New Hires

We hired FOUR new guys in July. Not 4 in addition to the 8 who were here prior but 4 to replace 3 and one extra. The extra is a part-timer so in essence it is only 3 and a half, I suppose.

The first new guy was to replace a planned resignation. One of the old guys decided he wanted to attend school full-time, to pursue a Master’s degree in Voice. Once told of his plans we (eventually –too long for my taste, but whatever and the recruiting process? gosh I hope I don't ever have to do this again with this crew) set off to find a new guy. He gave us much notice (March), as this old guy was an instrumental guy in several vital areas of operation. Technically, the new guy isn’t a replacement in as much as he’s a body to be trained over a period of time to see where his motivations and ambitions will carry him. After about a month I feel that things seem to be progressing apace or in other words, so far, so good.

New guy number two had to replace terminated guy. Terminated guy has been a thorn in our side for nearly 3 years. Had it been my choice, terminated guy would have been terminated 3 years ago, but warning after warning after warning after warning later, he finally was put in a position were he “chose to resign.” He left the building, marched over to the un-employment office to file his claim, which I denied. He appealed. I was asked by a state official to supply documentation to substantiate our justification for his separation. I did and so far, the state is siding with the company. Our second choice for First New Guy was hired. He seems to be fitting in nicely and again, so far so good.

New guy number three had to be hired to replace a surprise resignation. A long-time member of the team decided that it was time for him to retire, now, which was at the time, just shy of our busiest time of year. I think he got a bug up his ass about something the boss said and / or did and he just got fed up with that kind of shit (the boss is notorious for ranting about something before he checks all his facts, then apologizing after the fact) and decided he had enough bucks to retire. He’s been talking about it for awhile now, but the timing for our operations was not terribly convenient. A rush new hire can be dangerous. There was no third choice as the qualifications from those applications recently reviewed wouldn’t fit in this case, plus which we felt we’d pretty much shot the wad with choices one and two. New guy number three was a former employee of our former company, so he was a somewhat known entity. He’s a friend of a current employee, who has vouched for his ability and eagerness. He’s been thrown into the deep end, but again, so far, so good.

New guy number 4 (the half guy) is a very good friend of the boss. The boss felt like his friend (“very smart guy”) could just pick up the ball and run with it wherever we needed it to be run. It’s been nearly a month and yet once again, so far, so good.

I mention all this because it occurs to me that I haven’t had to get used to new people in the work-place in awhile. Our previous last new hires were in 2005. To have 4 (well, 3 ½) all at once is kind of…weird. The weirdest is that they don’t know me and are a little bit…intimidated by me or rather, I suspect, my position. I’ve tried to put them all at ease and assure them that I’m happy to answer their questions, assist them in any way that we are a team and yes, that so far, so good.