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Cadwell NOT Caldwell
If you believe in meritocracy, you can leave now.
[2 minute read ]
The philosopher David Hume held that we are saddened by other people's sadness because other people make us, by their sentiment and action, sad or happy; happy people make us happy. Perhaps this is why I heard on LBC that there is an idea that the CV (curriculum vitae) is considered by some recruiters and employers to be insufficient in securing an interview.
Certainly, whenever I have had job interviews in the last ten years the interviewer seems keener to understand how much I will contribute to the fun factor at work. The LBC radio show host was floating an idea that employers and recruiters are potentially seeking social-media style videos from job applicants. I suppose this provides an opportunity for the candidate to impress upon others their sociability and cheerfulness while gushing about how excited they are about a potential opportunity to work in a field that they would 'just die for'. I don't 'do' social media. I think you can tell. However, if I follow Hume's drift (above) I can understand that it is better to have 'smiley' people in the workplace than moping and morose people who scowl from corners; it is better for morale and that means greater overall work-output. But is that really what is behind the interviewer's incessant probing into job applicant's ability to brighten a room with witty conversation? I think not.
I have been an employer and whenever I conducted job interviews I was concerned about honesty and integrity foremost. Will this person come to work when they are needed? Can I rely on them to do the job? Can I leave them to just get on with it, or will someone have to waste their own time babysitting them? Once that is established I would decide how much contact the potential employee would have with customers and in what fashion. Then I would train them for that specific position, or entreat them to defer any inquiries made by customers to another member of their team. My approach was, if everyone is there to work and not stand around chatting then it really doesn't matter if someone is miserable. Today's employment is mindful of the impact it has on work-sociability. A strange fish to me.
I believe in meritocracy which should mean high quality output. I think most of the UK, today, believe in 'It will do!' so long as everyone is happy, so employ the friendly average-ability person.
'Yeah! I like this person.'
'Can they do the job?'
'They'll learn. They'll have a friendly team around them to show them the ropes.'
'I suppose you are right. And in any case who wants to come to work and be miserable during the slack periods. No, we must make sure that the workers when they are idle are comfortable; that they enjoy being idle and will divide their attention between productivity and seeking fun.
Well, Ring-a-Ring-a-Roses! Too harsh? I expect many people would think so. I, however, have worked in a number of countries in which I have not known the languages very well. You just get on with your work and gain satisfaction from that. I am also someone whose parents disappeared when I was sixteen. I can never understand how relevant social interaction is to some people; most people. I forget that people need to feel validated and find comfort in being important to others on an emotional level, and that even at work people cannot put aside their craving for social interaction.
I fail at job interviews with a single sentence: 'I don't bring my phone to work.' I immediately see the interviewer inwardly scratch their head as they try to process why anyone would not want to be available for an aimless chat; why they have no need to be boosted by the attention of others, or why they would take a job that doesn't bother them enough for them to need to seek emotional succour outside of their own work satisfaction. I watch them leap at the mental hurdles and fall. They only seem to fall once before they make a decision. They don't get up and try again. 'Oh, that doesn't sound like me at all!' they think.