Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Hiring the professionally-impaired.

When a public agency posts a vacant position, they are making a commitment to the public. They are supposed to search for the most-qualified individual and offer a reasonable salary in exchange for their services. If the position is posted and only two, less-than-qualified people apply, it is the responsibility of the public agency to continue their search for competent staff - or at least make a second attempt.

Hiring incompetent people has a two-fold impact upon public resources. First is the waste of public funds on the salary and non-employee related costs. The salary is paid out on a regular basis and the work product regularly doesn't measure up to public expectations. Therefore, hiring unqualified staff is clearly a gift of public funds. Money is intentionally being diverted to support the professionally-impaired.

The second, and perhaps more dire consequence of hiring incompetent staff is the suffering of public agencies in having to deal with the results of poor choices. People with limited training or sheltered professional experience are not in a position to make sound choices because wisdom is a foreign concept to them. Wisdom comes through exposure to adverse conditions and the effective evaluation of those conditions to understand the consequence of choice. What plagues the District at the moment is a curse of glad-handing. People are hired because of who they know, not what they know. When a job requires intelligence, they throw a body at the position as if advocating for on-the-job training. Training that comes at substantial cost to the agency in poor decisions and lack of efficiency.

Making matters worse is the lack of concern for the collective - the public agency and the opinions of co-workers. When people are called upon to offer an opinion about filling a position within their department, little if any regard is given to the views offered. The outcome is always determined without meaningful discussion as to qualifications or impact a new hire could have on the department. It is either done intentionally through some misguided obsession with enriching friends and associates, or it is done in an effort to ensure that blatant misconduct goes undetected.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well that scenario or the one where a friend takes home all the applications for a weekend, to get his sisters buddy the job. By the way, three years and setting all kinds of YES records. Keep up the good work you Puke.

Anonymous said...

This writer is dead on. More than a decade ago the district, in order to hire the best possible candidates, had a screening test developed that would be a measure of an applicant's personal qualities and abilities as they related to the position being sought. Good idea, right? Yes, of course, for substitute custodians, substitute para-educators, and other lowest paid, subsitute, non-contracted workers.

They're real careful about who they hire for the lowest positions in the district, and apparently choose to remain deaf, dumb and blind when it comes to who will occupy the highest. The photo of the Three Stooges says it all.

Anonymous said...

I think when you are part of the hiring team for either screen or interviewing you should be up front if the applicant is someone your are friends with. The idea that its OK to be part of the hiring process when it is a friend seems to be OK for certain positions. Even in Food Service the hiring supervisor sits on the interview team with someone that she is very good friends with even lived with and believe me I already know that person will get one of the positions. So hiring in the district is way of track in many areas.

Anonymous said...

To all in the district family farm animals: YES, I can trash the lives of others. YES, I can head hunt the people that speak out of turn. YES, NO , YES , I mean NO, I had no porn on my computer. IT WAS THEM. YES.It was them I said, YES.
Sorry, I need to DELETE somethings first. NO STOP! WITH THE COMPUTER SCAN.STOP! ITS not me, it was them I said, NO!
When downloading files from one cpu to another, all files go to the new cpu. But, we had to ship all cpu's out to have them all looked at for $300.00 per hr. twice YES, you heard me right $300.00 per hr per machine & there were 5 machines. You add this story problem up yourself. Can we get some help over here. PLEASE!

Anonymous said...

I have one Question ? MRSA!
Mark,
please help me with this fear of mine. Are we safe at work?

ESD15.org said...

While it is true that I work for Public Health of Seattle and King County, I did not instantly become an expert on MRSA. I do know that I would tend to be more concerned about a class 3 sex offender living near Madrona than a third grader at a private Catholic school in Edmonds.

Mark Zandberg

Anonymous said...

A personal favorite, which means a lot I'm sure from someone named Anonymous, is the glowing references candidates have. While looking for comments from references that the candidates provide, the same effort given to contacting co-workers of the candidate might just reveal that this particular person might be despised by their current employer and supervisor. An opening in Edmonds might be the perfect solution to rid themselves of this incompetent/disruptive personality. Considering the amount of training and experience one can gain in Edmonds (sarcasm alert) I can count on the number of enemies I make at the ESD, so that one day bad references will actually work in my favor to "earn" a better opportunity.

Anonymous said...

Breaks: you get 2 / 15 min ( right ) NO : If you go to the bathroom that counts as your break time. Please stop using the bathroom for you breakroom / you get it!. People are watching you go in & out of the bathroom all day long. STOP!
Hey, Nick can I get somemore paper over at the last stall? My break is almost up or done- man this new TP is cheap. I think, I like the old sandpaper better. Hey Nick, try the paper towels, I can dry my hands better with Marlas hot air.
How, about those long lunchs you all get. Exempt employee doesn't mean 30hrs a week & get paid for 40. Remember, we all are watching you now! :) The walls feel like there getting closer don't they?
Again, thank you MARK!

Anonymous said...

I had to laugh when I read these posts. Right on! Why should management concern themselves with what the underlings think or feel? We will just have supervisors and managers that the employee's loathe. That's good for morale isn't it? Good morning. I said good morning! Break, your lucky if you get a break! It's been three years, B. Oh hell, let's see if we are up to speed in another three! Can someone please pass the toilet paper?, I'm still in training!!

Anonymous said...

Another order handed down on Tuesday afternoon. Another command that the "YES BOY" has to f*^$@!% eat. Not quite big enough to say no, and can only roll over on his employees. Shame on him for not trying to do that outside the district. Just itchin' for that level field baby. Hey ZERO, keep up the good work.