Retain your employees

If you are consistently looking for the bad in your employees, eventually you will find it.

Try looking for the good in your employees; you might be surprised at what you find, and how much it is appreciated.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

Discrimination in hiring is not as subtle as you think: an observation

“RECENT COLLEGE GRADS WANTED!”

“Entry Level Sales for Recent College Grad $40,000-$80,000 + Paid Train”

 

I have seen a lot of titles like this in the last few years, and I thought I would look into a little deeper. Especially since $80K is an excellent start for an “entry level” position.

 

The average age of a college graduate when I got my first degree was around 22 years old, todays grads are around 24, but still we are probably looking at college grads as between the ages of 22 to 24. The age of youth in the business world, the magic numbers!

 

I often wondered what would happen if I applied for some of these positions, after all I have the experience and qualifications. It was quite an interesting experiment.

 

What I found was that the places I did hear from, did not want anyone older than 30, and in one case a person told me outright that I was “too old”! Since when has mid to late forties been considered old? I should probably go back and tell them that they are breaking the law, but the trouble is they do not care, and it is quite common.

 

Who you know still matters highly, and age is not valued like it should be because THEY DO NOT WANT TO PAY YOU YOUR WORTH! Yes, this is true. We have not even gotten to how skin color or perceived ethnicity might factor in here, but if your staff all look like they are from the same family, you might want to look at your diversity practices.

 

The economy still has not really recovered the way we hoped, people are still willing to take less than they are actually worth, so there are a lot of applicants out there. A lot of these applicants have actually given up looking. The flipside is that there are a lot of qualified applicants out there, and they are not being given a chance.

 

So companies, as you place help wanted ads and job descriptions, please make sure you are being honest. There are many occasions when you have no intention of actually interviewing anyone, but you make professionals use their valuable time and submit paperwork that will never get looked at. There are times when someone is immediately dismissed because of their age or how they look. These practices were supposed to have disappeared from the workforce.

 

When are we going to rise above all this?

 

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

Definition of terms: an education problem

Politically Correct is a relatively new term, and is defined as:

“Agreeing with the idea that people should be careful to not use language or behave in a way that could offend a particular group of people”

Rudeness is defined as: “the quality or state of being rude or a rude action”

Jerk is defined as: “a contemptibly obnoxious person”

In this diverse country, political correctness was and is necessary to deal with the various racial and discriminatory common practices that used to happen before the civil rights era. The name calling, the jokes, the cartoon caricatures, sexism, etc, etc.

What the country is experiencing is not political incorrectness, it is experiencing rudeness and politicians acting like jerks; especially too each other.

There was a time when “Robert’s Rules of Order” was used in debates, when courtesy and civility were paramount. Politicians could and would disagree vehemently (sometimes violently as in duels), but there were still rules. It took great skill and thought to come up with one-liners and zingers that stung but could still be heard by children. I used to watch the debates as a kid, but decades later I do not allow my children to watch the debates because it is a bad example of adult behavior.

Please stop telling us you are tired of political correctness because what you really mean is that it is okay to be extremely rude and a jerk.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

Communication versus Barking Orders

The picture I posted is not communication, but it is often confused for communication.

Definition of communication: "the imparting or exchanging of information or news" Example:

"Direct communication between the two countries will produce greater understanding"

Barking orders, directives, and basically just telling people what to do is not effective communication in a business environment; not if you want authentic buy in to your idea.

Exchange information, make sure it is imparted clearly, and that you are open to feedback. This might make your life easier.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

Opinion versus facts

You cannot accuse someone of not being a leader if cannot specifically explain what they are doing wrong. That is just your opinion with no facts, not constructive criticism with facts.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam 

Media circus in politics 2016: an education issue

·         North Korea Shows Detained U.S. Student Otto Warmbier on State TV

·         ‘Dangerous’ Radioactive Material Stolen in Mexico

·         Vatican Cardinal Pell: Pedophile Priest 'Wasn't of Much Interest'

·         Powerful earthquake strikes near Indonesia

·         Nearly a third of Japan's women 'sexually harassed at work'

·         Uganda unveils Africa's first solar-powered bus

·         Supreme Court Takes Up Texas Abortion Case

·         After Nearly A Year in Space, NASA's Scott Kelly Is Back on Earth

This is just from today’s headlines, and there is so much more.

However, the news media is pre-occupied with guess who? Donald Trump (only time I am saying this name in the article)!

It seems like ratings and profits are more important than reporting the news, and as one media executive put it the other day “he is good for business”.

At some point the media needs to remember that the news airwaves really belong to the public, so they should start reporting according to what is news and not according to what sells ads.

The Pope could not care less, but you had to ask him anyway. The Media milked that “non-story” for almost a week!

I am very selective about where I get my news right now because I actually want to hear news, the political circus is not news and is not going to help improve an economic status, it is not going to help someone find a job, and it certainly is not going to feed a family.

Do we even need the circus of primary elections? Do we need political parties? Do we really need the Electoral College? Do we need to subject the public to more than 12 months of campaigning, for a job that pays so much less than what is being spent getting elected?  

Richard Pryor said it best in Brewster’s Millions:  How do you win something if you have to buy it? .... to get a $60,000/year job, unless he planned to steal it back with interest?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXEglx-or6k

My suggestion is you save your brain cells for some of the entertaining network TV available, I am currently enjoying “The Walking Dead” and “The Blacklist”.

 

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

PS, you should vote when the time comes though. I wish you luck making your choice because they are all doozies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6u0utMpFXo