Observations of Corporate America

The few people that do exist are there for appearance reason, public relations, or to show up at a necessary time and place with separation papers in hand. They know very little about any of the individuals that are being “separated.” HR representatives sit with mechanical manners attuned to do the formal “execution” from behind the official desk and go something like this…

“Thanks you for your loyalty, your 30 years of service, your a wonderful employee, and we have determined that you are now separating from the company do to a bad economy. Sign here Please! You have 30 minutes to clean out your desk of personal things, and Mr. shit-head will show you to the door when you are finished. Goodbye! Have a nice day, and good luck in your future in devours.

Corporate culture prefers that it is better and more professional to let some unknown stranger in “HR” handle the nasty stuff. This is the new job of the HR representatives.

On the other side of the “HR” perspective, today’s job search is accomplished by the outsourcing of the Corporation’s personnel needs. Hundreds of resumes are gathered from a variety of recruiter organizations via the web; Job seekers spend hours writing and responding to employment requests from unknown sources. Respondents diligently insert KEY-Words into the resume and the head-hunter relies on these “keys” to obtain an in-the-ball-park candidate, and then submits it to the HR or Personnel Executive who them scans the resume and follows up by sending the resume through to the appropriate department for review. An in-depth candidate search you might surmise!

No longer do you meet face-to-face with the candidates. No longer does education, history, loyalty to company matter; personnel representatives no longer know corporate structure needs. No longer are representatives are readily available to talk individually to candidates that are worthy and well qualified for employment. American corporations buried many years ago the slogan, “Employees: our most important asset!”

Corporations have gained the legal appearance of being a “person’ yet have the audacity to have no one accountable or responsible for any corporate actions. We have all read that Corporations have paid large fines but admit no-fault or contributory negligence in the court’s legal dispossession.

Speaking of other Corporations, when have you received a letter that has a closing signature of a responsible individual and their actual phone number? I do not remember having received any in many years.

However, I agree they Sales names and numbers are always attached to many mail solicitations! However, identifications are not available on your Bank statements, your mortgage statements or anything of value to the consumer. The signature is usually: Sincerely, the Financial Department…

Then again, when was the last time you spoke to a real person on the phone when making an inquiry about a statement error or you needed a response to a pressing question?

How many times did you have to push one for English, our “Mother Tongue,” or how many numbers have you pushed only to get many responses about their products and then are told to visit their web site; and the reason for your call is the “Dam” web site is inoperable?

Corporate America has slit its own throat in not knowing their own businesses, not knowing who needs what, where it is needed and how many or much are needed.

Worthy and well-educated people are in need of work and Corporate America is not hiring the people that can do the work. By their hiring, their products have buyers, people have employment, and the economy can make a strategic step forward.

The rush of resumes that stack up on many recruiters desks go unread, hastily reviewed, and recruiters and corporate representatives never really know an individuals qualifications, personality or motivation to the work ethic. Therefore, Corporations lose a valuable resource!

Outsourcing is in many instances ineffective, as understanding of the culture, language barriers, time constraints, and misunderstanding of urgent issues, and the inability to solve complex situations takes an inordinate of time. And time is money!

American Corporations, or should I say, Mr. or Ms. Corporations should get off their “dead ass” and get involved in their businesses. When I learn of Corporate Boards of Directors and Executives hiring an outside consulting firm to “understand their business and address inefficiencies and resolve them”, I see a company that needs to dissolve the “Board” and fire the Executives, for they do not understand their own work or their business.

In the meantime, those potential people, recourses that could bring vitality and energy to the Corporations, continue to send resumes to those who know nothing about what is wanted, or needed by the Corporations; however, they do want their finder’s fee.

And so it goes with Corporate America and the profit motive of capitalism at its worst.