Unbelievable Night

Wow! I know I use that word a lot when referring to Lubbock Phoenix Employment Project, but Wow! Another month and another group of about 25 or so folks participated in another exceptional discussion of how to do things better when we’re looking for work.

The questions once again ranged dramatically. We had a couple more conspiracy theorists in the crowd this time than normal, so my apologies as we probably spent an inordinate amount of time talking about “using credit histories” and the information collected on those silly affirmative action forms.

Folks, we, human resources and most companies, simply don’t have the time to seriously consider such drivel in terms of hiring and, as I said during our discussion, if there’s a company that does look at someone and hire or not hire him or her based on those nonsense issues of race, religion, disability gender, age, etc. then it’s probably not a company we want to work with perhaps even if we’re unemployed. Or, at the very least, it’s not a company we want to stay working for.

When I first went to work for Southwest Coca-Cola, gosh more years ago than many people have been in existence, a good friend of mine was excitedly sharing with a coworker, who happened to be African American, the news of my impending departure from the work world supporting academia and my entrance into the mad, mad, mad world of Coke. The African American, with a strained look on her face, exclaimed “Oh my God! Not Coke!” After a moment of awkward silence she added “Oh, he’s a white guy. He’ll do fine.” And I am and I did, but the point is companies get their community reputation for a reason and Southwest Coke had this reputation for a reason and to this day I do not know what that reason was, but it was there.

I was, and still am for that matter, a “white guy.” I’m not sure I have an accurate idea of what other non-white, non-guy communities thought of Coca-Cola, or State National Bank, or BBVA (the Spanish bank that acquired State National) or First Bank & Trust, my current employer. I guess we, human resources people, all hope that folks see our companies and think “gosh, that’d be a great place to work,” but I’m not sure I have enough stuff to smoke to get to that unbelievable unreality. First Bank & Trust I think does a pretty great job. I believe Susan B. and Adrienne H. from American State Bank would say the same thing about their bank. I think Janet C. would add that about Texas Tech Health Sciences Center and Tiffany R. would join her in talking about Texas Tech, the campus. These wonderful human resources folks all participated and three were on our last panel. I think we’d all hope people think the preceding about our companies.

What we strive for in human resources is becoming the employer of choice. The employer of choice is the company, across all races, ethnicities, disabilities, genders, religions, that is thought of as “that’d be a great place to work.”

And, I don’t believe the playing field is nearly level. I consider myself a “white guy” with a brain, and I can accept there have been advances in just about every area of this quagmire. But I’m also privy to some of the jokes and some of the thought processes and some of the policies. I still believe we tend to hold to a higher standard those who are different from us and that is simply bias and bias can simply be prejudice. That’s the reality I see from where I’ve sat.

So, with the preceding as the backdrop, let’s not get overly hung up on the fact that life isn’t fair all the time, or if your glass is half-full, most the time. The goal of Lubbock Phoenix Employment Project is not to change the world, which is good as no one has ever asked me to change the world and I’m not sure where I’d start (probably Cleveland [and I’ve never been to Cleveland, but it’s the brunt of a lot of comedians’ jokes, so I’ll pick on them in my ignorance]).

The goal of the Lubbock Phoenix Employment Project is to assist one person at a time in getting a job.

I know that’s not a monumental, world-changing goal…unless you think about it.

If we take someone who is struggling with finding a job and we help that person with their search. Even if all we do is create hope in what they perceive to be a hopeless situation, then for me, helping this one person, is a rather monumental endeavor and helping this one person has changed the world, but in a tiny way not at the macro level, but at the micro level. For that person, though, we rocked their world in a good way.

And if we change enough at the micro level over time we see changes at the macro level.

So, please accept my apologies if someone was looking at the Lubbock Phoenix Employment Project for a changed world. My goal when this thing started was not to have conversations with President Obama, although that would probably be a hoot (knowing me I’d probably just sort of sit with a goofy grin and drool, awestruck, but I’m sort of that way around Presidents [and, like Cleveland, I’ve never really been around Presidents, but that’s sort of what I envision our “conversation” being]). My goal was simply to help that obviously beaten down person in the third row, in the second seat from the left. My goal was simply to help that person taking the furious notes in the back of the room. My goal was simply to help that person listening intently in the front row.

My goal was simply to move that cloud of despair out of one person’s eyes and replace it with a glimmer of hope.

My goal was simply to turn the fear I see in another’s face and transform that negative energy into positive action.

So let’s not beleaguer the unfairness of it all. Let’s not perseverate on the things we cannot change. Like good little amoebas, let’s focus on the tiny world around us and make the tiny changes we can and see what we end up with at the end.

Thanks to the incredible panelists we’ve had to date and this last group of stellar human resources professionals, I know we’ve accomplished my goals every time we’ve met. Thanks to the amazingly accepting audiences we’ve had I know we changed some worlds. I know we did something monumental. I know, therefore, we’ve met my goals.

Thank you.

The Lubbock Phoenix Employment Project is free and open to the public. We meet the third Tuesday of every month from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the WorkForce Solutions South Plains Career Center, 1218 14th Street in Lubbock. If you're looking for work or under-employed, we’d love the opportunity to rock your world, so please, if you have a couple of hours, come on over.