User Post: Don't Tell Me the Economy is Bad! Our Hiring Experience from an Employers View

Don't tell me the economy is bad. I have/had an opening for a secretary. I fired my full time secretary in October 2010. She had made twenty thousand dollars worth of mistakes in a year. This was mostly my fault since we were starting our own business and she claimed she knew everything about dental billing. I took her word for it since I knew nothing. I only knew how to fix teeth, not run a business. Long story short, she got fired and I wised up and had someone come to our office for $100 an hour to teach us how to run our business.

Anyway, I quickly realized I couldn't do it all. I needed a front desk receptionist. So we posted to Monster.com. We spent $250 on a 30 day ad. There were 311 views and only three resumes?

Not to mention we called two of them and one was a no show after she confirmed the date, time and place of the interview the day before. The other girl wanted more than my existing staff with no experience.

Since we fired our receptionist, word got around and we had random resumes dropped off at the office. They were complete with misspellings, missing work histories, and poor cover letters. It was as though they dropped off the same resume for every job. We got one with a cover letter saying that they were looking for a Correctional Officer position for our front desk job.

We also had random interviews. Only one showed up in a business outfit. Yes the outfit showed cleavage but the other interviewers didn't even iron their clothes. If they can't dress up for the interview, how will they dress on a day to day basis?

We also got one free secretary from a school looking for internship. On her first day, I asked her what her strengths were. She said "I'm really good at Word Finds." I told her I need her to answer phones. She was one hour late the first day and the next 3 days. She didn't come at all for the second week of the 6 week internship. We didn't even get a call from her. We just got an email from her teacher that it didn't work out.

Is it too much to ask for someone that has a great work ethic?

I'm finding the applicants are expecting something for nothing. They feel entitled with no work experience. Is this the youth of society? Our first secretary, an older lady, didn't learn our all digital system in 3 months. We gave her a quick reference book, thin, and she didn't even crack it open.

Did I set the bar too high? Was I asking too much?

All I ask for:
1. A tailor made resume, proof read, error free. If you are making mistakes in your resume, will you also be making financial mistakes?

2. Show up on time or early for employment or an interview. Repeat.

3. Make an effort in learning new things. Take initiative.

4. Dress appropriately for the interview and everyday after that. A t-shirt, jeans, or jogging suit is not acceptable for a front desk position.

It seems that those that are already working seem to be better candidates then those that are not. At least they show they can show up to work and repeat over a given period of time.

Well we finally hired our secretary who we stole from the local bank. She dressed in a business outfit everyday and worked for the bank for the last 6 years. Finally proof that someone can work and return to work everyday after that! She had a great attitude and a flawless organized resume. She asked for less than what we offered our existing staff. But we offered her what our staff is getting. She accepted to our delight!

i keep wondering about these so called unemployed people out there.
Are they actually actively sending out resumes?
Do they show up to the interviews?
Do they dress appropriately?
Why does it seem they want something for nothing?

I was expecting dozens of resumes and got three. I was expecting a tough hiring decision but couldn 't find one good candidate.

If the economy is so bad and employment so high, you would think that people would make an effort. I'm thinking that these unemployed people were already unemployed before government was concerned about the employment rate and businesses just let their bottom feeders go and kept only the great employees.