogatory term for the minor leagues of professional baseball, but which has entered general use as slang for "substandard."
  • When Pam and Jim kiss, Kevin and Andy add musical accompaniment in a style characteristic of pornographic movies.
  • The graphic designer lists a variety of computer graphic software: Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Corel Painter, Illustrator, and After Effects.
  • Adult education classes are non-credit evening classes typically offered by small colleges to adults in the community.

Cast

Main Cast

Supporting Cast

Recurring Cast

Guest Cast

  • Emerson Brooks as Air Force Representative
  • Trevor Einhorn as Justin
  • Nelson Franklin as Graphic Design Interviewer
  • Charlie McDermott as High School Student
  • Lori Murphy Saux as The Announcer
  • Phil Reeves as Phil Maguire
  • Valley View High School Students as [Themselves]


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