Issue 195
One of the most challenging parts of any work situation is the turnover of staff. The whole procedure of appointing someone is very complex from a personal, professional and legal point of view. For many, the question ‘should I employ this person?’ is enormously stressful.
The loss of a good employee is also a challenge for those left behind. Even if someone leaves in good circumstances and with good will on both sides, replacing a good team member is an enormous amount of work.
Larger organisations have HR departments to advise on policies and procedures, but somewhere in every process there are people trying to figure out with less than complete information how to make and live with the decision. We call it an interview but it can feel like a trial.
Very few HR procedures include asking God for help. James, the brother of Jesus, however, advocates asking God for wisdom in the face of ‘trials of many kinds’. God will respond generously to such requests. Perhaps our error in such circumstances is a double one. Firstly, we forget to ask. We take God for granted, trusting in our own wisdom, procedures and experience even though we sometimes feel lacking in wisdom. This lacking of wisdom, according to James, is the prerequisite for asking.
Secondly, we assume that when we ask that the answer will come in intuitive, mystical or subjective terms only. So we expect God to give us peace, good feelings or a ‘sense’ about the decision.
Whilst this may be the case, it would also be true to say that God’s generous provision of wisdom is likely to include his comprehensive written Word.
So He may point you to a verse like Proverbs 26:10 ‘Like an archer who wounds at random, so is he who hires a fool or any passer by.’
The archer was supposed to be a skilled person, hitting his or her target. The accurate shot, expertly delivered, was to land the prey. A careless or absent-minded archer is likely to hurt everyone around him with his random arrows.
This is the picture that Solomon gives us of poor hiring procedures. Don’t hire a fool is the first point. A person’s character, ethics and values need to be explored carefully. Proverbs has a lot to say about fools. They are described as unreliable, lazy, procrastinators, gossips, quick tempered and unprincipled. They don’t know how to stop speaking, pass a message or avoid a quarrel. Hiring one is as daft as firing off an arrow randomly.
Solomon’s second point is don’t hire someone simply because they are available or a passer-by. Just because they are in front of you, with time to give you, doesn’t mean that you should hire someone that you don’t know without any reference to their track record. Similarly one should not hire someone that one does know but does not know well enough.
It seems like common sense but it is amazing how many times employers hire people of inappropriate character for a job or simply because they are available, only to find that instead of solving a problem, they have inflicted random wounds on the rest of the team. It gives a new meaning to the phrase ‘hiring and firing’.
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Work well
Geoff Shattock
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