I am very unimpressed by resumes, certification, alphabet
soups behind a name. When sitting on a panel I am more
impressed by the person in front of me than his/her history
or on paper qualifications.
Too many employers focus on the educational achievement of a
candidate not on their abilities.
My favorite example concerns a major company in which the
chief negotiator on all employee/contractor matters happened
to be the C.E.O's secretary.
She had come into the company as a virtual typist, worked
her way up, learning as she went. She had a sparkling
personality and people skills beyond compare.
When the C.E.O. retired and was replaced by Mr. Youngblood,
he was aghast that such an important aspect of a company
would have been entrusted to no more than a secretary.
(We can call her personal assistant, but her qualifications
consisted of a High School Diploma and a few Certificates of
participation in mini-courses).
Mr. Youngblood hired a University Graduate with a whole
heap of letters behind his name. Shortly after, the company
was beset by strikes, difficulties with deliveries, even with
having the garbage removed.
Where the secretary could say; "I know there's been some
problem with your payment, George, but could you please
just remove the garbage as a favor to me?"
University Graduate could talk down to the trucker, make
implied threats and speak in six syllable words, so the
garbage remained.
The shareholders got fed up and I was dispatched to locate
the source of the problem, which of course, was Mr.
Youngblood's appointment of University Graduate.
There was no way to "fix" the situation, firing the Graduate
was removing the "bullet" from the septic wound, but the
wound was still septic.
The only way to get the company back to where it had been
before the arrival of Mr. Youngblood was to virtually start
from scratch.
The company had to downsize, renegotiate everything with the
remaining workers, have new contracts with new contractors.
It took over a year to get the company back to where it had
been, another year for profit to reappear on the books.
All this simply because the person whom the previous C.E.O.
used as a negotiator based on her people skills had been
replaced by an On Paper Expert.
On Paper Experts are often found in the I.T. department.
Waving their Microsoft Certification they know as much
as anyone who hits the "help" key.
The real geniuses are those who taught themselves, often
starting with electronics and extrapolating into computers as
electronic machines, (as a person who fixes hair dryers can
also fix coffee percolators).
At the better businesses the local genius is often sent on
mini-courses so that his or her lack of a degree or
certification is buried under paper.
At the troubled ones, there are contracts with other firms
who supply I.T. experts, meaning that one is paying twice
for the same work.
Whenever a consultant is called in for advice, I always
suggest finding out who really does what and how, and then
not interfering with systems that work.
