The Education vs Employment Myth - Getting a Job

Having a good job is not so much a factor or your level of education as it is your desire to work hard and succeed.

Example:

In 2009, at the height of the last recession, my company needed to hire a new receptionist. The job was not difficult, it entailed being able to take calls on multiple phone lines, schedule appointments for carpet cleaning, give general pricing about products, and refer any difficult questions to an estimator. 

We placed an ad on Craig's List that ran for about a week and received about 150 applications. 

1. First step was to throw out anyone who had not stayed at their previous jobs for more than a year to find stable applicants. This left about 75 applicants.
2. Then we tossed those who were obviously over or under qualified, i.e., high level managers, those with Master's Degrees, those who had just graduated from high school or had only had one other job. These people would never be happy with this position. This narrowed the field to about 35 applicants.
3. Next,we culled out those who obviously didn't possess the personality traits or skills sets needed for the position. i.e., plumbers, bill collectors, bouncers, dog walkers, baby-sitters, etc. This left us with 15 applicants. 
4. (I am not making this up, the numbers kept shrinking by half.)
5. We then called and invited the 15 people to come for an interview. Only 5 showed up.
6. Out of the 5, we chose the most likely candidate, called and hired her. She was to start the next day. She never showed up.
7. We then called the next best qualified applicant, hired her to start the next day. She came, started the job, but left for lunch and never returned.
8. We finally called the 3rd best candidate who came, was marvelous, and worked for 18 months until she got married and moved out of state.

Now, what did I learn from this? At the time when our nation was experiencing some of the highest unemployment rates in our history, it was really hard to hire someone who would work. It seemed that no one wanted to work.

This experience continued to manifest itself with our other technicians. Approximately half of our 6 -- 10 permanent employees had been there for 4 - 8 years. The other half continually rotated out every 4 - 6 months. They were either arrested, to drunk or high to show up, or just simply disappeared. There weren't more than one or two who were fired for not being able to do the job. 

So, if you are looking for a job, the most important things are; 

• To be willing to be on time, 
• Work hard, and
• Do what you're told with a smile.

Photo courtesy of:

http://www.ericaontheedge.com/finding-a-job-when-youre-over-50/