Employment Secrets

By Thomas M. Schulz

Employment Secrets is a comprehensive text providing useful information for many individuals such as students selecting careers, 1st time job seekers, the unemployed, mid-life career changers, seniors, as well as those who counsel, advise, write resumes or parent. The text reveals truths behind employment rejections (because employers are discouraged from being brutally honest) by dealing with subjects like bias in hiring, office politics and more. There are many interesting true employment stories behind how, and why, many employment hiring or rejection decisions are REALLY made.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 17, 2008
• ISBN: 9781465319609

Thomas M. Schulz

Tom Schulz began employment in human Resources in the 1960’s when it was called Personnel. He ultimately rose, in industry, to the level of Vice President or Director of Human Resources. He had been employed with leading Fortune multi-national companies prior to founding SCHULZ PERSONNEL SERVICE, and later, the ALL STAR EMPLOYMENT NETWORK, LLC, a national employment network placing employees both domestically and internationally.

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EMPLOYMENT

SECRETS

Thomas M. Schulz

COPYRIGHT © 2008 BY THOMAS M. SCHULZ.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CONTROL NUMBER:     2008907522

ISBN: HARDCOVER     978-1-4363-6513-0

SOFTCOVER     978-1-4363-65 12-3

ISBN:    ebk    978-1-4653-1960-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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Contents

DEDICATION

Foreword

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

DEDICATION

To the hundreds of thousands of individuals I have learned from, worked with, represented, terminated, outplaced, wrote resumes for, counseled, read their resumes or placed in the field of employment. Especially for the love and support of my wife, Linda, who made the time to write possible. Also for my adult children Becky, Brett, and Brent who have, without knowing, been inspirations throughout my married life to succeed. Hopefully, all will be proud of the effort.

Foreword

One key objective of this book is to provide a behind the scenes, or employer’s view of employment, to enable readers with an improved insight that might translate to attaining employment goals. The book is written for job candidates, parents, relatives, friends, teachers, and job counselors. Consider the wide range for whom, and why, this book may be helpful:

•   For the Job candidate, to improve job-finding successes by improving skills, resumes, or job-search strategies and interviewing skills.

•   For the Student, to improve career choices, curriculum choices, or geographic possibilities.

•   For the Employment Counselor, who has never worked inside a corporation, to better assist candidates they represent in getting the job with better advice and coaching.

•   For the School Career Counselor, in advising about more than the old, traditional career choices by providing knowledge of real world truths when competing for a job.

•   For Educators, in developing meaningful discussion topics, providing improved resources about experiences, or insights, the teacher may not have experienced in the business world.

•   For Parents, to make points about appearance, attitude, goals, happiness, values, or life concepts the young may not yet have experienced.

•   For Relatives, friends, or significant others, who may find the material useful when discussing simple values, such as attitude, clothing, hairstyles, appearance, or career direction.

•   For the Resume preparer, who may want to improve or reconsider resume content or format.

Chapter 1

Objectives and Author’s Qualifications

Most authors begin the first paragraph of their book with comments that grab the reader’s head, or heart, to generate interest. Hopefully, I will hear feedback that this book was as captivating and as valuable as I thought in writing it. Because I am more of a meat and potatoes person, as opposed to a champagne and caviar type, I’ve chosen words that, usually, do not require a dictionary. This book’s content, providing advice for people with direct, or indirect, employment-related questions, or issues, has been my forte while providing a highly satisfying, successful, career-long endeavor. You will find several personal experiences and practical examples of employment issues, covering over forty years in the chapters of this book. Some chapters may be very relevant and interesting and some issues less so, but there are lessons throughout. This book should keep your attention if you know, have heard of, or are one who did not get THE job. Probably the answer is not important unless that person might be YOU, friend, or loved one. If you are still in the pre-employment stage of life and have not yet made an education, or career path decision, this book will give you food for thought. If you have taken a run at the job you want and failed or are stuck in an unsatisfactory occupation but want to change to a new one, then there may be some answers in what you are about to read. Possibly, you are in a position to advise others in search of a job or career. Maybe you want to guide, mold, or shape a student, son or daughter, grandchild, spouse, or friend but need to improve your knowledge of the world and mechanics of employment.

People told the Wright brothers they could never fly. Other inventors heard that it would be impossible to replace the horse to power a buggy or fly to the moon. I’ve been told that it is impossible to direct meaningful employment strategies to such a broad audience. This may be an uphill climb, but in my fantasies for this book, I ‘d like to believe that my objectives in assisting and informing a very diverse audience are attainable. Even in such a short text, there may be content that could provide a spark, somewhere, to generate discussion that would grow to positively impact our nation, in a favorable way, to encourage changes in education and employment procedures, to keep the United States ahead of global competition!

In the least, I hope that employment candidates, Counselors, and even employers will find additional insights into the employment decision making process, of which they may not have been aware. Maybe my comments will improve sensitivity to the candidate skill preparation process, as well as the need for improvement of candidate selection skills by employers. Hopefully, all readers will recognize the urgent need for improvement in the job career planning and counseling process that should begin in the elementary grades and gain in intensity, and quality, in the higher grades. An overwhelming regret is that it has been necessary to be more superficial than I would like in covering some topics. There are chapters, such as compensation, employee benefits, skill preparation, employment law, job counseling, and resume preparation that have enough substance, individually, to require volumes of comment to be fully comprehensive. Perhaps another way to state my objectives is to indicate WHO I am trying to assist and HOW. The WHos are (1) the Student Career Planner, (2) the First-time Job Seeker, (3) the Unemployed Job Seeker, (4) the Career Changer, (5) the Resume Writer, (6) the Interviewee, (7) the employment candidate’s Counselor-Teacher or Parent, and possibly (8) the company employer, and last but not least, I hope my comments will be read by Government Elected Representatives who create the laws that employers have to live by or suffer the consequences.

As for the HOW, right from the start, I’d like to encourage you to take a fresh approach, attitude, or more in-depth look into the world of employment from the employer’s side of the interview desk. The candidate seeking a position, maybe yourself, is on one side of the desk. On the other side of the desk are the company hiring authorities, commonly referred to as the decision makers. Some comments may cause you to think that I am taking the side of the employer. Not totally true, however, if that seems to be the case, it would be because (1) no employer—no employment opportunities, and (2) the employer that is able to hire is the buyer and has to be sold, so we must concentrate first on what you need to sell the employer. Yes, I believe you need to be what the employer (that you want) wants or needs to be successful. As a Counselor, parent, friend, adviser, or employment agent, you are in a position where it will be helpful to understand professional and personal requirements on both sides of the desk. Somewhat idealistically, I’d like to believe that if employers would become more proficient in hiring candidates and if younger candidates would receive better parenting, teaching, and career counseling, then (1) all candidates could prepare better in developing skills and (2) then be able to better present themselves on resumes, and in person, to become hired, and where ultimately (3) the United States as a whole would benefit by an improved process.

QUALIFICATIONS

Whatever lessons I am able to pass on in later chapters has come through personal, or professional, educational preparation coupled with forty years of practical employment-related experiences as an employment candidate, teacher, Human Resource professional with World-Class companies, owner of a private employment agency, and Founder-President of a nationwide employment network. Possibly, my most gratifying experiences in career building and development were gained as a citizen-parent, with university-graduate children now in successful careers as adults.

MY FOUR PERSPECTIVES

My participation in employment has been from FOUR UNIQUE PERSPECTIVES over forty plus years:

•   Perspective 1: as both a successful and unsuccessful employment candidate.

•   Perspective 2: as instructor of psychology, sociology, government and human resource management in high school and university levels.

•   Perspective 3: as a corporate recruiter, progressing from trainee to the level ofVice President of Human Resources for two major United States internationally active corporations and one Canadian corporation with the largest manufactured product of its kind in the world. All three are world-class.

• Perspective 4: as the owner of a private employment agency and founder-president of a national employment network that has had more than 150 private employment agencies doing recruiting for thousands of domestic and international employers.

Many lessons have been learned from these perspectives. From experience as a candidate, through recruiter and employment agent, I have been continually in touch with the thoughts, issues, and concerns of the parties on both sides of the desk. From a practical point of view, I have represented both the interests of the employer and the candidate at the same time to gain agreement between the parties. Over the years, I have been exposed to hundreds of thousands of resumes or candidates, countless personal and telephone interviews with candidates and employers, and have been involved in thousands of placements, as well as a number of employment rejections and terminations. In considering employment issues, it will be normal to vacillate, as I have many times, depending on the issue, position, preparation required, decision, or company. You may be confused or even amazed, how some employment decisions are made, or what hiring procedures or philosophies companies or individuals advocate and hide behind the scenes. My comments might unintentionally offend a few readers but, at the same time, gain hearty agreement from others who have been there, seen that, heard that, done that. Some events are humorous. Many events continually prove life is not always fair. Either way, I doubt whether you can be neutral. That’s human nature. Human nature, in itself, is a reason why I find employment challenging yet frustrating because it is not entirely predictable. Every human, including you and I, are a product of experiences from birth—or earlier—if you account for genetic disposition. The subject of employment can stir emotions or at the least cause a reaction one way or the other. Usually, however, race, religion, money, sports, politics, and, yes, even employment seem to be areas where people become extraordinarily emotionally charged and in constant disagreement. If these writings can add to your knowledge of an employment subject I deal with, opinion or story I relate, then this book will have some practical value to you if you only read one chapter or one case study. Possibly just one of Schulz’s commandments (chapter 22) will teach a lesson, or even if you read the table of contents, you will gain knowledge. Something you read should assist you in career planning, resume writing, marketing yourself, interviewing, negotiating salary, or counseling others, which ultimately helps you, or someone, become employed or reemployed.

Another thing, I’d like to establish a frame of reference for further communication. Words or terms I may choose to use in describing or categorizing individuals are not meant to offend people, or be insensitive, but I’m not a strong advocate of what has been called political correctness,

when a more direct statement will be more clear. Philosophically, as an example, I might refer to a man without hair on his head as bald rather than folically challenged or short rather than vertically challenged, without intending to offend. I may well refer to whites, blacks, or others of color, without intending to make judgments; you will do that on your own, knowing fully well and asking you to be aware that there is a wide range of colors among human beings, and there are good and bad people in ALL groups on earth. In this regard, of one thing I’m convinced—a person cannot make all people happy, or gain agreement, all of the time.

Lastly, as you read, consider the following:

•   LAWS regarding what an employer can or cannot do, Understand the whys and ways employers get around the laws and what penalties they may face.

•   HUMAN BIAS and COMPANY POLITICS.

•   That ALL EMPLOYERS DISCRIMINATE. Is this good or bad?

•   Notice how much ECONOMICS affects employment process.

•   RELOCATION. Willingness to, or not, is a MAJOR ISSUE.

•   MOST IMPORTANT, with all the negatives in the employment process, IT IS A FACT THAT some company WILL WANT TO HIRE YOU. How are you going to prepare and help them find you, approve you, and make you an offer?

Hopefully, the stage is set for moving on.

Chapter 2

Gravitation to a Career in Employment

This chapter, before getting into the employment material most useful to you, is written with some hesitation because I haven’t intended this to be about me but needs to be written for the purpose of explaining where I’m coming from, philosophically. I wanted to let you know how I became able to advise you, venture learned opinions, or be intelligent about matters relating to education, career planning and development, as well as how I experienced the behind the scenes of employment in America. Bear with me, it is short and not meant to be self-serving but does reveal how I came to find a much-loved career in employment. My experiences, both good and bad, could provide lessons in themselves. As you indulge a few pages detailing the era, geographical locations, significant events, and lessons I learned on my way, you will see how I moved from being an employment candidate, corporate Human Resource Manager, corporate recruiter, and later, employment agent to pick up experiences I will be sharing with you. The chapter deals with career development and the three types of paths leading to, or finding, one’s career. First, the recommended career attainment method, the planned career path, begins early in life and is followed to a satisfying conclusion and second the career path that is, for the most part, unplanned but flows in a 18 general direction that I refer to as the gravitation to a career path. Here, one follows general career interests and abilities develop, or are discovered, over a more extended time period. The third career path might be called the surprise or totally unplanned career path. The surprise path is when the opportunity finds you while you are still seeking some opportunity. Because this career just pops up out of the blue, there isn’t much to specifically plan for or discuss, although many rewarding careers have occurred this way. My career path was not a particularly well-planned one but more developmental, although headed in a people-oriented direction. Academics stress that one’s early life orientation, particularly the first five years, but actually all life learning and experiences, determines how we view the world or people in it, and how we comprehend the WORDS we use to describe, think about, or react to people or events. Each person that interviews, judges, or counsels you has developed their unique opinions regarding employment fit. In the same way, that is how you have learned to judge others. That other person and yourself, although you both may have learned how to evaluate people in the same way, will probably come to different opinions about people, life, politics, and such. The difference, as we relate individual opinions to employment, is that employers’ agents are representing and are strongly influenced by what they believe to be their companies’ values, expectations, or requirements.

It seems relevant to first touch on the Pre-recruiter phases of my life, particularly as it relates to how I learned or was taught to view and assess people, BEFORE my career as a recruiter. Later you will see how the corporate environment caused me to assess people AFTER I became an employee in the hiring process. You might want to reflect on, through my story, how you developed your interests, biases, skills, or abilities up to this point. Obviously, many of my assessment skills were developed by the time I began corporate life as a Recruiter Trainee. Additional assessment skills, right and wrong, good or bad, had to be adjusted from time to time, largely by how my employer encouraged me and trained me to perform my job. Pre-recruiting experiences in any person’s educational development may not be particularly relevant when compared to what a specific company requires its recruiters to do, or not do, to be successful at that company for continued employment, promotions, and healthy compensation increases. What is important is that you consider that every interviewer, every hiring authority, has a unique background as to how they learned their companies’ values, or how they developed their individual biases; and then understand, regardless of how that recruiter developed, that few interviewers have the luxury of overriding what they believe the company wants them to do, at the risk of preserving and succeeding in their jobs, except in very subtle ways. Therefore, you need to sell the recruiter on YOU, for the recruiter’s benefit, AND sell yourself to the JOB the recruiter is representing. To some degree, each recruiter is risking his/her reputation every time they recommend a candidate to their superior for employment.

FAST FORWARD IN TIME

There is little doubt that a person’s life from birth to firstjob as an adult very much influences who they are. I am happy to have been educated in an integrated public school system with many dedicated, professional teachers. I experienced a blending of several subcultures, as well as religions, in a western Michigan city. I received an undergraduate degree majoring in education, sociology and group social studies (political science, psychology, economics, geography) from a major college in Michigan and attended graduate school at a prominent Michigan law school. I had been on the dean’s list at the university and had won my moot court case in law school, but as life experiences and events influenced my career choices, I found my career in Human Resource Management and Employment Placement that has kept me excited about my employment for decades.

PERSONNEL—HUMAN RESOURCES

After two years as a High School Teacher, marriage, and with a first child on the way, I found it necessary to find a more financially rewarding career. It didn’t take long after I met a knowledgeable Personnel Recruiter who helped me remanufacture my resume (a really, really important lesson) that I had job interviews and a job offer to work in Public Relations. At the same time, I had a job interview and offer from another company; that in the ‘60s was titled Personnel. Having two offers on the table, allowing choice, is an ideal situation. Some, who plan their careers carefully and pick the right occupation, may have several simultaneous offers. The Personnel job paid quite a bit less, about 24 percent less than the public relations job, but money not being everything had advantages for me. I accepted the position in personnel because it was with a subsidiary of a financially sound world-class company, offering a management training program with good health, life, and disability insurance, coupled with what was, at the time, possibly the best profit-sharing program anywhere. In addition, the offer provided ample vacation time, paid holidays, and, most importantly, a compensation and promotion system based on merit. The company was an insurance subsidiary of what was at the time the world’s largest retailer. The Personnel Manager, who hired me, turned out to be an excellent mentor and friend. Our personal chemistry fit. Personnel seemed to fit my interests, skills, education, and personality perfectly. Personnel work, now Human Resources, is a combination of recruiting, training, compensation and benefits, law, public relations, counseling, policy administration, and general management. Apparently, I fit what they were looking for as well. In short, the public relations position did not seem to be a fit. Although the interview process resulted in a nice job offer, it was cold, impersonal, and routine. The job requirements were somewhat vague and required more writing and marketing than I was interested in. I never met the individual to whom I would be reporting and could see no evidences of any training program. The product the company produced (cement) was not at all interesting (not that I was particularly interested in insurance), and the company was located in a very undesirable section of Detroit. If the opportunity was better than I was able to observe, they didn’t sell themselves very well. It was not difficult to politely thank the company for their interest, but that another opportunity seemed to be a better fit for me.

So for what I believed to be all the right reasons, I accepted the Personnel position with the insurance company in Detroit. Hello, corporate world, and now to basic training on the other side of the desk.

If I were to suggest topics to think about, I would include the following:

1. Talk with a person who is in a job that you might find of interest. Ask them several questions, such as: How did you prepare yourself for your job? Do you love your job? Would you rather have a different job? Are you satisfied with your income? Are you satisfied with your location? Would you do anything differently if you had it to do over again? If you don’t love your job, what is keeping you from getting another job? What jobs do you see that will have great opportunities in the future?

2. Research the computer or the library to read up on career jobs that might be of interest to you. Find colleges or trade schools that educate people in a possible field of interest. Request catalogs or brochures from those schools to see what classes are required to graduate.

Chapter 3

Learning the Employer’s Side of the Desk

As I began my first other side of the desk employment-related position in personnel, my first job title was Interviewer Trainee, an hourly position in the company’s Detroit Regional Office. With no previous experience recruiting employees, I was particularly interested in pleasing my new employer. From a practical point of view, recruiting for several Department Managers, I now had several bosses with various personalities, opinions, biases, and management styles to please. The company’s management training program turned out to be an on-the-job learning situation with a mentor’s counseling and advice. The burden was on me to learn as fast as I could, from whatever sources were available, mostly self-development. Later, more formal management topics were presented. Starting off, my assignment was to recruit, and process, clerical employees into a variety of secretarial, typing (later to be known as data entry), clerical, and other entry-level positions. One of my first lessons in learning the difference between hourly and salaried jobs was presented very early