Job Fair in Wetumpka, Alabama, 2013

Substandard Entry Level Job Applicants

And What Can Be Done To Help

by

Michael Driver

Chances are there’s something you have missed about entry level job applicants if you are in a low wage industry. Reliance on HR for screening or simply reviewing applications via sorting and dicing software hides some ugly facts. From electronic applications, you know that the level of education is abysmal and the box we need to ban tells us that criminal convictions are commonplace. But there’s much more and it’s much worse.

Actual resumes are even more revealing because that’s where personal presentation comes into play. And where it is frequently botched: misspelled words, incoherent job descriptions, shocking admissions, inappropriate placement, unspeakable carelessness. It’s enough to make you wonder if these people would show up for an interview with their hat on backwards or reeking of alcohol. Well, yes, and not infrequently.

Once, through misbegotten circumstances, I found myself interviewing a man whose face and hands were covered with scars and still-healing wounds. His last job had been as an entertainer in a bar. The entertainment he provided was fighting another man with barbed wire.

While that example is extreme, self-presentation failures are frequent. Forget the limp handshakes and lack of eye contact. How about being able to hear an applicant speak? Or hearing something relevant when conversation is engaged?

Consider the lackluster candidates you interview, the flops and fizzles. Then imagine all the would-be employees that never make it to your office. It’s clear that something needs to be done to help people understand how to navigate the job application process, secure interviews and present themselves favorably. Given that they’re obviously not acquiring these skills in school, something needs to be done to help. But what?

There are three solutions to providing pre-employment preparation for applicants, starting with personal initiative. Each of us with expertise to offer could cajole schools to address the issue, pressing the case with letters, telephone calls, email and personal contact in an effort to convince education administrators that schools should incorporate job application skills into their curriculum. We could also coach individuals, providing a strong mentor resource for those who need it most.

Forming a nonprofit organization to implement these same methods would be even more efficacious because the increased scale of response would reach more people. A nonprofit could also add publicity to its list of activities and apply for grants to enlarge its scope. Other nonprofits might well cooperate, extending their own compatible objectives through the realization that assistance with form and appearance also strengthens the substance of character and ability.

If labor organizations, exiting or inchoate, would take up the project of advising employment applicants along these same lines, even, in some cases, tailoring their efforts to specific businesses or industries, benefits would be extended further. If labor organizations would partner with schools, yet more success could be generated.

This concern is more than just about filling jobs with better applicants. Preparing for the job application process will enhance work skills and render more effective, better satisfied employees once the job has begun. And the impact will endure through multiple job changes to improve the entire work-life experience.

Copyright © 2015 by Michael Driver

Follow on Twitter: @mdMichaelDriver

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