Monday, February 12, 2007

Institutional Logic

Here, wrap your brain around this, and see if it makes sense, would you?

Just over a year ago, Robbie, Jason and I were hired on as 2-94's. Now, in local parlance, what this means is that we are on a two-year temporary assignment. Our positions do exist and are covered in the budget - we're not stranded in eternal temporary limbo, which I have been in the past, and it's not much fun. But our old supervisor had three positions he needed to fill in a big hurry; the regular posting-and-hiring process is lo-o-o-o-o-ong an convoluted; and the 2-94 process is pretty quick.

We get full pay and benefits, but when the two years are up, our assignment is over. Naturally the positions will still exist and will need to be filled; naturally, the logical people to fill those positions will be us. But the jobs cannot be posted for hiring until they're vacant. And the regular posting-and-hiring process - I may have mentioned this - is lo-o-o-o-o-ong and convoluted. We'd be out of work for a while.

But one of our coworkers left for another job a few months ago. His job has been posted, the regular way, and the posting closes today. So this morning, in something of a panic, our supervisor raced around breathlessly telling us 2-94 riffraff that we needed to apply for it.

How is this going to work? Well, I guess, we all submit our applications, and (assuming they pass muster with HR, by no means a given) she interviews us, and hires her #1 favorite. (My money's on Jason!) Then Jason becomes Bill 2.0 and we have an opening for Jason 2.0, right? So Robbie and I submit applications and our supervisor picks, let's say, Robbie. This leaves an opening for Robbie 2.0 and I apply for it and what do you know?! By gosh! I get the job, because I'm qualified for the position I will have been in, by that time, for at least a year and a half, probably longer.

Or am I? The job requirements were written with little regard to the actual job functions. I believe HR may have been involved. Perhaps I will have to face the unpleasant realization that I am not qualified to perform the trained monkey work I've been yawning over for a year. I suppose that would be a bit of a blow.

But say it all goes off without a hitch: our supervisor will have managed to convert all three of us 2-94 scumbags into actual, legitimate employees some months ahead of schedule, and we might actually be able to hire Elizabeth 2.0 - and thereby fill the shortage left by Bill - only a year after the position first became vacant!

What could possibly be more logical?

4 Comments:

At February 12, 2007 8:44 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is it not sad that half the questions on the application had absolutely NO relevance to what we do? I referred back to past jobs more for personal experience needed than the d*mn job we're applying for.

The competition is on! May the unluckiest person win.

P.S. We need to plan this so that as soon as one of us gets the position we leave and that way they have to go through the entire process again to fill the position that will leave a position that really isnt there but needs filled for need of budget requirements.......ehugh??

I want calvin's job

-too cool

 
At February 12, 2007 11:13 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, something more complicated than how they do things here. When the agencies were getting around not being able to hire more permanent employees by hiring contract employees they would just renew the contract every 2 years rather than make us interview again. Of course when we were made permanent state employees we all had to interview for the jobs we were had been doing for a while.

I think the state government motto is "If it's complicated already, we'll make it that way!"

 
At February 13, 2007 6:23 PM, Blogger southboulevard said...

haha...exact opposite of my place...boss hires people out of the blue. I've got nothing else to say...so lame.

 
At February 15, 2007 8:32 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love it! Your posts often give me a hearty laugh because I KNOW it's true. I lived it. But not anymore. In fact, my screamin' new Mac Pro arrived today with it's dual core-2 processors and 4 gigs of memory, plus the 20" Apple cinema display. I was the envy of the office. You should have seen the people ooooh and ahhhh. I showed my boss' boss iChat and he loved it. I'll have them all converted before the year's end.

So you're a temp, eh? I never knew.

 

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