Objective assessment or reality tv?

With much in the news about keeping healthy, staying interested and living longer I thought I was doing well.  With no intention of slowing down or retiring I’m up for finishing a few more of the many projects I’ve started, and of course I’m always on the look out for a new resourcing challenge.  From time to time, I aspire to be as stylish as Iris Apfel (August 1921 – March 2023), although I’ve a way to go on the modelling stakes.  Imagine what I could achieve before 2056 to celebrate my own 102 years.  That fabulous jewellery collection is still achievable although I doubt I’ll look as glamorous as Iris.  I’m simply not “a natural” in front of the camera.  But in time I’ll get Rosie Parsons to fix all that.

I’m not a fan of reality television.  For me, the occasional episode of Loose Women is all I need to remind myself that there’s more to life than meets the eye.  Yesterday was different, I’d had a conversation in the morning with someone who, unlike me, wasn’t looking forward to being 70 years old later this year.  Asked what was making me so upbeat about it, I reeled off a long list without stopping for breath.  Getting new knees, dancing on the table, inspiring others, learning new tricks, mastering caking, writing my memoirs, a change of direction, moving house, creating a new home and garden – the list (and my ambitions) just went on.

Then on the same day, I thought it was time that I understood all the hype about Celebrity Big Brother, but alas I failed at the first hurdle.  It’s not on my bucket list!  For starters, I didn’t recognise 50 per cent of the housemates and I couldn’t understand how they thought that clomping down that hallway in ridiculous shoes was a good idea.  And then there were the unceremonious clothing hikes to prevent wardrobe malfunctions (drooping trousers and escaping boobs).

OMG I didn’t say it out loud although I felt instantly (and momentarily) old.  I simply didn’t get it and became obsessed with how Sharon and Louis were selecting three individuals for potential eviction.  Their instructions were clear, and decisions were to be based on first impressions.

Yes, what the celebs wore, whether Sharon knew who they were and how little they contributed on arrival in the house seemed to be the “essential selection criteria”.  And you’ve guessed already that my heart sank.  I was catapulted back to the times when recruiting managers discussed whether they “liked” a candidate.  A time when for some it seemed OK to employ the “halo and horns” approach to choosing colleagues.  Yet here we are in 2024 inviting housemates from diverse backgrounds to come together and potentially be selected out based on a whim or length of their shorts.  What do you think?

So, here’s my message to recruiting managers, “Don’t even think about it”.  You never know where I’ll pop up next.  All my coaching still holds up.  Interviews (and auditions social experiments included) are your opportunity to find out about candidate strengths.  Your task is to carefully evaluate their strength and how helpful that is to the team.  I’m sure that the chosen celebs were encouraged to “dress to impress” although my professional (if a little lemon-sucking) view has always been that (at interview) we’re not there to judge a candidate’s fashion sense.  Sometimes that’s been difficult to manage although as Alfred Wainwright wrote, “there’s no such thing as bad weather just unsuitable clothing”.

I’m pleased that in many ways working from home has helped us to bust the myth about needing to be “suited and booted” for work.  That always seemed to be a favourite phrase of the High Street recruiters and I wince every single time I hear it.  Sometimes I wonder what happened to all those black or navy suits worn by girls in HR for so long?  I had my fair share of suits (oh the power of those shoulder pads) although my inner rebel showed itself in the colours of my jackets – fuchsia, kingfisher, lime.  That reminds me how I met a friend of some 49 years.  A Christmas temp in a well-known department store I was encouraged to wear navy or black.  My vintage style, though interesting (and applauded) needed the addition of a corporate badge.  And the distributor of the badges was my now friend, the trainer who delivered my employee induction and till training.

The moral of this piece is that I should:

·       Stick with Loose Women (occasionally)

·       Try to embrace changing trends in television (hmm)

·       Continue to promote objective and inclusive assessment

·       Celebrate personal style (always)

Fancy a chat?  Let’s talk.