DAILY DELIBERATIONS 2 NOVEMBER 2022

More employers are looking for ‘skills-first’ hires, data shows. I know I’ve been retired for a few years, but when did hiring a warm body just to fill a position, become a thing? When I was a service manager for a heavy equipment dealership towards the end of my career (several years before the Chinese unleashed their virus on the world), I was having trouble finding replacement journeyman mechanics. I would write up very detailed help wanted ad, citing the required years of repair and servicing experience on specific types of equipment. I would go to great lengths to describe the equipment including dozers, excavators, forestry harvesting, and off-road haul trucks, only to get applications and resumes sent in that boasted about the applicant’s years of experience in lawnmower repair. To enlighten the uninitiated, that’s like professing your ability to work on spacecraft because you spent time working at a Volkswagen dealership. The obvious takeaway is it doesn’t do your employer any good if you hire the first guy or gal that comes through the door with a resume in their hand. That leads to a hire-to-fire mentality and is a huge disservice to the company you work for. The firm will lose more money in time spent training the unqualified new-hire, and the ensuing lost revenue, than it would lose while waiting to hire the well qualified job seeker.

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