Hyper, Semi-Independent Clerical Worker w/ Psychometric Performance Bonuses

http://madison.craigslist.org/csr/2874400434.html

"Job Title: We are URGENTLY needing to fill 2 ft/pt positions in our Reedsburg location.

The position is part time but we would make it fulltime after 30 days.

The job is paid hourly with incentives on attendance, productivity and attitude.

We are looking for a high energy positive person. Able to take direction and work semi independently for short periods of time.

Hours for the position would be 5:00p.m.-8:30p.m. Mon-Fri & Sat 9a.m.-1p.m.

Experienced persons will be considered first as will resumes.

Job duties will include but aren't limited to: faxing, computer work, order inputting, inbound/outbound calls."

The “urgent” need to fill two untitled positions begs the question as to why those vacancies occurred unexpectedly. This urgency spills over into the syntax of certain sentences such as, “Experienced persons will be considered first, as will resumes.” Perhaps the job poster has been exchanging notes with whoever wrote the “warehouse assistant” job vacancy analyzed in Post 037. Irrespective of proper distinction of resumes as an attribute of qualified applicants rather than legal entities in themselves, this great sense of urgency gives pause to the analytical job seeker.

Did an employee and his or her friend both go rogue and quit without giving adequate notice? Did the company discover two of its employees stealing supplies? Whatever the reason, company desperation usually gives job seekers greater leverage in securing both a position and a higher wage. However, the clerical nature of the work and the lack of prior job experience as a requirement substantially negate that leverage due to the large quantity of applicants who self-certify as tolerating someone else watching their work except for when they are permitted to “work semi-independently for short periods of time.”

At least the job poster is candid about the company practice of explicitly scoring one’s “attitude” as a component of performance evaluations. This factor consciously and unconsciously influences managerial opinions of direct reports anyway, and at the extreme this results in favoritism such as permitting one or two employees to regularly violate certain work rules while everyone else is held to a gold standard. Hence, acknowledging this influence is beneficial to everyone by raising awareness about a sometimes overlooked issue.

While some might be concerned about pay increases being contingent upon attitude assessments, an excellent score on the attitude metric can be used to compensate for merely satisfactory productivity and attendance. This advantage is all the more critical when pay increases are given only to above-average performers but almost everyone is a highly productive. Showing that you are glad to help not only customers but also fellow employees can bump you into the “eligible for pay raise” category when coworkers are also on their “A+ Game” but do not express a love for their job or company.