Monday, January 29, 2007

HIRING MATURE STAFF

It is a sensitive topic to touch on, because i am or soon falling into this category. But i have to rant.

Yesterday on straits time someone complained that at 50, he thinks no one is serious and interested in hiring him despite his vast work experiences.

Having been involved in Recruitment/HR work for almost 10years now, i always try to be as impartial as possible not to judge a candidate by his/her race or age. Sadly, it is a usually a self-fulfilling prophecy where a certain type of worker has more tipah-apa work attitude and another group prove to be more skillful liars.

It is not that i don't try, but when it comes to more mature workers, they clearly lack certain qualities to fit into the exuberant entertainment culture. 1) you have to look/dress/behave relatively hip because "you represent the party". 2) then you have to be fit and healthy for all the zipping around from event to event (sometimes even to help carry bulky equipment and stuff). 3) you have to be relatively commitment-free because you have to work late nights and weekends. Finally, you have to be resourceful and keep up to date simply because clients are getting more sophisticated.


Recently, we recruited back an ex-staff (S) who left us 8 years ago to then venture on his own, to now replace an outgoing operations executive. Back then, although not exactly a super-competent staff, he was younger, fitter and hence could assist in, amongst other things, equipment set-up etc. I had very little recollection of how effective he was because when i first joined the company, the staff strength was smaller and S was one of those pioneers who went thru thick and thin with my boss who had just started out the business then.

So this time, naturally, on his return and seeing how young the work force is, he behaved like a senior (a general manager to be more precise) and apart from demanding a more attractive remuneration package, he laid down conditions of not wanting to perform certain tasks he used to do, like the manual work. Fair enough, we don't want him to break his forty-something year old bones either. Just as long as he can organise people (part or full time staff) to do it, which is his primary role anyway, we are ok with that.

A week before he started work, he came down to discuss details of employment, introduced himself to colleagues, ordered me to do a few things including ensuring his name cards were printed with the correct designation, and shared his vision for the company with new colleagues. Very impressive!

Few days into the job, I noticed he hardly used the computer, he just kept copying notes on some scraps of paper. He looked lost. On event site, he didn't know how to operate the equipment anymore, he didn't even know how to coordinate a simple event. While my boss and me just gave him time to settle and adapt to "new" situations, the younger and more driven staff couldn't care less to talk to him nicely. When they realised S was enjoying a glass of icy cold beer during one of our events, they just decided to task him with no-brainer roles like open ballroom door for guests and fetch game props.

1 week into the job, he wants to quit, citing differences with the younger staff. Not surprising! The younger employees of today (not all though) can multi-task, including marketing roles, coordination of events, carry and set-up equipment, some can even design cards/posters using adobe photoshops or powerpoint, flash, edit videos etc.

No differences la. I think it is just his self-esteem diminishing because most things he doesn't know how to do. Neither does he feel comfortable consulting others because he already set his "I'm your senior" aura. I try to emphatize, i spoke to him, i was even willing to give him a second chance. I was utterly disappointed when he turned me down. I asked him what he could do for me, he said he will recruit someone to replace him. Ok, set, for once i don't have to do it myself. The next time i checked with him the recuitment process, he said he placed a small ad in classified (not even semi-display) which garnered only 3 responses and cost $70. Again, only a reflection that he is living in the past. For $70 i can place 3 job street ads that last 3 weeks or a little more a whole month ad in jobsDB. Obviously he hadn't even heard of these recruitment portals!

12 comments:

sinlady said...

Young hires got attitude; mature hires cannot cope. So how har? LOL

Anonymous said...

Got abit worried coz u went into details abt the new "GM" (coz I thought he might read yr blod...) until I got to the part where he is not eh..."high tech"? Must find someone with experience yet updated lah! Hate to say this (and I hv no scientific/objective data to back my statement) but I find that (some) pp in SIN do not upgrade themselves unlike those in HK, who go for one postgrad. degree etc after another...well, they probably hv no life either......

Suzie Wong said...

SL--haha, don't know. I just know that we don't fall into either category

VB, not afraid he sees. See also good la, then he knows what a pain he had been

Anonymous said...

that's so sad. but he gotta learn to keep up with times. otherwise, it's really really tough to get a job in this industry. one needs a lot of energy, zest and flexibility.

Suzie Wong said...

Yah Imp, it's SAD and i feel so BAD. But he refused to listen to me. I even thot him a few simple tricks to win the young over. He just wants to give up, which makes me MAD!

Anonymous said...

So funny...sound like what you see in HK serial like that :). We had 1 in Finance and 1 in Legal also. 1 in finance couldn't keep books to save his life but came to talk to me that he could do director of finance job but would then require higher pay...he didn;t know I was going to fire him already. Another in Legal didn't do handover, then when I asked him to do handover, he demanded that I get the younger chap to give him a FORMAL apology first!
Sis

Anonymous said...

So funny...sound like what you see in HK serial like that :). We had 1 in Finance and 1 in Legal also. 1 in finance couldn't keep books to save his life but came to talk to me that he could do director of finance job but would then require higher pay...he didn;t know I was going to fire him already. Another in Legal didn't do handover, then when I asked him to do handover, he demanded that I get the younger chap to give him a FORMAL apology first!
Sis

Anonymous said...

Not just cannot a job in this industry but any industry lah! Other than manual labour......oh I forgot, he cannot do that either!

wildgoose said...

Very sad indeed.

Actually, sometimes, my frens and I lament that because we don't lie, we don't get to places we want, unlike the ppl who just lie, apple-polish and skive. But we must still compete with them for jobs. So must "blow a bit of trumpet". Otherwise, how?

Suzie Wong said...

WG, i believe ppl who lie and skive will soon be found out. Yah,but they already chosen for the job that's the problem right?

For this guy, he actually got the job but didn't want to prove his worth (shrug)

Suzie Wong said...

Sis, the legal one i think i know who u tokking about

Anonymous said...

The old man. Have u met? My jaws dropped when got his demand. About younger ones lying and bluffing...we've received applications from our staff applying for their own jobs in blind ads many times, and these punks' resume state our whole company's track record as their own experience, and then they r only in late 20s' or early 30s' only ;) !
Sis