I'm watching Second Act with Leah Remini and Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer's character has been working for a grocery store for 15 years and has steadily increased sales, brought in new customers and then was passed over for a promotion just because she doesn't have a college degree. When she finds a new job (through not so typical means) and quits, her supervisor (the person who got the job she deserved) said something like "it's not easy finding a new job at your age" as if by a woman being over 30 is a death sentence. Making matters worse, her boyfriend is pushing her to stop working and to start a family and while she does want a family (down the road), she wants to focus on her career more. I'm in a similar situation and although I don't have 15 years at one company, I am over 30 (and over 40 for that matter) and finding a job post-covid is next to impossible. Here are some things that we want employers to know.
1- We are more than a college degree. We have experience and what we don't know, we can learn. College degrees cost tens of thousands of dollars that most of us can't afford without going into massive debt.
2- We will apply for jobs outside of our city knowing that they are not remote. We know that when applying. If you are anxious about us being 3,000 miles away, ask if we are willing to relocate, don't assume that we are too stupid to know that the position is in-office and not remote.
3- If we send an application and you respond asking for our availability for an interview and we respond with said availability RESPOND! Let us know whether or not our availability matches yours and don't just ignore our responses and leave us hanging.
4- If we schedule an interview via Zoom/Teams/Indeed/Google or whatever other platform, SHOW UP. Most of us will log in 5-15 minutes early and if you aren't in the room by 15 minutes past the start time, we will exit the room and assume that you don't feel that our time is valuable. We get annoyed when we are waiting for you and you don't show up nor do we hear from you via phone or email (both of which you would have).
5- Please, please, please DON'T make a prospective go through assessments (including phone interviews before you've even read our resume and application) and DON'T make us go through several rounds of interviews before making a final determination about which candidate you want to hire.
6- If a position is per-diem, part time or other than full time, security clearance is needed, a second language is needed, note this at the BEGINNING of the job posting. Don't bury it in the middle somewhere or at the very end.
7- If I am looking for a job in DC and I get all the way through the application and see that there is a question about relocating to Texarcana (or other location), note this at the beginning of the job description, NOT THE END. We want to find jobs in the area we are looking in, not in another random city and we want to not have to scroll all the way to the very end of the listing to find that information.
8- If you have a long list of duties and requirements and are only offering $15/hour or less, most of us won't bother because that is too much to do for too little money and no one can live on that little in any city in the country.
9- If you are listing a receptionist position and are requiring a driver's license, insurable vehicle and a clean driving record, list the reason why and offer more than $15/hour. Most receptionist positions do not require driving and if they do, they need to compensate the candidate financially for that.
10- If you are posting a job (any job really) in a major city like New York, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Houston please offer a reasonable salary regardless of your state or local minimum wage.
11- If a person is needing to relocate, allow them the time necessary to relocate, get settled and then start work (approximately 2-4 weeks depending on the location moving to and from). I understand that you need someone immediately, but when you make candidates go through 4 rounds of interviews before choosing a candidate, it's not immediate and likely weeks or months before a decision is made during which time a candidate is on hold and can't find housing and prepare to relocate.
12- Offer benefits. Starting with paid holidays, time off and vacation (and I don't mean a small number of "personal days" to be used for all of the above). People need and want paid time off and if you want to retain good employees, this is one way to do this.
13- Do NOT force a candidate to be on call 24/7. This is no longer acceptable unless you are a nanny, doctor, nurse, etc.. Forcing employees to work more than 10 hours at a time without proper recompense is wrong (even if it is legal depending on the circumstances). Most companies don't need this and those that do need a person to work during unusual times (due to time differentials), they should have time off during other times or days to make up the difference.
14- If you really want happy employees, treat them with the respect they need and deserve. When you hire them, lay out as much of their responsibility as possible, lay out their schedule, time off requirements, supervisor (and their contact information). Don't hire them telling them one thing and then a couple of weeks in, change the duties and responsibilities so completely that they are no longer doing the same thing (such as being forced to work 12 hour days with no notice, going from being a paralegal to a front desk clerk and back day after day).
15- Allow your employees time for professional development and/or volunteer activities. Both will benefit the employee and the company.
These are just a few things that we as job seekers and employees want our employers to know.
