Three out of ten.......

[periastra]

people who scheduled job interviews this week failed to call or show up. What the heck is wrong with people. I set aside time to interview them, give them a tour, and let them job shadow for an hour. We are hiring third shift care giver positions at the Assisted Living I work for. At least some who did show up are very promising. A few looked like they were bored out of their minds, and could care less. It seems like you would at least fake it for the interview. It makes it easier to sort them in to the "NO" pile I guess. Why is it so hard to find anyone with a work ethic?

[Rhianon]

Seriously? That is so hard to understand.

[M&M]

I thought it was just the restaurant business where that happened. I'm sorry. It is so extremely frustrating.

[PaulaO]

Huh. And people complain they can't get jobs.....

[Racetrackreject]

Same things happens to us, or they interview, test, get hired, and then never show up to work, or call in on the first day, then never show back up.

Oh, and how can you apply for a job with no driver's license? I could understand it in a metropolitan area, but this is rural Texas. Everything is spread out, public transportation is non-existent, and the only "taxi" is a guy with a Ford Escape that painted the word taxi on the back.

In my 8 years here, it has just continued to get worse.

[WheresMyWhite]

No excuse for not showing up but on the prospect side, I've have more than one phone screen where the recruiter sounded like they were interested, said they wanted to run it by their supervisor and would let me know by the end of the week. Guess I forgot to ask which week as I have yet to hear anything and that was months ago. Or the recruiter who contacted me, said I might be a good fit and could we setup a phone screen (to which I responded positively to) and never heard back.

I've come to expect not hearing anything back on submitted resumes but if there has been some contact, I feel I should at least be told they aren't interested...

[M&M]

RTR, regarding them getting hired and not showing up, here's the worst one.

Interviewed person, great fit, offered them the job. They were scheduled to go on paid vacation and wanted to start after that. Perfect, because DH and I were getting married, and restaurant would be closed for 5 days, at the same time. The alleged start date came and went, and new hire was a no-show.

I don't know why people can't at least call in the middle of the night, when they know no one will answer the phone, and leave a message. This guy had 5 days that he knew we wouldn't be answering the phone.

And we found out later, he left us, went straight to another interview, and took that job. He didn't care that he cost us a total of three weeks where we could have been looking for another person.

I am so remembering why we stopped being business owners!

[Moutaineer]

Oh, yeah. Just been through all of that looking for a new office manager. And now I'm sitting here composing an ad for a new designer that I expect will reap me the same results. These are responsible, well paying jobs in a decent environment. We are attempting to hire educated grown-ups.

It's just so dispiriting. Really, you got a better offer, fine. Just call me sometime in the agreed two weeks notice period we allowed you for your old job and let me know so I can get someone else in.

[periastra]

We have people start, and then not show up for the second day . It is so strange to me. We do a one hour job shadow during the interview. They are encouraged to ask lots of questions. I always tell them that this line of work ( elder care ) isn't for everyone. I ask at the end of the job shadow if they are still interested, and they say they are. Just be honest. I don't take it personally.
I also call people about resumes they sent us and don't ever get a call back. After four business days, I put them in the "NO" pile too. We get back with everyone by phone one week after interviews to let them know the outcome. Many people who interview are students or young people who still live with their parents. Some of them turn out to be great employees, and some would rather just let their parents pay their way.

[boots-aregard]

It is crazy winnowing in the care field. We get 100 inquiries for every 5 eventual hires, it takes a long time to work thru them, and then 2 (on average) take a job somewhere else. We pay better than the competition, and the requirements are low (we offer training). But the type of applicant the field attracts are impulsive, seize-the-first-opportunity-type people who DO NOT like what they perceive to be 'confrontation' so they will no-show rather than call, almost every time. They see a no-show as non-confrontational, whereas a phone call to say, "I won't be there after all" is somehow (in their minds) confrontational. Drives our hiring gal around the bend, too.

California is now requiring a bunch of costly pre-processing, so we'll be 'investing' in those 5, and 2 will go to work elsewhere, which just raises our prices. California -- funny place.

[M&M]

Why is it so hard to figure out to leave a message sometime when the office is closed? That would leave only the 24 hour a day jobs that would get screwed, but I'd be left with a touch more faith in the intelligence level of our society.

[boots-aregard]

People are just so weird. I was on BART one day and a young lady asked me the time. She was worried she wasn't going to get to her job interview on time. (Restaurant). Once I told her the time, she fretted and fretted, but DID NOT CALL. It got closer and closer to the time. She then commented to me that maybe she'd just not go. It took me a few seconds to lift my jaw up off the floor. Here's a gal who needed a job, wanted a job, had a phone, but COULD NOT bring herself to call, admit she was going to be 5 minutes late, and salvage the job interview.

So I told her point blank I did hiring for my company and I could and did forgive people who were late, IF they communicated, but I couldn't and wouldn't forgive people who DID NOT CALL and DID NOT SHOW and, yes, I kept a database of names so I would know if they called in again later. I didn't pound this into her head (though I was considering it). I said it in a musing, by the way sort of way.

Did she then pick up her phone and call? NO SHE DID NOT!!!!!!

I swear to god there are people who deserve to live in a trash heap they are so $&()$*&@)(*&$# ...

[kande50]

I swear to god there are people who deserve to live in a trash heap they are so $&()$*&@)(*&$# ...

I think they often have problems that are way bigger (for them) than having a job. Some are just too anxious about failing (again), so would rather avoid putting themselves out there than take that chance. They often work hard once they get a job because they're anxious about losing it, but need a lot of help to make it through the kinds of challenges that others don't have problems with.

It's why they often end up working for less compensation for someone who can just hire them--and then maybe support them in the ways they need to be supported.

[chantal]

I swear to god there are people who deserve to live in a trash heap they are so $&()$*&@)(*&$# ...

I think they often have problems that are way bigger (for them) than having a job. Some are just too anxious about failing (again), so would rather avoid putting themselves out there than take that chance. They often work hard once they get a job because they're anxious about losing it, but need a lot of help to make it through the kinds of challenges that others don't have problems with.

It's why they often end up working for less compensation for someone who can just hire them--and then maybe support them in the ways they need to be supported.

I wonder if this is a parenting issue. Were they never allowed to fail and face consequences? Does the world now have to face their learning curve instead of their parents? What were they responsible for growing up,were they responsible for anything at all? Or were excuses always made and everything always smoothed over? We've worked hard with our kids to teach them these very things. It's normal life, you're late, you call-even the dr or dentist or friends for dinner -text at least for friends. I also wonder about the effects of doing so much online and how it's affected our ability to communicate in person. I would be so angry if my kids pulled any of this crap, for babysitting or shoveling or any the odd jobs they do as teens. And DD has had 3 internships so she knows at 20 this is NOT acceptable behavior.

[kande50]

I wonder if this is a parenting issue.

I think it's often drug and/or mental illness related. Sometimes it's the parents, or the whole family, or only the one individual who isn't able to function very well.

[WheresMyWhite]

IMO, parenting/societal.... these are the kids that learned that every soccer player gets a trophy regardless of how they played or how the team finished. Success and failure loose their meaning as it all turns out good in the end.

[Racetrackreject]

IMO, parenting/societal.... these are the kids that learned that every soccer player gets a trophy regardless of how they played or how the team finished. Success and failure loose their meaning as it all turns out good in the end.

Ditto. Also, the no consequences for actions kids are hitting the market, but mostly it's the always someone else's fault or bias that caused you to not get/have/achieve something kids.

M&M- I would have been so mad!!

[M&M]

Oh, I was, believe me!

[Moutaineer]

For me, it hasn't been just young people, or really anyone that is apparently marginal--I've had to learn the hard way that my small business can't afford to be Social Services, and that no-one is ever grateful for a leg up, favor or helping hand (I don't mean groveling grateful, I just mean continuing to show up sober and do the job.) It makes me very sad, as I've always been something of an idealist.

No, it's apparently stable, sane, educated adults who think this behavior is OK.

[chantal]

For me, it hasn't been just young people, or really anyone that is apparently marginal--I've had to learn the hard way that my small business can't afford to be Social Services, and that no-one is ever grateful for a leg up, favor or helping hand (I don't mean groveling grateful, I just mean continuing to show up sober and do the job.) It makes me very sad, as I've always been something of an idealist.

No, it's apparently stable, sane, educated adults who think this behavior is OK.

Back to how the heck did they grow up and what have they had to be responsible for? Do they have kids, animals? I don't get it. Do they not need money to live?

[Moutaineer]

Beats me, Chantal. The last one who no-showed on us had two young teenaged children at home, a fiancé and an apparently stable existence. Just no manners, it would seem.