FROM,THE,OTHER,SIDE,DESK,EMPLO DIY FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DESK - AN EMPLOYER REVEALS THE SE

When starting a new work at home business it is very easy to become consumed by it. We spend so much time trying to get the business up and running that we may end up becoming burned out and lose our motivation. There is so much to learn and Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in

I have processed about five thousand job applicants inthe last two years (that's about 7 per day) and I gottatell you this - most of them stink !Not literally of course - but when it comes to methods ofstupidly & unnecessarily blowing a "no-brainer"interview process to get selected for a "no-brainer" job,then my cleaning agency has just about seen them all !DO YOU QUALIFY ?I really didn't think we were asking too much. Applicantsneeded to be able to do housework. They needed a car & alicense to drive it. They needed to read, write & speakEnglish. Okay, they also needed a resume, but it didn'thave to be full of spectacular cleaning-related careers -any kind of checkable work history was fine. Likewise, the application procedure was also (webelieved) not too demanding. The applicant telephones us.We have a chat to them about the job requirements and askthem if they fit the above qualifications. We ask them tomake copies of their resume & references and then weschedule them for an interview in about 3 - 6 days. Weinterview them for about 40 minutes (though about 30minutes of that is us doing the talking - a fierceinterrogation it ain't). Within a day or two we startgiving them cleaning jobs. Fairly simple, we thought.Unfortunately for my agency's collective sanity, most ofthe job applicant population saw it differently.To start with the most basic of errors we encountered,quite a number of people making the initial phone calldidn't have a driver's licence, despite our jobadvertisements clearly stating this requirement. Or ifthey did have a licence, they didn't have a car. Or ifthey did have a car, it wasn't actually theirs and theyhave to share it with several other people. Or if theydid actually own the car, it was broken down & wasundergoing lengthy and extensive repairs.Still, this major obstacle was attacked withdetermination by almost all car-less applicants. Itusually went something along the lines of "But my husbandcan drive me" or "I can take public transport" or "I canride my bicycle".What a revelation ! Now why didn't WE think of that ?These applicants are sitting there thinking "Thisemployer has only paid out good money to insert 'CAR &LICENSE ESSENTIAL' in huge letters in the jobadvertisement because I was not around at the time topoint out other possibilities"Hint for jobseekers (1) - If a job advertisementspecifies a requirement, and you do not have thatrequirement, DON'T bother applying for that job, EVEN IFyou think you have an alternative that the employerhasn't thought of yet. It's a bit like a prospectivesurgeon saying that he's hopeless with a scalpel, but isVERY handy with a butter-knife.****DON'T INTERRUPTStill at the initial phone-call stage, another fundamental error is not allowing the employer to do hisspiel. You are not the only person ringing up about theposition. You are more likely to be the 75th person, soplease assume that the employer has his routine allworked out. He does NOT need prompting to fill you in onall the details - he knows what you need to know and hewill tell you in his own good time. The correct time to ask questions is when he finishesexplaining what the job is about & what the applicationprocedure is and when he finishes asking YOU questions.Hint for jobseekers (2) - Let the employer talk. Do notinterrupt. Taking over a conversation and putting yourpotential boss on the back foot is not going make a goodimpression.****DON'T GET LOSTOkay, so about 25% of people make it through thegruelling 2 minute phone interview and are then scheduledfor a "real" interview.To deal with the simplest situation first, approximately50% to 80% of these applicants do not show up at theappointed time and are never heard from again. While it'sannoying, and as employer I never really get used to thefact that people go to a lot of trouble to apply for jobsthey don't actually want, at least that person is out ofthe way and we can concentrate instead on the seriouspeople. But it's not that simple. There are a number ofvariations on the "not showing up" trick that conspire tofurther annoy & waste the valuable time of theprospective employer.For example, those people who have had 5 days notice ofthe interview, but neglect to look up the actual locationof the interview until they are hopelessly lost in aneighboring suburb with only 2 minutes to go. They ringup from a phone box asking for directions. Theyinvariably arrive at the interview flustered & late. Hint for jobseekers (3) - Make sure you know exactlywhere the interview is being held. If you don't know, doa practise run the day before.****DON'T BE LATEEven worse than the people who get lost (who at leastdeserve a tiny amount of sympathy) are those who turn up20 - 40 minutes late for no apparent good reason."Oh hi, I'm here for the interview""Which interview, the 3 o'clock or the 4 o'clock ?""The 3 o'clock. I'm a bit late"This type of applicant doesn't see a problem with beinglate, probably because it's not a problem for THEM.However an applicant needs to understand that businessesare constantly running to deadlines, and punctuality isvital. If we sit around waiting for a late applicant andstart an interview later than planned, it means the NEXTinterview is going to be delayed and, more importantly,whatever I had planned for AFTER the interviews is goingto be delayed, and possibly even postponed until the nextday.Hint for jobseekers (4). Time is money. Don't be late foran interview. No matter how dazzling you may be in theinterview, the main thing the employer will remember thenext day is that you were late, and therefore probablyunreliable.****ONLY APPLY ONCEThen there are what we term the "serial-applicants".These people are constantly applying for jobs over anextended period of time, to the extent that they actuallyapply to us more than once, perhaps several months apart.Here at the agency, we sometimes collectively shake ourheads at the nerve of these people who fail to show upfor a scheduled interview, and then a couple of monthslater apply again, expecting us to welcome them with openarms.Hint for jobseekers (5) - If you apply for a job anddon't get it, don't apply for exactly the same job lateron. They don't want you.****DON'T BRING THE FAMILYSo let's suppose an applicant makes it through thecomplicated business of turning up on time. Question - What else could go wrong or annoy the employerbefore the interview actually begins ? Answer - A couple of things that happen more often thanyou might expect. Applicants turning up with one or morerelatives expecting to also participate in the intervieware a classic. Hint for jobseekers (6) - If you are not brave enough toface an interview by yourself, employers will not respectyou. The WORST thing to do is bring your mother. Thisbasically proves that you should be back in school.****IF YOU ARE A SPECIAL CASE, SAY SOMETHINGOne other thing on a rather more touchy subject are theproblems associated with scheduling Islamic ladies forinterviews. Arriving fully-masked except for their eyes,their religion does not permit them to be alone in a roomwith a man. But of course they only tell me this AFTERTHEY ARRIVE. So if my (female) business partner is notavailable at short-notice to take over the interview,then we have no choice but to send the lady home. Hertime is wasted and so is ours.And it's not quite as simple as just asking someone onthe phone what religion they are. There are differentdegrees of Islam, and many such ladies do not have aproblem with showing their face or being alone in a roomwith someone who happens to be a man. Of course, there's also the legal aspect. Businessesthese days must be VERY careful about exposing themselvesto the threat of court action from an irate applicant. Ifwe asked someone what their religion was, and then lateron did not give that person a job for whatever reason,there is nothing to stop that person getting up in court& proclaiming that we rejected them solely due toreligious discrimination. So we don't ask.And for similar legal reasons, when any regular applicantasks us why they haven't been given any work, we do notgive them any ammunition that could later be used againstus in court. Instead of saying the truth like, "We thinkyour phone manner is awful and university students areusually completely hopeless at housework anyway", wewould say something safe like, "We had 87 people applyingfor only 2 positions, so unfortunately someone had tomiss out. I'm so sorry. I can give you the number ofanother agency who may be able to help ..."Hint for jobseekers (7) - If you have religious or moralobjections to any aspect of a normal job interviewprocess, tell the employer on the phone beforehand. Don'tjust spring it on them when you arrive.****DON'T INVENT QUALIFICATIONSSo the applicant is finally through the door and gettingcomfortable in our big lounge-type interview chairs.Some people don't even get through the first minute andhere's why - they don't possess the documentation orqualifications that they said they had on the phone.For example "To start, could I just have your driver'slicense please ?""I don't have my license""But I asked you on the phone if you had a car & licenseand you said 'yes' ""I'm having lessons. I'll have it soon.""When ? When are you going for your test ?""Soon""Have you set a date""No date. Soon.""Give us a call when you actually get your license.Good-bye. I'll show you out."Or this, "Could I just have your resume and referencesplease?""I don't have a resume""But I asked you on the phone if you had a resume and yousaid 'yes' "."I haven't worked before ....".You get the picture by now I'm sure.Hint for jobseekers (8)- Don't pretend to havequalifications that you don't actually have. ****SAY YOU'LL NEVER LEAVEIn the 21st Century, applying for a job without a resumeis a waste of time. You will not be accepted. Whether youthink it is fair or not to have your life story reducedto a few lines on a page is completely irrelevant. Withlarge numbers of applicants competing for small numbersof vacancies, an employer has no choice but to filter outmany applicants in the most efficient way possible.When an applicant hands over their resume to me, I go toan adjoining room to read it over while they fill out theapplication form.The first thing I look for is the authenticity of thereferences. Sometimes references are handwritten, and ithas happened on occasion that I begin to suspect theyare all written by the same person. Similar handwriting,similar paper, similar format, similar spelling mistakes,sentence construction & grammar.Most resume templates have a space for "Career Objectives". Ireceived a resume today from a gentleman whose objective was "Tomake use of extensive experience in stores, logistics andwarehouse operations ....". Well that's all very admirable, butnot much use for housework. Not until people start buyingforklifts to tidy up the house. Jobseekers should try makingjust a little bit of effort to customise their career objectivesto fit the job they are applying for. Employers only care aboutyour ambitions if they contribute to their own.While I initially assume that all jobs listed in theresume are genuine, I am not impressed by people who havefour, five or six pages full of jobs they have done inthe past few years. I think our record here is a 12 pageresume. It was spectacular & impressive, but the persondidn't get the job because it was quite obvious they werea job-hopper. They kept moving their place of residenceand frequently went on big holidays. So why would I hiresomeone who clearly isn't interested in staying in a jobfor any length of time ? Hint for jobseekers (9) - Don't proudly announce in yourresume that you can't hold a job. Don't fake references.****YOU MUST ACTUALLY WORKOf the few people who manage to make it all the waythrough an interview at our cleaning agency, some stillfind further ways to stumble.Within a day or two, successful applicants are giventheir first cleaning assignment. A small percentage willaccept the job, ring the client to confirm they will becoming and then on the day, simply not show up. They thenrefuse to answer their phones for several days.To this day I wonder why some applicants go through thewhole process - and I acknowledge that applying for a jobis not the easiest thing in the world - only to give up &disappear just as the money is about to start rolling in.Final hint for jobseekers - When someone offers you ajob - take it.