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I just looked and we’re in week 34 of 2020 already! That puts WAOC at episode 204, almost 4 years of podcasting, what is that, like just 4 weeks shy of 4 years! I hope you’re enjoying our few minutes together each week as much as we do! I had planned on doing a quick flashback Thursday today, I had to have a bit more dental work last weekend but I ran across something I felt like we should get out there and talk about this week so I’m giving it a shot! I hope you’re ok with my speech!
So, I produce short questionnaires, prescreening questions, for several warehouse positions. Recruiters and hiring agents use them to ascertain our, as applicants, true experience levels for positions we’ve applied for. Really simple scenarios or a vocabulary word or questions about equipment. Simple questions that an individual should be able to answer is he or she has worked that task before.
I was asked to interview 2 different gentlemen when I stopped over at the office earlier this week. The recruiters were backed up, I think they’d double booked like our doctors and dentist do! shouldn’t have said that I’m sure. But I was given each person’s resume and the questionnaire they had completed on-line. Looking over the resume I was reading about equipment usage, high productivity experience, both resumes looked great! The questionnaires however, well, they had tanked almost every answer. I created the sheets, I was wondering if I had missed something, or had gotten something wrong regarding these two positions? As an example, the questionnaire for the unloader asked:
Do you have at least 1-year experience on an electric platform rider jack? (any make or model) And I have a picture on one along with the question.
I ask – Briefly explain what a breakdown sheet or ti hi sheet is?
One question asks – a ti hi of 7X5 is telling me a, I need 7 pallets with 5 cases on each pallet, b I need 5 pallets with 7 cases on each or c I need 1 pallet with 35 cases on it.
Another question is a Ti means, a column stack, b, alternate each layer by pattern, c I need another pallet.
Oh, and I had pictures of a dock stacker, a clamp attachment and a slip sheet unit on there and asked the applicant to pick each that they had operated before.
And the order selector questionnaire has things like of course the equipment they have operated, again just click on the pictures, and it states any model is fine too.
There was a question that states What is Plugging?
Do you prefer Hourly rate pay, Incentive plus base pay, pay by the case and pallets selected or activity-based compensation pay programs?
I asked with your last selector position was productivity measured by cases per hour or percentage?
Just questions like that. Questions that anyone with the experience level the job posting was requiring could answer without any problem at all.
We ‘ve experienced great success using different questionnaires, I feel they help recruiters place people in positions they’ll enjoy and ones that they can succeed in.
Anyway, so the resumes I had in hand did not match the questionnaires I had received. I started with the unloader. I asked about his previous jobs, the equipment he’d operated, how long or what was his experience level with the electric rider jack, and he had about 2 years’ experience running a little dock stocker too. I talked to him about this position, I went through the job description, and I hit on the expectations we had for him. Productivity, attendance, the importance of cleaning up as we go through out the shift. And I sat with him and explained a short orientation video, kind of the do’s and don’ts of this facility. He answered every question I gave him and had a great and honest come back for every statement I made about doing the job. Well, after I had decided to hire him, I brought out his questionnaire and asked him about some of his answers.
I asked him what a ti hi of 7×5 meant. He said 35 cases on the pallet without hesitation. He has chosen B on the questionnaire, that he needed 5 pallets with 7 cases on each.
I asked him what a breakdown sheet was, he answered a sheet of what all is on the trailer, the item numbers, how many was ordered and how to separate it, like what the ti and hi was for each pallet. He had left that question blank on the questionnaire?
He said, Oh, that was texted to me after I had the phone interview. I just cruised through it really quick.
Moving on to the order selector, I went through the complete interview process with him as well. Job by job, we talked about his experience, the different pieces of equipment he had operated, the different industries he’d selected in and why he was interested in this position. I walked him through the job description and the facilities expectations, his schedule and their attendance policy. We discussed the importance of his productivity numbers; his error ratio and how costly damages can be. I stressed the importance of working safe at all times. I reviewed the orientation video and packet with him and again brough out his questionnaire! The only question he had answered was his name!
Both men told me they didn’t take time to even read through the questions. They already had a telephone interview and was asked to come in and speak with someone, so they thought they already had the job. The unloader said after he came into the office and saw all the other applicants in the lobby, he did think back to the questionnaire though.
The order selector seemed frustrated with himself for not answering the questions, like he had let himself down. I mean him and I were both looking at a blank page!
I explained to both gentlemen that had the recruiters not been busy, and had I not came by and offered to take these two interviews I was doubting either would had been offered positions today.
They both were honestly shocked at that statement. I was excited for them; they both were hired and ready to get to work and I think they’ll both be great additions to their teams.
We’ve talked a lot about our responsibilities as applicants in previous episodes. Recruiters have 100’s of people responding to every job positing, many of those people are not qualified, from an experience point of view. Our experiences are our selling point. Both gentlemen sold themselves on the phone interview, they earned that face to face like they wanted. But it is dangerous to not take everything HR or our recruiter explains or needs from us. The questionnaires would have taken less than 2 minutes to complete properly. Think how easily it would have been for a hiring agent to glance at our response to the questionnaire and decide to pass on us.
Properly filling out our applications and our work histories, even creating a simple resume is so important. Putting in applications is tedious, and it’s frustrating, and I know we all hate it. It is important to each company though. We’re going to have to do it and I cannot stress the importance of doing it correctly.
In today’s world, with some corporation’s I’m hearing it can take as long as 6 weeks to get on-boarded and receive our start date from them after we’re hired. In many instances that’s because we’re getting calls to fill in any blanks we’ve skipped over.
And as for us hiring agents, recruiters and op’s supervisors, I think it’s important that we do our diligence when interviewing prospects. Yes, as applicants we should shoulder the responsibility to correctly complete our paperwork. But as supervisors and managers are, we willing to miss out on an experienced and skilled operator or person because they did not honor that responsibility?
Lol, I guess I’m saying we all should be doing our jobs!
I hope you could understand me, and I’m ready for all this oral surgery stuff to come to an end. If you’ve had a recent experience regarding todays topics, whither from an applicant’s perspective or from an agent’s point of view, send us an email to host@warehouseandoperationsasacareer.com, lets all help each other by sharing our experiences. And that’s so easy through our Facebook and Twitter feeds where you can find us using that @whseandops.
Until next week, let’s all say it together – Be Safe out there!