I was recently training a junior manager on how she should look at resumes of job applicants. I instructed her that most wannabe managers simply give applications a quick scan of the applicant’s experience and leave it there.
I don’t do that.
Every employee who works at our establishment is vitally important to our success or failure. The competitive nature of our economic environment demands that companies stay lean and mean and every single employee is crucial to its success and a successful company simply cannot have more employees than it needs or a weak link. Consequently I desire employees who are of the highest character who have integrity, are honest, who are optimistic and reliable with a strong work ethic, and I only want the brightest and best among them. And I want them to stay with me through retirement.
I actively look for those hard to find individuals that I term “PSD”, (Poor-Smart-Driven); because I know that their natural work ethic and ambition will take them and our great company far.
I recently tried to run an ad with our state’s government workforce organization in my area. I sent the advertisement complete with my wish list of employee attributes and I was told that my ad did not meet their government bureaucratic regulations as to what you can say if you want to post a job with them. Their representative censored our advertisement to meet their requirements and she took out all the adjectives from our ad that describe the type person that we want to hire. (i.e. Optimistic, honest, bright, hard working, self starter, non-smoker, etc.) They told us that we could only list the description of duties.
I didn’t run the ad with them.
A company is in business to make a profit and its workforce is instrumental in making that happen. If for example I have a choice between two people whose skill set and all other factors are identical except that one smokes cigarettes and one does not, I would naturally opt for the one who didn’t smoke. Perhaps our illustrious government would say that I’m prejudiced against smokers, but common sense tells me that smokers are out sick more, they take more breaks, they annoy others by stinking up the place, and they drive up the cost of health insurance. I’m not prejudice, or an “antismokerite”, but I am a business person determined to hire the best employees that I can find and it’s just good business practice to make such a decision.
Likewise I try to hire employees who aren’t emotional wrecks with problems galore, or to refrain from hiring hotheads who might bring an AK47 to work if things don’t go their way, or drug addicts, alcoholics, criminals, the chronically sick who are consistently out of work week after week, or people who glare at your customers and would never think of saying, “Thank you – We appreciate you and your business”.
That is why I spend so much time going over resumes. I carefully go back in time with them. I will use a fictitious case in point as an example, (please no letters I’m not talking about YOU).
I look at an application and I view someone’s work record and I see where they were an airline steward.
Hmmm… Being a million miler gives me some insight on that one for sure. Let’s see, they didn’t have that job for very long so obviously they didn’t like that lifestyle, and I can’t say that I blame them.
Then they went on to become a dance instructor for nearly a decade. They must have gone to school during this period because when they switched professions and took on a business professional role. (I looked at their education and determined that indeed they graduated from college about that time.)
As I read the resume I try to follow their career and life and I try to envision what they are like. I scan their activities and hobbies and I smile as I see they now now list dancing as a hobby.
Ahhh…So the former job they loved has now become a hobby
I also notice they often work for a charity dedicated to curing a devastating disease. I bet their mom or dad has it and it must be tough caring for them.
Suddenly I see that they have started changing jobs with reckless abandon as often as changing a newborn’s diapers with just a few months in-between.
I wonder what happened???
This person went from stability and years on the same job to job hopping. Was it a divorce? Did they fall on hard times? Did they turn to alcohol or drugs? Are they over it now and most importantly if I offer them a job will they stay with us or hop away to thier next job?
Anyway you get the picture; by the time I get through, I feel as though I already know this applicant, or at least how they presented themselves in their application. If I interview them I will try to fill in any questions I might have and in today’s overregulated society that is difficult too.
There are a myriad of regulations that restrict employers from asking an applicant basic questions and it is difficult to even know what is permissible to ask and not. Employers cannot ask if they are married, or if they are of another sexual orientation, or if they have small children, or their age, or if they smoke, or in some states an employer cannot even ask if they have a prison record, and of course it would be laughable to expect to be allowed to ask someone if they are a follower of Jesus Christ.
Thus in order to find those good employees that we love, I look at resumes in a different light than most and I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to read through the lines and discern a deeper meaning from their application .
I view reading Holy Scripture in the same manner.
Recently I was reading about Jesus calming the sea. Mark 4:37 “Now a great windstorm developed and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was nearly swamped. But He was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. They woke Him up and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to die?” So He got up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Be quiet! Calm down!” Then the wind stopped, and it was dead calm. And He said to them, “Why are you cowardly? Do you still not have faith?”
Most would skim through this and read about this event like a short story and wouldn’t get too much out of it. Not me. I imagine myself actually being on that boat with them with lightning popping everywhere and winds howling. Trust me as a licensed boat captain with a passion for fishing I have been caught in some unbelievable storms far out in the raging ocean and in fact have narrowly avoided death in storms on more than one occasion. I can tell you I felt mighty small compared to that raging sea and I was praying and thinking of my loved ones for sure. I can relate to those scared disciples as the waves started coming over the sides of that ancient wooden boat.
So why did Jesus angrily call them cowards and tell them they needed to shore up their faith. The disciples had lived with Him and day after day and had seen Him performing mighty miracles first hand, and yet they still lacked faith in Him and feared for their lives. He angrily admonished them and called them “cowards” because they should have had faith in Him by now.
Aren’t we the same? I have witnessed more than my fair share of miracles that Jesus has administered in my life and I would imagine that you have as well. Do you ever doubt Him, especially when caught in one of life’s vicious storms?
I also notice that Jesus merely “spoke” to the raging storm and it instantly obeyed him and the seas slicked out dead calm.
Whoa Nellie…Selah…
Stop and think about that one for a moment. Is there anything too difficult for God to do? Even the winds obey His command. Gosh if He can quell the storms of nature what about those storms of our lives?
This is not just a short story about an amazing miracle that Jesus performed. It is full of lessons that we can learn by spending some time thinking about these verses and listening to God’s gentle voice reassuring us. Things like that possible bankruptcy, divorce, medical test, your fight against your addiction, those wayward kids, or whatever; just remember that nothing is too difficult for Jesus Christ, and all things are possible.
Oh and one last comment: Jesus was dead asleep and in their fear the disciples woke Him. Even though He was annoyed at their cowardly lack of faith in Him, He did calm the storm for them.
Don’t give up on prayer. It obviously works!
Psalm 65:5
You answer our prayers by performing awesome acts of deliverance, O God, our savior. All the ends of the earth trust in you, as well as those living across the wide seas. You created the mountains by your power, and demonstrated your strength. You calm the raging seas and their roaring waves, as well as the commotion made by the nations.