How did you acquire your work ethic?
![marc](http://hrforms.blr.com/plugins/DefaultAvatars/design/GreenAvatar.jpg)
A recent post by szemcumo triggered a question for me. But first a preface.
As I look back on my job history, I never received any formal training regarding how to present myself to an employer. My first jobs paid by third parties involved lawn mowing and yard work, then a grocery store, a grain elevator running s shovel, construction, etc, etc.
All along the way, I never experienced the issues that we see everyday from applicants. Some are aimless, some under or uneducated, etc. etc.
No classes at the university, none in high school ever taught me any of the skills - manners - techniques that we use and expect our candidates to use.
I learned most of mine from my father, but it was all intertwined with being raised - nothing to specific about getting work and doing it right. It was part of the fabric of my environment.
Where did you get yours?
As I look back on my job history, I never received any formal training regarding how to present myself to an employer. My first jobs paid by third parties involved lawn mowing and yard work, then a grocery store, a grain elevator running s shovel, construction, etc, etc.
All along the way, I never experienced the issues that we see everyday from applicants. Some are aimless, some under or uneducated, etc. etc.
No classes at the university, none in high school ever taught me any of the skills - manners - techniques that we use and expect our candidates to use.
I learned most of mine from my father, but it was all intertwined with being raised - nothing to specific about getting work and doing it right. It was part of the fabric of my environment.
Where did you get yours?
Comments
scorpio
p.s. no, no, no, I did not have to walk in hip deep snow to get to work everyday, we took the 'f' train8-|
She was a role model in the finest sense of the word, and taught each of us that no job is too large or too small to do and to do well. She also gave us unconditional love and when her marriage to dad ended -- she made sure we knew that it had nothing to do with us kids -- and did not signal the end of our world. She always reached her goals by using hard work and a gentle spirit. Integrity was her middle name and she passed it on to each of us.
To be in her presence was a good fortune, and to be her child -- a gift.
I am amazed at the applicants who walk through my door. They don't seem to understand the simplest of tasks. I have women in their forties dressing like they're teenagers. It's disturbing (especially when the clothes are to tight or showy). We also get the under or uneducated applicants. Some of the men aren't any better. They show up in jeans and xxxl shirts. It's just sloppy.
I believe EAP's evolved from people with OCD's like mine. I don't think it can be undone.
But I guess it comes from my military and catholic school upbringing.
Dasher, that is a beautiful sentiment about your mother. I hope she is still around and that "someone" shows her what you wrote.
Whining and excuses sure didn't work for me but I fear for young people today who see elected officials and public icons prospering from them.
The next stage was catholic school with a military curriculum. From the St. Benedict sisters I learned many things, mostly about selfless service. From the school Commandant, a retired Marine Corps Sergeant Major I learned discipline, perserverance and more discipline
Next came active duty military service in the Army, which essentially reinforced everything I had learned to date. It honed my leadership skills and taught me about courage under fire/pressure. They also provided me with the means to earn a college education. Working nights at UPS building walls of packages inside semi's while finishing college gave me the motivation to further my education.
Along the way there have been several people who have mentored me. I have also been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to experience good leadership as well as pi** poor leaders. To me, this has been crucial. You can learn a lot from good role models, but you can also learn a tremendous amount from bad ones.
Gene
But I’m digressing from the subject of work ethic. I can sum it up as follows: Once one of my dad’s employees asked him if he had an employee incentive program. He replied, “Yep, and here it is: If you do your job right, you get to keep it.” He was gruff and extremely sarcastic (the source of my smart ass gene), but one of the items in that scrapbook was a two-page letter from his staff nominating him for “Boss of the Year” in the early ‘50’s. That pretty much says it all.
You did not sit around my house after school or in the summertime watching MTV or going to the mall with your friends. You either worked at home or you found a job outside the home when you were old enough. If you could not find anything to do, then something WOULD be found for you to do.
My mom just retired this past summer at 73 and the only reason she did this was to take care of her first grandchild.
KUDOS to Mom!
My dad, too, had a saying for everything, and I have written a number of them down so I can pass them on to my kids. Many of them were 'blue', but they were part of my dad. "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right the first time", was one of his favorites.
My first job off the farm was in a combination grocery store and feed mill. I stocked shelves, cut meat, bagged groceries, and always had to be ready to empty a rail car of feed or deliver a load of 100# sacks of feed to a farmer.
Must have been good training from good parents, neither of whom had more than a grade school education. (My dad liked to say he 'went through high school', because he walked through the school once.) Two of the four of us got college degrees, and I'd say that all four of us are successful, raising families and holding down responsible jobs.
Putting that aside, the point though was just made by lhill, how to get the concept through to some of our EEs. And more to the point, if it hasn't sunk in by now, is it too late?
A secondary question, if some folks aren't getting this from parents or mentors, where should they get it? Life comes with many hard knocks, but a strong work ethic and the character that usually underlies it, will guide us through many of these knocks - wouldn't peoples lives be better off if there was some way to instill these work ethic type values at earlier ages? Or am I just dreaming?
My parents were the biggest influence - my dad was a career soldier and would work as many as three part time jobs so my mom could stay at home to care for and raise us. My mom worked so hard to teach us manners and respect for authority. My parents were born in the early 30's, so a lot of their training was what many would probably now consider old fashioned, but here I am, thanks to them.
I just realized how much I miss my mom - she passed in 1996. I think I'll go call my dad...!
I, too, got my work ethic from my mother. Being a single mother with only a high school education she worked 2 jobs most of the time I was growing up. She could have accepted welfare, but always had the attitude that she would do all she could to take care of her own responsibilities. We may have lacked material goods, but we took care of our own and grew up as productive, responsible adults.
Today, at age 61, mom still works in a tire plant doing manual labor and gets frustrated when today's young people come in to work and can't (or won't) put in the hours, or do the work.
I wish half of our applicants had her attitude.
I was having one of those really difficult days and decided to reread this post. Can you imagine how uplifting it is to read some of your comments. It truly revived me!
BTW, my mother passed in September 1994 -- I miss her a lot, but she knew how much each of her children loved her, and often said that she received her flowers while she was alive. The song that her church choir sang for her was "May the Life I Live, Speak for Me". It was so fitting.