Daily Mood Quote

Daily Mood Quote

Day 72 – July 14, 2011

“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving.”

~Dale Carnegie

I recently heard on the news that 14 million people are unemployed and more are possibly expected as our recession continues. You already know that my husband and I are unemployed. Not because we choose to be, but because we worked for companies that were not concerned about their employees. Neither now exists in it's former structure, by the way. It's not so much the unemployment that bothers me as much as the effort of trying to find a job. Much like the saying “It's a buyer's or seller's market” in real estate, today it is definitely “an employer’s market.”

My husband and I are finding out that employer's are looking for “paper perfect” people to hire and often the unemployed are not the ones getting the jobs. There was a time when you could apply for a job, have an interview, then get the job, if you were qualified. That is no longer the case. Now, you apply for a job on the internet. In most cases that's the only way. There is no initial contact with a human being and they say in their ads, “no phone calls” that's an instant disqualifier. Then, if your internet application matches “key words” from the job description, your resume goes through to the next round. Sounds like Monopoly™, you get to pass “GO” Woo Hoo! However, you don't necessarily collect a job. Then the application may be reviewed by an actual person (is this progress or what?), who may or may not like your last name, your address or something else just as irrelevant on your resume, regardless of qualifications. Depending on that information you either get the cursory “thank you for applying e-mail”...maybe and only if their software is programmed that way. Otherwise, it's like your resume dropped into a wasteland. (audio over: wind whistling through bare tree branches). Or, if you survive that gauntlet, you receive an e-mail that says, “We would like to set up a phone interview.” Really, a phone interview, are they afraid of human contact in there? Hello?

Assuming you make it through the brief phone interview, where the interviewer may be multitasking and not paying any attention at all, they send you an email replete with a mountain of paperwork to fill out that sometimes takes up to four hours to complete. The form surveys the minute details of your life. Supposedly, by completing this paperwork you and your application move ahead in the hiring process. That is assuming you pass the criminal background check, the credit report check and the social network check (Beware All Ye Facebookers). All online and all completely oblivious to the facts and circumstances of your life. I'm surprised they don't ask to see your elementary school records “In second grade did you prefer Crayons™ or color pencils?”, or tinkle in a cup and drop it in our convenient digital analyzer please. “Breath into the mouse”... the mouseilizer? Maybe, I shouldn't give them any new ideas, as if that would matter. Someone, somewhere, is now dreaming up ways to do just that. And all before you meet a human being. Do you ever wonder if the hiring process is just a bit out of control? I do, I am having a hard time understanding why all of this is necessary. I can understand a criminal background check, but a credit check? So far, none of this predicts skills or productivity. That just human resource people being nosey. Look at all the information you give before you even get an interview. Ever wonder where gossip starts? It is easy to criticize, condemn and complain about a person you have never met, based on the vague picture the paperwork presents. Guess what folks, it doesn’t tell the real story. It is just a “snapshot in time” and that is how decisions are being made today. If you have been unemployed for more than a month or two, your credit can turn ugly fast. Companies are missing out on good, qualified and educated people because of a snapshot in time. I learned in a Human Resource class, that you don't have to give them permission, but on the flip side, you kill the interview process. Another case of “dammed if you do and dammed if you don't.”

Take a deep breathe, look back in time and remember the movie Tootsie, when Michael Dorsey who played Dorthy Michaels (played by Dustin Hoffman) said to everyone standing around at the audition, “Oh I know what y'all really want is some gross, caricature of a woman to prove some idiotic point that power makes a woman masculine, or masculine women are ugly. Well shame on you for letting a man do that, or any man that does that. That means you, dear. Miss Marshall. Shame on you, you macho sh#$ head. (Dabney Coleman)” It's Dabney Coleman week I suppose! The point is, credit checks don't prove people are irresponsible, just like a parking ticket doesn't prove someone to be a bad driver. “Snapshots in time” We must ask more relevant questions about the job and less about my paper route when I was ten years old. I feel that it is “popular psychology” out of control. As Barry Corbin (General Beringer) said in the 1983 classic War Games, with Matthew Broderick “Mr. McKittrick, (again Dabney Coleman) after very careful consideration, sir, I've come to the conclusion that your new defense system sucks.” Between you and me, they should revive the “Just Say No” campaign for intrusive hiring practices.

Will you look passed the “snapshot in time” today?

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