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It is my understanding that FBI background checks work on the theory that the way you behaved in the past is the way you will behave in the future. They are background checks; they do not attempt to psycho-analyze people.
I used to think these employment tests would weed out the misfits. Unfortunately, I suspect that sociopaths have an edge. The sociopath is well-practiced at manipulating people. I am wary of tests that have top secret scoring systems.
I read this book by a small business owner about managing employees. He believed that your employees, their friends, and their families were the cause of all of your problems (theft, burglary, fire, etc). What really impressed me was his emphasis on honesty, right down to the owner reimbursing the company for copying his daughter's book report on the office copier. If your employees see you cheat others, then they will think it is ok to cheat you.
As has been said, people tend to hire people like themselves. If they are screw offs, they hire screw offs. If they believe in things that are too good to be true, then they hire people who tell them things that are too good to be true. It is the rare person who can hire people who are better than they are.
The FBI does attempt to psychoanalyze people with polygraph and psychological exams. Sociopaths can easily get through polygraphs. As a matter of fact, the federal government has hired troublesome employees and spies who were able to get through a polygraph exam.
By the way, any credible behavioral scientist knows that the polygraph is not a reliable tool, but government agencies at all levels insist on its continued use.
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I've read some of the comments here and see why our economy is failing.
To address the OP - to get qualified educated employees, why not try an internship program through one of the colleges. My son attended Kettering University ( the former GMI ) in Flint Michigan for engineering. All the students co-op for 6 months out of the year with various employers from around the country. 3 months of schooling - 3 months of co-ops. Upon graduation, he obtained a job with UPS as a district engineer, which was his co-op for 3 of his college years. He also had the work ethics that my husband and I instilled in each of our boys. He's doing well and enjoys his job and they are thrilled with not only his knowledge and work ethics.
It seems a lot of posters tend to think businesses should cater to their needs. This is the way American businesses function. It's a 9-5 society primarily. If you want to sleep in, then maybe you should have chosen a career path that allowed you to do this - like medical or law enforcement with swing shift or the choice of evening shifts. I'm going to assume that a lot of posters suggesting this are milleniums. You've grown up with little ambition because you haven't had to work to obtain things like many baby boomers. Mom and dad, both working, had little family time due to having to both work and showed their love by just giving the latest trends and fashions.
Europe is floundering. Sure they have a minimum of 6 weeks vacation and in many places 28 hour work weeks, that are considered full time with full time benefits. Their socialistic approached in the 70's, after throwing aside the Marshall Plan has their economies in hot water now with many countries on the verge of bankruptsy.
American business owe you nothing - you owe it too yourself to become responsible human beings.
Also let's get away from the way hiring is now done. It is too easy to BS employers with the philosophical profiling for hiring candidates HR's use. Go back to the old way of finding out from former employers and associates, the true work capacity and ethics of those applying for a job.
What nobody mentioned is that employer/employee might be a bad fit. Some companies work hard and expect more out of their employees. I have had workplaces where I was behind the curve and those where I was ahead of the curve.
Same as school and every other thing in life. You're never 'the best' and everybody behind you is lazy. It's always relative to somebody else. Somebody out there makes looks Matt Nguyen look like a lazy idiot and I guarantee it. Sometimes it has to do with where you are in life.
I do think it's the employers duty to communicate this fit, or lack thereof. You certainly do not get 6 years into a job tenure and tell the employee they are not meeting expectations. That is all on the employer.
Well think about it... The job of management is to make other workers work hard. Why would the companies put the hardest workers in a position like that? Better to put the lazy/ineffective workers in the management position where they can't slow down the productivity of others.
Someone once explained it to me this way. Management is where they put the people who couldn't cut it doing the work itself. I didn't believe it was so, until I noticed that trend repeat over and over. Some of the most unproductive people were being fast tracked for various leadership/management roles. The team wasn't really losing an asset in terms of productivity, but they weren't gaining anything in terms of leadership. Many times, half those management positions could have been eliminated by having separate departments report to the same manager. Companies are stuck in their ways though.
Somehow or another, management professionals have managed to hold their positions even as the number of workers reporting to them have decreased substantially. Many companies are top heavy in management to the point were it seems they do not have enough work to occupy their work week. I think the next collective body to see some trimming will be management. How they've managed to hold on so long is likely do to their influence in who stays, and who gets the pink slip. As companies continue to trim their fat though, they will run out of places to hide.
There is a joke that managers get there by not doing anything and delegating work. They also become experts at avoiding work while blaming the people below them for screwing up their vision. Sadly that joke has become reality with some people in some companies.
Sadly I have the same issue with some engineers here that I work with.
It's kinda sad when an engineer who interviewed me 7 years ago now reports to me.
That happens and it will happen to you too.
Somebody who is younger than you will leapfrog you.
It's not 'sad' as you say. That's like saying it's 'sad' to graduate college at age 28. Didn't you in fact go to school later in life? It's also like a doctor saying an engineer is sad because they make peanuts compared to them which is true.
People have different paths in life. Somebody is always 'pathetic and sad' if you play the game of life that way.
Indeed using a staffing agency is a good way to take advantage of desperate employees especially fresh grads. Do you think they will be engaged since they have no investment in the company, they know there are no raises nor rewards for going above and beyond? Don't you think they will quit the first FTE offer they get and don't you think eventually they will do a career change if the situation doesn't change eventually for them?
It is quid pro quo. The employee will go if a solid opportunity arises, and who can blame them? If the employer wants loyalty, then it cannot use this method for employing people.
I know, in the two cases I am familiar with, the temporary employees probably are trying harder to impress their employer than the permanent employees are, in hopes of being hired.
Go back to the old way of finding out from former employers and associates, the true work capacity and ethics of those applying for a job.
Today there are so many laws and regulations, this is not allowed. The employer cannot ask, and the ex employer cannot tell the truth about bad employees.
Today about all you can ask to find out about the employee is to ask, "Would you hire this person back to work for your firm"?
If the answer is a strong YES, then they are now under consideration for a job. If the answer is NO, then the new prospective employer does not want them either. Just a good way to pass on the word if it is a bad employee.
"46% of newly-hired employees will fail within 18 months, according to a new study by Leadership IQ. (Failure is being defined as: being terminated, leaving under pressure, receiving disciplinary action, or having significantly negative performance reviews.)
But it’s not because they don’t have the right skills to do the job. Instead, the study found that 26% of new hires fail because they can’t accept feedback, 23% because they’re unable to understand and manage emotions, 17% because they lack the necessary motivation to excel, 15% because they have the wrong temperament for the job, and only 11% because they lack the necessary technical skills."
I would say that this is exactly what I have observed in our company. Our biggest problem over the past year is these people who cannot accept feedback. They act as if they know anything, reject any input about how they should be doing things different, and in general just act like stubborn jerks. These are people in their 40's.
"46% of newly-hired employees will fail within 18 months, according to a new study by Leadership IQ. (Failure is being defined as: being terminated, leaving under pressure, receiving disciplinary action, or having significantly negative performance reviews.)
But it’s not because they don’t have the right skills to do the job. Instead, the study found that 26% of new hires fail because they can’t accept feedback, 23% because they’re unable to understand and manage emotions, 17% because they lack the necessary motivation to excel, 15% because they have the wrong temperament for the job, and only 11% because they lack the necessary technical skills."
I would say that this is exactly what I have observed in our company. Our biggest problem over the past year is these people who cannot accept feedback. They act as if they know anything, reject any input about how they should be doing things different, and in general just act like stubborn jerks. These are people in their 40's.
sounds pretty accurate.
What scares me a bit, and goes back to what I read a bit in the OP -- is that the younger generation is getting more into leadership now (younger than me and I'm 36). I know a lot of them that value teamwork too much its at the expense of intellectual discussion, they read that as conflict... I call it trouble shooting. But any difficult discussion seems to register as too much for many of them. I'm afraid that what we used to value -- original thought, discussion, independent thought will by some of these managers be seen as "wrong temperament" or "unable to manage emotions"
I'm on a team like this now and its weird and so very stifling. In college we were encouraged to disagree as long as it was respectful ....these are the best problem solving times. I hate to see this being discouraged so much in the workplace, at least it seems to be on the specific projects I've been working on lately.
I've had to do so much "shut up and color" it makes me very sad as its certainly not my nature. And the weird part is I'm mellow and soft spoken, in school I was never known to be particularly talkative....in these groups I'm known to be one of the outspoken ones. Which is to me a huge red flag...
I'm not extroverted but I do have opinions based on my education and experience. It scares me when others don't or are too afraid to speak up while the project goes into the tank, or the PM is just offended by any boat rocking or afraid they might have been wrong about something.
I feel like I've had to go back to 3rd grade and remember how to ask for permission to do anything.
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