Hiring people is a pain in the ass

jro

jro

Gonna take a lot
20 Year Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2004
Posts
14,429
Trying to hire some entry-level maintenance-type staff, and it's surprisingly difficult. Anyone else trying to find people and ending up with awful applicants? So far, I've had all of the following:
-one guy who claimed that he had zero convictions but actually had about eight or ten, several of them for assault with a deadly weapon;
-one guy who claimed to have one trespassing conviction but actually had 25 different convictions just in this state, and also 15 aliases and 5 different Social Security numbers (!!);
-a guy who claimed to have 25 years of experience in each of the desired categories but actually had zero.

It's a decent job, too, IMO, okay salary, full benefits. Nothing crazy required for someone to get hired at the first level. But man, it's hard to even meet a low bar these days with the job market what it is.
 
evil wasabi

evil wasabi

The Jongmaster
20 Year Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2000
Posts
60,434
jro said:
Trying to hire some entry-level maintenance-type staff, and it's surprisingly difficult. Anyone else trying to find people and ending up with awful applicants? So far, I've had all of the following:
-one guy who claimed that he had zero convictions but actually had about eight or ten, several of them for assault with a deadly weapon;
-one guy who claimed to have one trespassing conviction but actually had 25 different convictions just in this state, and also 15 aliases and 5 different Social Security numbers (!!);
-a guy who claimed to have 25 years of experience in each of the desired categories but actually had zero.

It's a decent job, too, IMO, okay salary, full benefits. Nothing crazy required for someone to get hired at the first level. But man, it's hard to even meet a low bar these days with the job market what it is.
Click to expand...

Set the requirements higher. Ask for professional references. If they give you people with Gmail addresses, immediately screen them out.
 
Syn

Syn

There can be only one.
10 Year Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2009
Posts
9,091
In all seriousness, pre online applications, my boss showed me an application filled out in crayon.
 
StevenK

StevenK

ng.com SFII tournament winner 2002-2023
10 Year Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2012
Posts
10,146
Don't people poach staff off linkedin these days?
 
neo_mao

neo_mao

Been There., Done That., It Was Shit.,
15 Year Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2007
Posts
10,175
i typically just hire whichever candidate had the biggest tits and the shortest skirt.
 
neo_mao

neo_mao

Been There., Done That., It Was Shit.,
15 Year Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2007
Posts
10,175
LoneSage said:
yeah bit then you gotta work with them and that makes you nervous
Click to expand...

Actually you’re right Lonesage.

Seriously I’m about to start looking for someone on my team right now and it is not easy.

Historically finding good candidates has been really difficult. Part of the problem is that is so easy to apply to jobs now that everyone under the sun does it. Thankfully our HR department screens out resumes so that cuts down the number a bit.

The last time I was hiring we also changed things up...I put together a case study for applicants to work on as a way to screen applicants up front.

Basically HR would do an initial phone interview, and if that went well, they’d email the case out and each applicant would have a week to work on it. Then I’d review it and depending on how they did we’d bring them in for interviews. First round would be an in-person interview with HR and with the team, second round with me. It’s not a perfect process (yeah we know they can cheat) but it did help weed out useless candidates.

SteveNK said:
Don't people poach staff off linkedin these days?
Click to expand...

We do this as well. Our HR actively searches LinkedIn and proactively reaches out to people and encourages them to apply.
 
GohanX

GohanX

Horrible Goose
20 Year Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2001
Posts
12,507
We have a hell of a time hiring decent help at work, but I think the big reason is that they don't advertise the salary, so we either get people who think it's a higher position than it is and want twice what even my boss makes or we get unskilled people who would do pretty much anything for $10 an hour, except we pay much more than that but we need skills. At this point I don't even care if someone has experience, if you have an IQ of at least 120 I can teach you anything you need to know, but this rarely happens.
 
LoneSage

LoneSage

A Broken Man
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2004
Posts
44,859
neo_moe said:
Actually you’re right Lonesage.

Seriously I’m about to start looking for someone on my team right now and it is not easy.

Historically finding good candidates has been really difficult. Part of the problem is that is so easy to apply to jobs now that everyone under the sun does it. Thankfully our HR department screens out resumes so that cuts down the number a bit.

The last time I was hiring we also changed things up...I put together a case study for applicants to work on as a way to screen applicants up front.

Basically HR would do an initial phone interview, and if that went well, they’d email the case out and each applicant would have a week to work on it. Then I’d review it and depending on how they did we’d bring them in for interviews. First round would be an in-person interview with HR and with the team, second round with me. It’s not a perfect process (yeah we know they can cheat) but it did help weed out useless candidates.



We do this as well. Our HR actively searches LinkedIn and proactively reaches out to people and encourages them to apply.
Click to expand...

another bigdicked bastard who has the power to hire
 
GohanX

GohanX

Horrible Goose
20 Year Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2001
Posts
12,507
Moe having power over another human being is somewhat terrifying.
 
madman

madman

Blame madman, You Know You Want To.,
Joined
Jun 1, 2007
Posts
7,518
It's not much easier in more highly skilled jobs. Within the last year or so a buddy of mine interviewed an applicant, seemed good, he went through a few other rounds, everyone agreed he was a solid candidate. Dude starts and seems entirely clueless (I'll leave the geeky computer stuff out). So my friend thinks OK, he's new, just settling in. Turns out the guy's brother did all his interviews for him and in reality he's a dumbass.

My favorite failed interview story is I emailed this dude, told him send me the best time that works for you since he was still at his current job and I called him at that time. It's his house phone and his wife picks up, not even his cell phone, so I figured OK not a big deal. Then she yells to at him upstairs and he picks up and I hear him eating. He tells me his wife made him 2 egg mcmuffin type sandwiches and he's having breakfast. I had to go through the motions for an hour even though there was no way I was going to hire someone who would eat during a phone interview.

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

titchgamer

Guerilla Warrior
Joined
May 31, 2018
Posts
1,731
I have not had to personally hire anyone for a few years now.

Last time I did I chucked 95% of the applicants in the bin before I finished reading the CV’s and the final 8 I actually interviewed only 1 was viable.

However where I work now we are constantly short on staff.
Finding someone with the required skill set is difficult enough but when you add in the general BS of work then its even harder to keep them.

We actually have 2 full shift at the moment but 3 guys are due to retire in the next 12 months so it will start all over again soon.
 
F4U57

F4U57

General Morden's Aide
20 Year Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2004
Posts
7,632
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.
 
StevenK

StevenK

ng.com SFII tournament winner 2002-2023
10 Year Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2012
Posts
10,146
neo_moe said:
Actually you’re right Lonesage.

Seriously I’m about to start looking for someone on my team right now and it is not easy.

Historically finding good candidates has been really difficult. Part of the problem is that is so easy to apply to jobs now that everyone under the sun does it. Thankfully our HR department screens out resumes so that cuts down the number a bit.

The last time I was hiring we also changed things up...I put together a case study for applicants to work on as a way to screen applicants up front.

Basically HR would do an initial phone interview, and if that went well, they’d email the case out and each applicant would have a week to work on it. Then I’d review it and depending on how they did we’d bring them in for interviews. First round would be an in-person interview with HR and with the team, second round with me. It’s not a perfect process (yeah we know they can cheat) but it did help weed out useless candidates.



We do this as well. Our HR actively searches LinkedIn and proactively reaches out to people and encourages them to apply.
Click to expand...

neo_seriousfora_moe
 
GohanX

GohanX

Horrible Goose
20 Year Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2001
Posts
12,507
F4U57 said:
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.
Click to expand...
Mah nigga
 
radiantsvgun

radiantsvgun

They call him Mr. Windy
15 Year Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2007
Posts
1,692
jro said:
Trying to hire some entry-level maintenance-type staff, and it's surprisingly difficult. Anyone else trying to find people and ending up with awful applicants? So far, I've had all of the following:
-one guy who claimed that he had zero convictions but actually had about eight or ten, several of them for assault with a deadly weapon;
-one guy who claimed to have one trespassing conviction but actually had 25 different convictions just in this state, and also 15 aliases and 5 different Social Security numbers (!!);
-a guy who claimed to have 25 years of experience in each of the desired categories but actually had zero.

It's a decent job, too, IMO, okay salary, full benefits. Nothing crazy required for someone to get hired at the first level. But man, it's hard to even meet a low bar these days with the job market what it is.
Click to expand...

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.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top