There’s an easy answer for this…
This Survivor Class will be bringing their special brand of anxiety and demands into the workplace. One might joke that those likely outraged by things reasonable people would find mundane are also those most likely to major in Women’s Studies, but one cannot assume.
[snip]
Are employers going to start using precious resources to create safe spaces for people who are so unable to handle their anxiety they force the rest of the world to handle it for them?
…you just don’t hire people with certain kinds of degrees in the first place. Easiest thing in the world to make sure that resume doesn’t make it to the second round. Of course, if you do do this, you had better never talk about it, you certainly never admit to it, and the written record should never, ever even hint at it. Other than that… more people than jobs. If you can’t come up with a plausible excuse not to hire a Beautiful And Unique Snowflake (BAUS) in this economy then you need to up your game, or else let a better player play it in your place.
But, hey, this is unsolicited advice (I don’t think that anybody’s gonna hire me to give HR advice any time soon), so take it as such.
Moe Lane
I dunno, how much room for a safe space is there inside a Starbucks anyways…
We get these types in every now and again. A BAUS can slide through any degree program and then interview well enough to be hired. They usually leave pretty quickly. I had one working with me on a job troubleshooting some industrial equipment in a factory (I’m an engineer). He was a new hire and I have 25 years behind me. I thought through the problem and use him for the manual labor parts. He did not like this at all and complained to his supervisor, then my supervisor, then the VP in charge of everything (but never to me, oddly). Each person in turn essentially told him “Jeff did well in using you like the rented mule that you are, go see if he needs anything else and never bother me again”. I found it hilarious. Welcome to the real world kid.
Not hiring someone is easy. (Long dissertation on the subject omitted – trust me, it’s always doable if you have good HR practices on the front end.)
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As you say, the trick is detection. Specific majors are a “tell”, and as a bonus are almost always unrelated to a real job function (other than teaching Gender Studies, what job on Earth requires a Gender Studies major?). So are specific writings (including Twitter and social media) in the public eye. Google is your friend. Just remember to Google everyone equally. Legal filings are tricky, but social media about legal filings is fair game. Be careful, be systematic, and make sure you want that person specifically before you hire them. They’ve already dug the hole for themselves somewhere, you just have to find it.
One problem I’ve encountered with Google is when the prospective hire has a name that’s fairly common so that you get a lot of noise from people with the same name.
Ah, but for that you just need to find some other keywords to identify them… start with their references ..
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Mew
I’m one of them – Googling just my name or nickname is hopeless. Fortunately, you need very little to deconflict, and job applications contain a lot of information. Googling for a writing style is still in the future, but recognizing it once you have it in front of you is very doable. It’s one of a number of good reason to ask college new-hires for essays.
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A harder problem is the use of pseudonyms (like here!). Fortunately, BAUSes generally want everyone to know how special they are and post identifiably. You’re not looking for the ones who go along with the trend but will shape up when they hit the real world. Discretion is a sign of rehabilitation potential.
Indeed .. I am a cat for a reason.. and I have never mistaken myself for a snowflake.
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That .. doesn’t mean my views would make it past the single largest collection of BAUSes in any given organization .. HR.
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Mew
This.
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Human Resources, it’s like they actively try to screen out competence, seek to add as much needless drama as possible, and good luck getting rid of an employee who is more trouble than they’re worth. (But good ones get the book thrown at them for minor of imaginary offenses.)
Gah. Burn the department to the ground, and sow the ruins with salt.
I agree; HR is a bastion of BAUSs and should be jettisoned for a competent department!
Indeed. There is more than one reason why I’ve used the name Finrod online since 1990.
Cowards! I post under my real name.
Yes, but everyone knows the McDerps are independently and fabulously wealthy…
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Mew