Why Not a Martian on the Supreme Court

LATER, SOUTER

With the announcement of Justice Souter’s impending retirement, I have heard two reactions so far; both talking about how a woman should be appointed to the Supreme Court.  One was from Arlen Specter.

I have to tell you that I’m really tired of this bulldookey. 

What happened to the concept of hiring someone who can do the job?  Back in the day (whatever day that was), employers put a lot of faith in hiring somebody competent.  In fact, it was most of what employers required for the job.

The last place I worked featured a Human Resources director who once said to me, “We need to see more faces of color in your department.”  I was astonished, even though I had nothing to do with hiring.  For once in my life, I smiled and made my exit without further comment.

If the voices screaming in my head could have been heard, they would be heard to say, “WHAT ABOUT THEIR ABILITY TO DO THE JOB????”  As a member of an understaffed team, my concern was having competent teammates, not people who were hired based upon their skin color, country of origin, or inability to make themselves understood to all in the language spoken by the company. (btw, we had African Americans, women, Indians, Chinese, and Jews on the team)

THE TRUTH – PC OR NOT

I got sucked into hiring at my present job almost by mistake and by vacuum.  My boss did all the interviewing and hiring but I was curious about how he made decisions so he invited me to sit in.  That was my first mistake.

It turns out we made a good team.  Since I had a selfish interest in who was being hired, I continued to tag-team in interviews.  This took an ironic twist when I had to help interview my boss’ boss.  It got downright weird when I had to interview my potential boss because the current one was taking an extended substance-related vacation and became terminated.

I became the only person in my department with anything that looked like interviewing skills.  My wife recently mentioned that with one exception, I hired my entire current team.  Damn – she was right (and I’m not saying that just because you read the blog, Dear). 

Here are some things I discovered during countless interviews:
(I am not saying they are universally true – this is my experience)

• In an economy that sucks, people still don’t show up for scheduled interviews or call to say they won’t be coming.  I’ll be damned if I can figure out why.
• In IT, women are scarce. 
• Women don’t show up in higher numbers than men, proportionally speaking.  Good thing, apparently.
• The more educated you are, the less useful you are to the department.
• It doesn’t matter what the ad says, most people seem to have a serious comprehension problem.  What about desktop technician don’t you understand?
• How are you going to make a favorable impression if you cannot make yourself understood?
• “I don’t know” is a perfectly good answer – don’t blow smoke at me.  Tell me how you might go about knowing.

DEMANDING EQUALITY AND BEYOND

Perhaps it’s time to stand up and demand that people I work with start to look more like me….  I hereby insist that preference in hiring be granted to long-haired, left-handed Martians.  Or at very least, long-haired, left-handed guys.  Ok, women too.