How Not To Get a Job…in my world

Wow! I feel like I’ve been away for eons yet, it has only been a week. I have been busy my friends.

As many of you know, my former assistant, Brittany, moved on to a new position with the company. I’ve heard some great things about her performance from her current manager. 😀

To the busy part. I’ve been working six days a week during the busiest part of the month while in search of a new assistant. This evolution has been the most frustrating.

I have read through over seventy resumes–that’s 70+ in 4 days. After the first 10, I found someone that I thought was good for the job. She went through an interview with me and my area manager a couple of days later. She was excited and said that nothing would prevent her from doing the job. She past the initial background check and I needed her to come in to complete the hiring process. No response to my phone messages for two days. I located her on FB and sent a message asking if she was coming in. She responded that she had too much going on. Wha? Back to square one.

Since then I’ve been bombarded with resumes. Most of the resumes list skills that have nothing to do with the job posted. I was quite specific. The job is administrative, customer service, must be able to learn and operate required software…and, it is only 12 hours per week – 7 hours on Saturdays + 5 hours during the week with an occasional 29 hours per week when covering for me on certain holidays, vacation or sick days. It is not manufacturing, phlebotomy, nurse’s aide, legal- or law-related; and it is not full time.

I started to get suspicious. When I called some of the applicants, I asked them if they had read the job posting. Most said no. So, you have no idea what you’re actually applying for… I thanked them for their time and recommended that in the future, they read the job postings in order not to waste time of the person doing the hiring. If they know in advance that they will not want the job then perhaps they will not apply for it.

I realize that people need jobs but going through resumes that have no direct correlation with the job applied for is an alternate time hack. I don’t want someone who is just trying to bide their time for a few weeks and then leave for “the real job” they wanted in the first place. I want someone who is looking for part time work and can do the job as necessary. Simple.

Of the persons that did read the posting I have three good candidates who are coming in to interview this afternoon.

In my world integrity is important. I need to know that the person I’m dealing with is genuine. Otherwise, we’ve started a relationship that may not, probably will not, be natural and lasting. Everyone does not always get along well but if you’re working with someone, for someone or supervise someone it is always beneficial to the environment if people do get along.

A person with an AA, AS, a BA or MBA, et cetera, can do this job but so can someone with a HS diploma or GED. It’s not necessarily about the education. It is about ability. The ability to learn, do and deal with people in general but a great customer service attitude will win every time. Understand that in the storage business, as in most other customer contact-related businesses, you are the company representative who is providing a service to fulfill a customer need. It’s not about me and it’s not about you. It’s about the company that you work for and it’s about the customers that you serve.

If you don’t get it, please, don’t apply.

Jay 🙂

 

Time management: perhaps you should have departed sooner…

2nd Oil

Time management: perhaps you should have departed sooner…

That’s my new bumper sticker. Well, it soon will be once I receive it in the mail next week.

Okay, so I’m the guy you hear about at work from one of your irate co-workers explaining why they are late for work—you know, the one who is late all the time. They will rant and rave about this guy in a perfectly healthy Jeep Liberty who apparently had nothing better to do than to hold up traffic and cause them to get caught by every light, and stop sign. They will not, however, take responsibility for their own lack of time management that led to their tardiness.

Yep, I’m the speed limit guy. Occasionally, I drive over the speed limit by a couple of mph but normally it’s the speed limit. If my wife wants to get somewhere in a more timely manner, she’ll offer to drive.

I must note that it drives me nuts when someone else drives under the speed limit when there are no reasons to do so, such as, inclement weather, construction, a parade or heavy traffic. I do my best to plan my events, manage my time to where I can get to where I’m going and be there on time. Even traveling the speed limit, I’m usually there ahead by 10 minutes or right on time. Sometimes I miss the mark but not by much (unexpected parades).   😉

You see, I used to be in a hurry and yell at all the other drivers for their mistakes. It was not pretty. My so-called road rage was really just inside my car most of the time with an occasional hand signal to other drivers to let them know I was not pleased with their road skills.

It took a while for me to mature in this area but now that I’m an olderly guy, I like having less stress in my life. I drive to work, at ease.  When I get to work, I’m calm and relaxed because I’ve had no drama to kick me up. I can recommend it to anyone who suffers from time mismanagement. If you have to, get up 10 minutes early.  Enjoy your coffee, watch the weather and traffic reports and leave at a time that is most convenient to you for you to enjoy your drive. If you have little kids, well, that’s on you–do your best.  Maybe people at work will notice your calmness and appreciate it.

I’ve started noticing landmarks that I previously did not know existed.  When people say to me, “You know, down by such a place or such a street,” I can say, “Yes, I do.”

Oh, to the guy in the little white Toyota that sped around me in the no passing zone and almost got hit by the firetruck…you know.

And to the rest of you that like to drive fast because you don’t care about rules and laws and think they don’t apply to you, don’t whine and cry if you are the survivor.

Jay 🙂

Every day is someone’s judgement day…be prepared or be extra careful.

 

Time Hackers…

“Hi, this is Ashley…Andrew…Dan…Bill…our records indicate…this is #Google calling…”  Ah, those famous words heard throughout the day on my business phone.

The calls that take up so much of my time during the day when I could actually be working; or properly goofing off reading posts on WordPress.com.

All of these recordings, sometimes several an hour, taking up my time unnecessarily, for what?  I dunno, because I never listen to the whole message.  Does anyone?  Really?

I consider these #robo-calls time hackers.  Yes, they are hacking into my time when I could be doing something more productive (subjective).  It used to be that caller ID would let me know when it was some odd caller that I could most often determine a #timehacker.  But now, they use regular phone numbers which means in the business world, I have to answer the phone.  Of course, if I get one of those Ads R Us caller IDs, I still ignore it but when I get one that appears as a local number, I can’t.  Therefore, wasting my time.

Occasionally, I get a legitimate sales call, “Hi, this is Fred and I’m with some company that wants to sell you something, can I speak to the owner, please?”  Much more refreshing, I assure you but alas Fred, if you can find the owner through all the corporate red tape, tell them I’d like to speak to them, too.  😉

Jay 🙂