Batting .333
Last night, like most Wednesday nights these days, was a training session at work. We had nine people scheduled to attend. Nine new faces, nine pieces of fresh clay for me to mold and shape into competent, productive members of our little family. Ah, the joys of teaching.
History told me that I could probably expect between five and seven of these fine folks actually to attend. We typically have about 25-35% of any given class not show up. One or two, on any given day, may even call us to let us know they're not coming and/or reschedule, if I'm particularly fortunate. The rest just seem to vanish into the ether. Oh, sure, they may call to try to get into a training session a few weeks later, but experience also shows that if the No-Show the first time, they'll most likely do it again. At that point, they become someone else's problem. They can reapply again in six months if they're desperate.
Even with all of this, last night's events were a little odd.
When I arrived just after 2:00, I found that two of the night's contestants had already called in to reschedule. How refreshing! That meant that my group would number seven at most.
My first recruit showed up at around 2:35, 25 minutes before the training session was to start. That's pretty typical, actually. Then two more came in, for a total of three. A couple then joined us, raising our ranks to five. By this time, it was almost 3:00, so I was ready to write off the other two and run with the five we had. I left momentarily to make a final sweep of the training room.
Not entirely surprisingly, we had one more person show up at around 2:59:48. More surprisingly, though, I discovered that the aforementioned couple was no longer in the waiting area. I looked out the window just in time to see them driving away.
Final count: four out of nine.
Well, almost. The training session is divided up into three phases: Policies and Procedures, Quality and Production, and Computer Training, with two short breaks in between. I end the Policies and Procedures part with a tour of the facility, during which I explain (among other things) which parking areas are ours. I then encourage them to move their cars, if necessary, so that Harry (the landlord from the nether realms) doesn't have their cars towed away. So we finished the tour, and I watched the four of them head for the parking area.
One of them never came back. Revised final count: three out of nine.
If you're batting in the top half of the order for a Major League Baseball team, three-for-nine is a pretty good road series. For a situation where you're literally waiting to hand people a job, though, it's pretty pathetic.
Our training sessions are not a guarantee of employment; there is a skills test that potential recruits have to pass before being offered a job. But it's not a hard test. It's open book, for one thing, and for those items that are covered, the lesson plan is such that I all but say "This is going to be on the test." So when someone fails it, it's a little sad. Still, I have a little leeway in this matter. If I think a candidate can handle the job, I can hire them even if the didn't pass the test.
Two of our three survivors scored perfectly on the test last night. The third failed it—not badly, but failed it nonetheless. Still, I was inclined to be generous. Heck, at that point, I would have given all three of them the job, regardless of their test scores, just for sticking it out until then end. We can fix most technique and/or skill problems if people will just bother to show up.
So I hired all three of the survivors. I left messages for the two who had called in letting them know when the next couple of classes will be. The no-show's file was placed into the bottom drawer of our filing cabinet, where we keep things like that. So were those of the abandonments. Additionally, these three were filed under the proverbial "N" for "No longer my problem" (or "Not going to be hired as long as I'm doing the hiring", if you prefer). I have absolutely no use for people who quit that early into the process.
The final score stands as follows:
No Shows: 1
Reschedules: 2
Abandons: 3
New Hires: 3
Sometimes one-for-three is the best you can do, I suppose.
History told me that I could probably expect between five and seven of these fine folks actually to attend. We typically have about 25-35% of any given class not show up. One or two, on any given day, may even call us to let us know they're not coming and/or reschedule, if I'm particularly fortunate. The rest just seem to vanish into the ether. Oh, sure, they may call to try to get into a training session a few weeks later, but experience also shows that if the No-Show the first time, they'll most likely do it again. At that point, they become someone else's problem. They can reapply again in six months if they're desperate.
Even with all of this, last night's events were a little odd.
When I arrived just after 2:00, I found that two of the night's contestants had already called in to reschedule. How refreshing! That meant that my group would number seven at most.
My first recruit showed up at around 2:35, 25 minutes before the training session was to start. That's pretty typical, actually. Then two more came in, for a total of three. A couple then joined us, raising our ranks to five. By this time, it was almost 3:00, so I was ready to write off the other two and run with the five we had. I left momentarily to make a final sweep of the training room.
Not entirely surprisingly, we had one more person show up at around 2:59:48. More surprisingly, though, I discovered that the aforementioned couple was no longer in the waiting area. I looked out the window just in time to see them driving away.
Final count: four out of nine.
Well, almost. The training session is divided up into three phases: Policies and Procedures, Quality and Production, and Computer Training, with two short breaks in between. I end the Policies and Procedures part with a tour of the facility, during which I explain (among other things) which parking areas are ours. I then encourage them to move their cars, if necessary, so that Harry (the landlord from the nether realms) doesn't have their cars towed away. So we finished the tour, and I watched the four of them head for the parking area.
One of them never came back. Revised final count: three out of nine.
If you're batting in the top half of the order for a Major League Baseball team, three-for-nine is a pretty good road series. For a situation where you're literally waiting to hand people a job, though, it's pretty pathetic.
Our training sessions are not a guarantee of employment; there is a skills test that potential recruits have to pass before being offered a job. But it's not a hard test. It's open book, for one thing, and for those items that are covered, the lesson plan is such that I all but say "This is going to be on the test." So when someone fails it, it's a little sad. Still, I have a little leeway in this matter. If I think a candidate can handle the job, I can hire them even if the didn't pass the test.
Two of our three survivors scored perfectly on the test last night. The third failed it—not badly, but failed it nonetheless. Still, I was inclined to be generous. Heck, at that point, I would have given all three of them the job, regardless of their test scores, just for sticking it out until then end. We can fix most technique and/or skill problems if people will just bother to show up.
So I hired all three of the survivors. I left messages for the two who had called in letting them know when the next couple of classes will be. The no-show's file was placed into the bottom drawer of our filing cabinet, where we keep things like that. So were those of the abandonments. Additionally, these three were filed under the proverbial "N" for "No longer my problem" (or "Not going to be hired as long as I'm doing the hiring", if you prefer). I have absolutely no use for people who quit that early into the process.
The final score stands as follows:
No Shows: 1
Reschedules: 2
Abandons: 3
New Hires: 3
Sometimes one-for-three is the best you can do, I suppose.
posted by Michael at
9:25 AM
2 Comments:
You should call the Rockies--they could use your .333 average. What a pathetic excuse for a baseball team.
By
dilliwag, At
June 02, 2005 5:20 PM
Yeah, they remind me of a comment made by KSL sportscaster Greg Wrubell a few years back: "All twenty-seven major league teams and the San Diego Padres were in action last night...."
By
Michael, At
June 03, 2005 6:57 AM
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