I’m in need of an employee at the Coffee Grounds. Whenever we have an opening the floodgate of applicants will open up. There are a number of things that just baffle me about this process. Honestly, I can’t believe we are turning out high school graduates that can’t fill out an application and we are turning out a lot of college students or college grads who can’t either!
There is always one person who knows me, one of my family members or a friend of mine who will stop me and assume they have the job once they have said hi. No filling out applications, no interview; they will just say “I’m interested in that job” and “I’ll take it, I can start A.S.A.P.” The worst offenders are my son’s friends. They think I should just fall over and hire them for any position that is open.
My oldest son overheard a conversation at ISU. Several people were talking about needing jobs when one person said that his “good friend” owns the Coffee Grounds. So evidently this “good friend” of mine went on to explain that they should go see me because I was hiring.
There are always those people who ask if they can fill out an application. The answer is always yes. We hand them an application and their next request is: “can I borrow and pen?” Seriously, you are going out to job hunt knowing you will have to fill out applications and you can’t carry your own pen? Why should I even consider hiring you if you aren’t prepared enough to carry a pen? The same goes for asking for the phone book while filling out and application so they can look up the address of a previous place of employment, BE PREPARED PEOPLE!
I love when I read applications and find things like: “Referred by:” with my name listed as who referred them. I didn’t refer them for the job. Or when people write under special skills things like: “I’m very good with people” or “Being Friendly.” Really; these are your “special” skills? I though they taught this type of stuff to everyone in kindergarten? So I’m to assume that they received these “special” skills of “being friendly” from some other place. I wonder how they can enlighten the rest of us with these “special skills?” The all- time best “special skill” is N/A! What the hell kind of an answer is N/A?
Probably the richest and most valuable information on an employment application is in the Job History area. Oh this area is very rich with pearls of wisdom and insight. The “reason for leaving” section will amaze most with he answers that some will give. When I see answers like “Bad management, disagreement with management or boss was unreasonable,” these are usually code for they didn’t like the boss because he/she expected them to do their job. “Customer’s rude or unreasonable” is a good indicator they shouldn’t be hired to work with the public. “I worked too many hours” which is code for I didn’t want to work very many hours so. All of these things are red flags to me.
There are a few common reason for applicants listing they left a job. The most common is the “bad management” reason. Another really common one is “left due to illness” and when you call this former employer they will tell you the “illness” was that the applicant was sick of working. I have seriously read on a number of applications that the reason for leaving was “my mom (or dad) made me quite.” Since when do any kids listen to their parents? Obviously when it gets them out of working!
Seriously, I have never had anyone write: “I was fired because of being late several times in a row” or “fired because I screwed up.” You can always set the correct expectations if you know up front the issues that a potential employee may have. If a person isn’t whiling to tell the truth they will not be a good employee. I suppose the truth is always relative to who is telling it and what their perception of the truth is. I am more whiling to consider the person I think screwed up but was honest on their ap then the one who I’m pretty sure lied.
Another thing about job experience is when I see huge gaps of time between jobs. There will be months between their last job and the one before it. Am I not supposed to read the application and notice you have had four jobs in the past 5 years and only worked 9 months. Or the applicant list four jobs but all them have been in the last nine months at an average of two months each, what does that indicate.
I have had people ask for an application while texting on their phone. Ask for an application and answer the phone before I could give them the application. Hello, can you put your phone down for just a few minutes. And do you have to go job hunting with a friend? Do you need someone to hold your hand?
Advertising for an experienced employee can be a challenge. In our case I will advertise for an experienced barista, not every time but occasionally. It takes a few weeks to train an employee to be a barista. There are times that we do not have the time to train so we look for experienced. I would rather hire and train but sometimes you just can’t do that. When we are looking for experience most of the applicants that have no experience will list the fact that they like coffee as one of their “special skills.” Now, I’m sorry… just because you like coffee it doesn’t make you qualified to be a barista. I mean, I could say that I like peanuts but that doesn’t make me qualified to be a peanut farmer!
Next, the applicant finishes and expects an interview on the spot. This is always frustrating because I haven’t even looked at their application to see if I want to interview them. Seriously, why waste their time if I don’t think they have what we need for an employee?
How about the parents call on behalf of their children? I’m always shocked by this one. I will get a phone call from a parent whom I don’t know, that will explain their kids situation and ask details of the job such as hours, pay, etc. What the hell? If your kid is so lazy they won’t look for a job for themselves then you think I want to hire them?
Then you go to the interview process and decide to hire a candidate. You make an offer to them after explaining every detail of the job i.e. day they will work, hours they will work, pay, etc. only to have them accept the job and then tell you they can work half the shifts you told them they would be working? Now, during the interview process you have given candidate great detail about the job, schedule and even ask if that is a schedule they can work…but then when they turn around and tell you otherwise after you offer the job.
I guess my point is that most people need some real soft skills training. We need to explain in detail just some basic educate. What to put on an application. How to be prepared to fill out those applications.
