Hiring people is a pain in the ass

[FilthyRear]

When I interviewed for my project team one of my final questions was to determine if they were part of the PCMR or were a console fag. Helped me screen out the normies.

I recently had an interview like that - I said "arcade" and their response was "those are still around??"

 

[JoeAwesome]

In my last job, we burned through people every couple of months, to the point where me and 3 others left in the span of a month recently. That office sucked.
Sometimes it's the pool of applicants you get, and sometimes it's the hiring people that mess up. This one women would only look to hire people that fit the exact model of employee that just left her. Otherwise, it was a failed search.
To OPs point, you'd think that'd be an easy job to fill, but I don't see it that way. The people who want to work custodial probably have baggage, and the people without baggage don't want to work in custodial.

Had a friend who interviewed a millennial and the fuckin' fagit brought his mom to the job interview. No shit.

Wtf. Did your friend have anything to say about the mom?

 

[smokehouse]

I've talked about it here for years now, but at my base, I'm a union electrician. We have a 3 year apprenticeship and in all honesty, it's a solid deal. A 19 year old kid could come in, take 3 years of free to them class (save $600/yr in books), work the entire time/getting paid, get set wages the entire time as well as full retirement and benefits. Graduate at 22 and if they are working full time, be making just under $60K/yr with full benefits including a very aggressive retirement and health insurance...and that's on top of the $60K.

We get hundreds of applicants a year, take 3. Not only do people fail drug tests left/right (its disclosed to them right up front that it's a follicle test) and get denied entrance, we also average dropping of one person per class over the 3 year period because they're shitbags who do not want to work.

It's insane.

 

[titchgamer]

I've talked about it here for years now, but at my base, I'm a union electrician. We have a 3 year apprenticeship and in all honesty, it's a solid deal. A 19 year old kid could come in, take 3 years of free to them class (save $600/yr in books), work the entire time/getting paid, get set wages the entire time as well as full retirement and benefits. Graduate at 22 and if they are working full time, be making just under $60K/yr with full benefits including a very aggressive retirement and health insurance...and that's on top of the $60K.

We get hundreds of applicants a year, take 3. Not only do people fail drug tests left/right (its disclosed to them right up front that it's a follicle test) and get denied entrance, we also average dropping of one person per class over the 3 year period because they're shitbags who do not want to work.

It's insane.

One a class aint bad, When I was an apprentice doing my first year ONC we went from a class of 35 to a class of 2 in 3 weeks......

Ended up being put with the HNC guys because they had a load of drop outs to and did not have the numbers to run a class otherwise.

Everyone wants to be a sparky but few want to put the work in to become one.....

 

[NeoSneth]

I'm amazed how ill-prepared people have been on both side of interviews. I work in a high education field, yet these people do zero to prepare. They can't even speak to the technology they are applying to use.

I recently applied for an internal position, and I did hours and hours of research. I made sure to cover all the standard interview questions, because there's also ill-prepared interviewers. "What are you weaknesses?" "Tell me about a time you didn't get along with a coworker"
Lame questions...

 

[JoeAwesome]

I'm amazed how ill-prepared people have been on both side of interviews. I work in a high education field, yet these people do zero to prepare. They can't even speak to the technology they are apply to work with.

I recently applied for an internal position, and I did hours and hours of research. I made sure to cover all the standard interview questions, because there's also ill-prepared interviewers. "What are you weaknesses?" "Tell me about a time you didn't get along with a coworker"
Lame questions...

You ask canned questions, you get canned responses.

 

[neo_mao]

You ask canned questions, you get canned responses.

Yeah exactly.

I basically ask people to walk me through their current job and what they do, what a typical day looks like, big projects they worked on, and stuff they are proud of that they’d like to share with me.

After they go through that, I ask them how they think all of that relates to the job they are applying for - to basically connect the dots for me.

I try to keep it very conversational and informal and ask relevant questions along the way - you can learn alot about a person when their guard is down and they are just talking.

 

[jro]

In all seriousness, pre online applications, my boss showed me an application filled out in crayon.

I interviewed three more guys this morning, and one of them had a resume that was entirely hand-written. Maybe 4 or 5 pages of pen scrawl. Can't help but think c'mon, how do you not take a step back and go hmm, maybe this could be better?

i typically just hire whichever candidate had the biggest tits and the shortest skirt.

LOL, I wish. This is for Public Works, 100% of the people I've interviewed have been men. One woman was interested in applying, and she would have been a good candidate, but she refused to schedule an interview before 5 p.m., which is 30 minutes after my PW department closes.

I have this same problem. No one can pass a background check now. Losing more people than we can hire and burning out the employees we have.

It really is bizarre, multiple times now I've made it very clear we're going to do a background check, I have them sign a consent form and everything, then it comes back with stuff they didn't put down. Do they think I'm kidding or won't care? Hard to figure. It says right on the app that a past conviction doesn't mean disqualification, and that's true. But lie about a conviction? Yeah, that's a hard pass.

 

[NeoSneth]

I slightly understand lying about a single conviction or issue. Might as well give it a shot.

Most of my interviews are focused around trying to gauge their personality. I can teach almost anyone the job, i just need to know they are affable people.

 

[Takumaji]

We had five people come and go within a month (sometimes within less than a workday) during the last one and a half years. Good workers are hard to find, specially in the fireworks/disposal biz. They come here and keep babbling about how they would love fireworks and be a part of a pyro company, then the first truckload of boxes from our suppliers comes in and you can clearly see the "that's not what I expected" look on their faces. Yeah, we also do interesting and cool stuff but most of the time it's heavy work, lugging stuff around, manufacturing shells for days after days until your fingers literally start to bleed, poisonous chemicals, metal and coal powders that let you look like a coal miner in less than five minutes, and there always is the risk of getting blown to pieces.

Sure, it's not everyone's pint of beer but in general, it's not the risk or dirt but the physical labour that puts them off. Kids today just don't wanna do hard work anymore, even for something they allegedly love.

 

[Syn]

I've mostly had jobs where physical labor was involved. I workout when I'm paid. Never needed a gym membership as I'm not going to pay to workout when an employer will.

 

[SpamYouToDeath]

When I worked minimum-wage, in high school, we'd occasionally get a new employee who immediately got themselves fired. I always assumed it was some kind of welfare scam - like the state wanted them to look like they were looking for work.

 

[madman]

Wtf. Did your friend have anything to say about the mom?

Unfortunately I can't remember that part. I don't recall if she sent him on his way or gave him some free life lessons.

Being on the other side of interviews has made me realize how much power you have when negotiating an offer. Unless it's for some shitty job that any moron off the street can do.

 

[Neodogg]

I have a hard time keeping guys in the warehouse...leads, picker/packers, forklifts and drivers...it's not hard work. Sure you'll sweat in the summer and need to wear a jacket/coat in the winter but it's not rocket science. I usually run into people that say...why do I need to pull orders if I'm a driver. Cause we're a team and your checks say the company not the Logistics Dept.

We mostly use zip recruiter and temp agencies. A couple of my favorite resumes:

I'm not calling you Ninja...nor calling you for an interview.

I lol'd at their previous job title/employer...

I get tons of resumes that either just put their last employer or have done nothing the last 5 yrs. Don't get me started on kids and their phone having to stop ever 2 minutes to check it or always talking with ear phones in...

 

[JoeAwesome]

I get pitching in, Dogg, but my last job abused the phrase "other duties as assigned" as a job duty listed for every position they had.

 

[GohanX]

I get pitching in, Dogg, but my last job abused the phrase "other duties as assigned" as a job duty listed for every position they had.

I've been the victim of that one more than once.

 

[norton9478]

I would never hire someone that uses the word "skids" on their resume/cover letter.

 

[norton9478]

I've talked about it here for years now, but at my base, I'm a union electrician. We have a 3 year apprenticeship and in all honesty, it's a solid deal. A 19 year old kid could come in, take 3 years of free to them class (save $600/yr in books), work the entire time/getting paid, get set wages the entire time as well as full retirement and benefits. Graduate at 22 and if they are working full time, be making just under $60K/yr with full benefits including a very aggressive retirement and health insurance...and that's on top of the $60K.

We get hundreds of applicants a year, take 3. Not only do people fail drug tests left/right (its disclosed to them right up front that it's a follicle test) and get denied entrance, we also average dropping of one person per class over the 3 year period because they're shitbags who do not want to work.

It's insane.

Do you ever take people with 4 year liberal arts degrees? Does it hurt a candidate ?

 

[FilthyRear]

I would never hire someone that uses the word "skids" on their resume/cover letter.

thats the technical term

 

[smokehouse]

Do you ever take people with 4 year liberal arts degrees? Does it hurt a candidate ?

If my memory serves me correctly, I've had at least 4 or 5 guys go through my class that also had a 4-year. That or a military background help someone get in for sure.

I've told many people over the years...this trade is a perfect stepping stone. It's a window into a much larger world. I haven't been in the field in years, I moved out of it as soon a an opportunity came along.

 

[jro]

Some people do the dumbest stuff to sabotage themselves. Of the three guys I interviewed yesterday, the panel decided we liked two and would make them offers. For one of them, all three of his listed references are disconnected phone numbers. I could see that happening maybe once out of three references, but all three? Plus he specifically said not to contact his most recent supervisor, which was at a job he claimed he left voluntarily. Eyebrow-raising, at least, feels like he's intentionally trying to make it impossible to contact anyone to ask about him.

 

[smokehouse]

Some people do the dumbest stuff to sabotage themselves. Of the three guys I interviewed yesterday, the panel decided we liked two and would make them offers. For one of them, all three of his listed references are disconnected phone numbers. I could see that happening maybe once out of three references, but all three? Plus he specifically said not to contact his most recent supervisor, which was at a job he claimed he left voluntarily. Eyebrow-raising, at least, feels like he's intentionally trying to make it impossible to contact anyone to ask about him.

Honestly, I'm surprised you guys don't use a temp company for labor. Around where I live, companies like Caterpillar are doing it more and more. Guy turns out to be a scumbag? Ship him back that day.

 

[LoneSage]

Giving three references is the worst part of an application.

 

[Neodogg]

Honestly, I'm surprised you guys don't use a temp company for labor. Around where I live, companies like Caterpillar are doing it more and more. Guy turns out to be a scumbag? Ship him back that day.

QFT!
They can't file unemployment because they don't work for you.

 

[madman]

They can't file unemployment because they don't work for you.

Isn't not working for someone the definition of unemployment? Or nug?