#520 Recrut

When I talked about companies that overpraise their Gen Ex employees most people thought, yeah, that’s stupid. Occasional praise is fine but you can’t mollycoddle people. Why bother?
Cause there are more jobs than people to fill them that’s why.
So, when I was at a job fair the other day, I took the opportunity to watch how other employers went about trying to get people to work for them.
I was right next to a booth from an organization that offers home health care. Kind of a “nurses on wheels” program, adult day care without the center.
There’s a job shortage there. Most good nurses are so old they need the service themselves.
Similarly, the army recruiter across the aisle from me was for some reason finding it hard to sell people on the educational merits of joining up.
The conversation kept shifting to danger.
On the other end of the spectrum, I saw this builders association pamphlet that says they need to recruit and retain new members.
Actually they say “recrut.”
Unfortunately, for the builders association, software has no regulatory hoops, so their publishing program appears to not have spellcheck.
The big headline says: “2007 Focus: Recruting and Retention.”
Oops. I’ve never been “recruting” but I understand it’s a marvelous experience. It’s kind of like recruiters in rut.
Some all out orgy of sales and over-promises and minimizing all the bad stuff and slathering on the glories of whatever you’re trying to recrut someone into. The job or organization made to sound 100 times better than it will ever be. And all the praise you’ll ever get crammed into your first recrutment interviews. Hmm.
It was kind of funny to watch the continuum of hiring at this job fair. The army guys were recruiting young people. And the army folks were in turn being recruited by the Washington State Patrol. And the Washington State Patrol veterans were being recruited by the 24 Hour Security company.
Like I say labor shortage.
Especially with tough people. Apparently hard people are good to find.
And good people are hard to find—or keep.
Maybe the hyperpraise thing does make sense.
America, ya gotta love it