Pay Attention To The Woman Behind The Curtain
It’s kind of amazing how Dorothy’s perspective changed in one encounter with the man behind the curtain. Her prior assumptions faded. Her confidence grew. And that was my experience with this assignment.
“Hiring decisions aren’t often made based on market logic, and hiring is rarely a process in which everyone’s role smoothly aligns” (Gershon, 185).
Had it not been for this particular blog assignment, I may have never understood what Gershon was talking about in her chapter, The Decision Makers, in Down and Out in the New Economy. But having had the opportunity to speak, interact with, and interview my job mentor, it makes complete sense now.
“I run a family business — and by that I mean everyone I hire I treat as if they were my brothers, sisters, or kids,” Ms. Lara Halabi begins when I asked her about hiring and firing decisions. “Otherwise, for hiring: making sure they are a good fit for the company, it’s very important to check references and do a background check. We normally have a 2 week trial period when we hire someone and then have them on a “probation period” for 3 months until they are officially hired. We offer a lot of seasonal employment, as well, and often rehire prior employees in good standing — their three months can be achieved that way, as well. Also making sure they are hard workers and being autonomous.”
Some of her sentiments contradict Gershon’s claim that “recruiters meanwhile are largely focused on hiring people as quickly as possible” (202). But Ms. Halabi isn’t a recruiter or HR specialist for her shop — she owns and operates it, completely. I’ve rented out the lower level of my house, I didn’t just pick any random person off the street or every creepy Craigslist reply.
Ms. Halabi owns Fluffy Thoughts Cakes in McLean, VA.
I was fortunate enough to be invited to visit the bakery. I can attest to her ‘family business’ sentiment.
Ms. Halabi employs 12 bakers, 3 dishwashers, and 2 delivery drivers. She interacts with everyone as if she knows them all on a level more intimate than the ‘boss-employee’ paradigm.
I asked Ms. Halabi if understanding hiring and firing was easy or a learned practice based on Gershon’s assertion that “Even if job seekers had never been recruiters, they could still find out some information by attending free workshops” (186–7).
Her response seemed to mirror Gershon’s claim: “I’m not going to [expletive deleted] you — I had no idea what [expletives deleted] I was doing when I started this venture. Baking and, to some extent, cooking, have always been hobbies. I went to school at to be a child psychologist. My Masters from Marymount is in Counseling Psychology, my undergrads were in Psychology and Art Therapy.
“As I grew older, art became more of a passion for me so I decided to marry that passion with my culinary talents, did the pastry program at L’Acadamie De Cuisine in Gaithursburg in the evenings while working for Fairfax County during the day, and once I graduated . . . opened Fluffy Thoughts . . . Luckily our local library had a few small-business and entrepreneur classes I was able to take because my first four employees were all friends of mine I could trust. Hiring beyond that was very foreign and stressful.”
I would later learn that Ms. Halabi rents rooms in her home to two of her employees. She pays every employee personally, every week, and talks with them for 5–10 minutes (strictly relating to work performance). In terms of the average reader being able to take anything away from this experience, I understand I’m dealing with the exception and not the norm. But with aspirations of starting a small-business, myself, this has been extremely relevant to me.
Gershon states that “while not every HR professional views him- or herself as a strategist for the future, HR professionals do invariably see themselves as organizing the nitty-gritty details of hiring” (199). This is doubly true when you’re also the owner.
When I shared this quote from my reading with Ms. Halabi — “My philosophy, as an HR person, when I come into a company, is I represent the company. My job is to keep the company out of jail, out of court. So if something is going wrong and an executive is doing it, I’m going to be neutral. If it’s an employee, I’m going to be neutral. I’m not going to take the side of an executive because they have an opinion. I’m going to take the side of the law” (197).
Her response was “it’s so so true. The first person I had to fire was one of the original 4 friends I brought on board. And even though I have a three strike rule regarding write-ups for incidents, it didn’t make it any easier when I had to let her go. But not only is this business my livelihood — it’s the livelihood of the other people that work with me, you know? If it fails because an employee broke the law or did something unsafe, I can’t be liable for that. It isn’t easier — it just softens the blow.”
At the same time, Ms. Halabi understands she has laws to follow, too. “ For firing people, this is the hardest part of my job, but taking the business aspect of it and how they’re affecting the business and making sure to take emotions out of it if they are not a good fit. Making sure they understand why they are being fired and also that they have been written up for the things that they have done wrong on the job. Proper documentation is key.”
When asked how she weighed personnel and financial decisions in making these hiring or firings, her response was this: “ Since our business is seasonal, meaning that we are busier during the wedding months, I have a staff that works year round and then I hire people as we get busier and let them know that it’s seasonal and they will be let go once we start slowing down. I do let them know that if a position opens up there is a possibility they can stay on. We never hire anyone that we can’t afford, even if they are a good fit. When it comes to firing we typically have a managers meeting to discuss firing the person before letting them go and talk about what we can do as a team to take over that persons position before letting them go.”
This chapter of Gershon was hard for me to interpret as I have no experience hiring or firing people. With my military background, I also don’t have much job experience in general. The one civilian job I did have I quit on good terms and was never more than an associate. It was incredibly beneficial to interview someone who is what I aspire to be — a self-made business owner. I think the most surprising aspects of this experience were how close-knit you could be with your employees. I come from two corporate jobs — your boss was your boss. As I moved up in rank in the Army and became someone’s boss, they weren’t also my friend. This shift in thought will not only expand my options as I begin my venture, but also help me should I ever be presented with a need to apply through someone’s HR department.
It’s kind of amazing how my perspective changed in one encounter with the (wo)man behind the curtain.
And that, my friends, is a horse of a different color.
