Employers are still singing a sad song when trying to hire employees.
I talked to a gentleman last week who owns his own business and needed to hire a bookkeeper. He asks prospective applicants if they can pass a background and drug test. During a three-week period, the following three people went through the application process.
The first applicant said yes to the background check and drug testing question. When the reports came back, the applicant had a felony conviction for insurance fraud. Not optimal for a bookkeeper.
The second applicant also answered yes to the background and drug testing question. The business owner got a call from the background check company telling him the applicant had given the wrong social security number. When the business owner called the applicant, she said she would send a copy of her social security card. The business owner never heard from her again.
The third applicant went through the process. The drug test came back showing cocaine.
What in the world is going on?! Don’t these people understand the concept of background checks and drug testing?
Last month I attended a presentation by a business financial planner. They send letters to prospects to see if they will follow the instructions placed throughout the letter.
He told a story of an employer taking a prospective employee to lunch. The prospect started salting his food before tasting it. The employer didn’t like the fact that this person didn’t find out first if the food needed salt. Considering our first employer’s stories of prospects not passing background checks, this might be a little over the top as far as expectations go.
Our presenter remembered a time when he heard tidbits of an interview going on in the next office. He heard laughing. The interviewers said they really liked the prospect. The next interview with her caused them to cool off. She started telling them things she probably ought not to tell. She had gotten too comfortable.
I mentioned to the financial planner that many employers are too rigid in their quest. They might find someone who may lack specific knowledge of their business or industry, but who have the qualities of an exceptional employee. He agreed completely. He said the qualities of work ethic, respect, personal responsibility, and character cannot be learned - but most other things can.
When hiring their first employee, a well-known employer in Okaloosa County went through the exhausting process of advertising for and interviewing respondents. Out of many unqualified people they found one who is still with them today. They now require videos to weed through responses before interviewing.
Questions arise. Are schools doing enough to, if not teach, then reinforce the behaviors associated with hard work, satisfaction in a job well done, and developing character? There has long been a discussion of lapses in parental guidance among many of today’s youth. There are even reports millennials take their parents with them to job interviews!
Can the trends of entitlement, getting away with anything, laziness, and lack of personal responsibility be reversed? Is some of the trend due to desperate employers hiring warm bodies?
We need a course correction if businesses and communities are to continue to thrive.