Month: February 2025

This weeks blog is surrounding the motivations behind why employees decide to or decide against being employed with a specific employer. In general, there are a lot of factors to consider when accepting a position. I am currently studying to enter the construction industry and in this industry, there are numerous considerations to be had.

Foremost is the cost of relocation as construction jobs may not be consistent enough to maintain residence in one area. This is especially if the region consists of a small demographic with limited construction resources and potential. As a result, if you are having to relocate yourself and family constantly it is imperative that the offer that is being considered include relocation costs or a travel allowance and temporary living conditions wherever the job site is located. Secondly is the cost of travel itself if you are kept in one location. This cost can include company vehicles, gas cards, travel expense (hotel rooms, food, personal care items) reimbursements and potentially a company debit/credit card for the aforementioned expenses.

Further, if you are being offered a position based on your above average experience, it is always worthwhile to ask for a bonus or even increases in the hourly or salaried wages. Employees need to be able to recognize their worth, little or large, and how that can be utilized to generate opportunities that may otherwise not exist. In my book, the worst that the employer can say is “No,” to your requests.

It is important to consider your level of experience as an industry professional no matter the industry that you are apart of. Large amounts of experience are highly sought after, especially in competitive job markets, as that can mean that you need less training, supervision and guidance in general when compared to other applicants. Above all else, never be afraid to ask for increased benefits, compensation or bonuses as you are valuable as an individual within the job market by holding a Bachelor of Science accreditation.

Personally, there are a few reasons why I have decided to reject positions in the past and present. Namely are the aspects listed above such as benefits, compensations and bonuses but also is the ability for me to gain vast amounts of experience as my career with a particular company continues on. You must ensure that you are able to gain vital experience within the industry that you are apart of so that you remain competitive as a participant of a job market. This way you have leverage in case of a disaster situation such as layoffs, recessions or even the company you are working for declaring bankruptcy and ceasing operations.

Overall, there are many considerations to be had when applying for and accepting a position within an industry. It is crucial that you do not assume that you are worth a fixed number as you can undervalue and undermine your own capabilities or experiences. Remember, the worst that an employer can say is “No,” to a request that you make.

The last time I had formal training was when I worked for Ford Motor Company. When I worked for Ford, I was in the service department working as a Service Lot Attendant. What we did was we would move around vehicles as the arrived and left for service. There was an overflow lot and the main service building and we would drive vehicles in between the two allowing for the Service Technicians to perform scheduled maintenance on vehicles that have come in for service.

In order for us Service Lot Attendants to perform our jobs safely and efficiently, training was needed. Because this was my first “professional” job, it was especially needed to be trained. I did not know proper procedures, proper safety protocols, proper material handling methods and much more. In order to attain the skills required to perform the job properly, the Ford dealership that I was working for mandated that I go through training as a new Lot Attendant. This meant that I was to sit through well over 20 hours worth of training.

This 20 hours worth of training consisted of the necessary protocols required to perform the job efficiently and safely. If I am going to be honest however, this process was rather mundane and did not comprise of many of the “real life” techniques and points of awareness needed to properly perform the job. I will use an example of a situation that I had to go through to explain what I mean. On the dealership lot, adjacent to the service center, is a wash bay used to clean vehicles that arrive at the dealership regardless of if they are there for service or if the vehicle is a new vehicle. This wash bay is located across from another wash bay by a small pathway which measured approximately 50 feet across. This posed a serious hazard when it came to vehicles possibly striking each other due to the close proximity of the driveways for the wash bays. As a result, I had accidentally reversed the Ford truck I was driving into the Ford van that was behind me. This created a rather interesting predicament as now I had to deal with the fallout of the situation. There was never any training given to deal with or to prevent situations such as this. Had there been some sort of training, it is very possible that this event would have never occurred. This example is a situation in which it can be shown that training specific to the job needs to be created to account for the unique situations that could arise otherwise.

The example that I used is a great example of how formal training may not cover all of the bases required to create efficient and effective employees. As a result, a mentor program where senior Lot Attendants are helping to teach the new Lot Attendants would have been greatly beneficial to those of us who were new to the position. This is not the only situation where mentor programs would be beneficial in general. There were also aspects such as how to use the garbage compaction machine, how to handle used oil and much more where a mentor would have been useful both as someone to learn from and also someone to ask questions to.

In conclusion, the usage of a mentor program would not only allow for proper training, but it would also allow for employees to have a point of contact apart from the general manager as the managers may not have the patience, time or ability to explain all that needs to be learned. This can apply to most any job ranging from the food industry to the technology industry. Most any new employee would greatly benefit from having a mentor to be able to learn from and highlights the importance of allowing for mentors to exist within respective fields.

Effective interviews must surround the needs and requirements that surround the position being sought for. An effective interview is structured well, is engaging and most of all seeks to understand the insights of the potential candidate. The candidate’s understanding of the position is only half of the goal, the other half is how they see this position and how they see their impact within the company. 

Within interviews there needs to be an understanding of the shared objective between the individual being hired and the individual doing the hiring. Typically, the interviewer knows what they are looking for. Does the person being interviewed have a good understanding of the job? Does this person have the skill set required? Does this person have the ability to fit into the social and work environments within the company? The answers to these questions are crucial to understanding whether the individual will have a long lasting impact within the company. Individuals who are not a proper fit in this regard will often be quick turnovers which in the end waste the resources of the company and often can lead to missing out on good talent. 

A key component to understanding this dynamic within individuals is their ability to answer open ended type questions. These questions are not simply yes or no, they instead seek to engage with the person to unwrap how they internally analyze those questions. This is crucial as it will expose how this individual will work with others down the road. It will show their willingness to collaborate and work together within their future teams to reach the overarching goals of the organization.

Overall, the ability for individuals to collaborate will be shown through an effective and well structured interview. Interviews that are unstructured and seem chaotic will not result in helpful evaluation of the individuals who are being interviewed. More so, well structured interviews will aim to connect the person being interviewed with the person who is doing the interviewing. This connection will allow for a more in depth understanding of who the person being interviewed is and where they are wanting to go in their own lives. Often times, this is enough to gauge whether an individual is a good fit or not.