Dailu Mood Quote - July 23, 2011

  

Daily Mood Quotes

Day 81 – July 23, 2011

“Your greatness is measured by your kindness; your eduction and intellect by your modesty; your ignorance is betrayed by your suspicious and prejudices, and your real caliber is measured by the consideration and tolerance you have for others.”

~William J.H. Boetcker

This past week has been a week of extreme highs and extreme lows. These are not my favorite, because it feels like you are riding on a roller coaster. I enjoyed them as a child, but as an adult. Too many ups and downs. I know they call it life, but lets be pragmatic sometimes life's churnings can be painful.

We started the week excited, because my husband has been getting calls on his resume. Companies are interviewing him, finally. Me, not so much, my name has become synonymous with “that's the woman who wears two pair of glasses” (really it's a small town). Anyway, he had his interview and believed it went well. He answered all their questions honestly and showed he had the qualifications for the job. Then, “nothing,” no e-mail, no letter, no phone call, “Nothing” but dead air. My concern is, will the credit check he signed off on, that isn't supposed to be done until a job offer has been made, be the deciding factor here? Have they already taken that step? If so, then I guess it's over and that's why we haven't heard anything. I have been unemployed for two years, my husband a year. Our “credit score” has taken a hit, a big hit. Over the past three years we have had medical concerns, as serious as a ruptured appendix and subsequent hospitalization. So, whose credit score wouldn't look rough. Especially when the insurance only covered a small percent of the cost and then payed the hospital, etc. months and months later, After the hospital had already sent the account to collections, without us even knowing. It's hard to stay on top on things when you have to consider who to pay, “Peter or Paul?” I feel it is irresponsible of Human Resources personnel (I'll hold back on calling them professionals...just haven't seen that yet) and companies that allow this kind of discrimination to go on in the hiring process. Here's a thought guys, “Having a bad/rough credit score doesn't mean you are irresponsible, it means you are unemployed and could use the job!! Start looking at the facts and experience first... and be careful who and how you judge, because someday you too will be judged, I guarantee it...

Abraham Lincoln said in 1864 in a letter to Edwin Stanton, the Secretary of War, “On principle I dislike an oath which requires a man to swear he has not done wrong. It rejects the Christian principle of forgiveness on terms of repentance. I think it is enough if a man does no wrong hereafter.” Credit checks for jobs pre-condemn you, even if you have done no wrong to the people you are talking to. It's trial without jury and persecution without defense. Shame on all who practice this ethic-less and immoral behavior.

A very long time ago, when my son was a little boy, he asked me the question, “Why do some people not like other people they don't know?” My response to him was, “Because it is easier for people to pass judgment on others based on where they live, what they wear and other things, than it is to take the time to get to know someone. Some people find it easier to dislike people they don't know because it's easy. I call that lazy.” My son said, “But that's wrong” I said, “Yes it is, but that's the way people behave, you be different and set a better example.” He said, “I will mom, I will.” My son, today is an amazing young man and does set a better example. That makes me proud.

The fact is “nobody is perfect.” We all have things we'd rather forget, mistakes we have learned from and moved beyond. Every time someone carves into our past with a dull blade of a credit check, the wounds are reopened. It's hard to move forward when people and companies keep digging up the past and using it against you. I wonder when our country defaults on its bills (which seems as if it will happen), if that will go on the credit reports of all the Congressmen and Senators? By rights it should, because they are responsible for that bill. “Sorry Mr/Ms. Congressman, We can't hire you because your credit check shows you to be totally irresponsible to the tune of several trillion dollars” How fast would they move if they were being held financially accountable, instead of politically motivated? The point is; You can be completely irresponsible with someone else's money (witness the banking scandals, The Senate, Congress and even CEO's) and be completely free of consequence. But, make one mistake with your money, trust the wrong employer, or have a medical calamity befall your life and you are condemned to financial hell forever by the “credit check”. It seems a bit off bubble, now doesn't it? Like Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) said in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, “Who's the head bull-goose loony around here?

Here's why this makes me think, the perfect credit score doesn't show, how many lies someone told, if they're a good neighbor, a good parent? Did they ever borrow something from someone and never return it, or return it broken. What about kindness? Have they ever stopped to help someone with a flat tire? The credit score also does not show how intelligent a person is or how hard they work. Yes, you may have a good “score”, but exist without morals, or know how to lie effectively. Look at many who have made the news this year, John Edwards, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tiger Woods, just to name a few because the list is long. Rocking credit scores? You Betcha! Morally bankrupt? The facts speak for themselves. Even Michael Vick, a very talented quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, went to jail and was given a second chance, because of his talent and celebrity and now is getting major endorsement from companies worth millions. Why can't your “Average Joe” get a fair shot at a second chance? Or your above average intelligent girl who wears two pair of glasses? I had to throw that in there.

Here is what I believe is the true measure of a person, kindness, honesty, being ethical, moral, being forthright, having your family priorities straight and never giving up. I respect the Philadelphia Eagles Organization and Coach Rex Ryan for having the courage to give someone a second chance and I respect Michael Vick for having the courage to work for that second chance. What a great example to follow.

What consideration and courage will you show today?

Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quote and learn the second “F”

Thank you for reading

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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?

Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quote

Thank you for reading