1943 Guide to Hiring --in Silicon Valley

April 3, 2008

1943 Guide to Hiring-- in Silicon Valley

The original name of this piece was, "1943 Guide to Hiring Women." The eleven guidelines below were sent in by an in-law. She's "cool" enough that she won't mind this "IP re-use" (we hope!).

# # # # # #

The following is an excerpt from the July 1943 issue of Transportation magazine. (Along with how they might be re-applied here in Silicon Valley in 2008. We just couldn't resist!)

This was written for make supervisors of women in the work force during World War II.

* * * * * *

Eleven Tips for Getting More Efficiency Out of Women Employees: There's no longer any question whether transit companies should hire women for jobs formerly held by men. The draft and manpower shortage has settled that point The important things now are to select the most efficient women available and how to use them to best advantage.

Here are eleven helpful tips on the subject from Western Properties:

1. Pick young and married women. They usually have more of a sense of responsibility than their unmarried sisters, they're less likely to be flirtatious, they need the work or they wouldn't be doing it, they still have the pep and interest to work hard and to deal with the public efficiently.

--- Hire young, ideally unmarried, or at least child-less, employees. They will happily work long and odd hours to meet arbitrary deadlines at little additional cost.

2. When you have to use older women, try to get ones who have worked outside the home at some time in their lives. Older women who have never contacted the public have a hard time adapting themselves and are cantankerous and fussy. It's always well to impress upon older women the importance of friendliness and courtesy.

---If you have to hire workers over 35, make sure they know the deadline drill and still embrace it.

3. General experience indicates that "husky" girls - those who are just a little on the heavy side - are more even tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters.

---Experience indicates hiring overweight workers leads to excessive health claims and time off. Skew heavily toward hiring the young and fit. They're cheaper and can work longer hours without breaking down.

4. Retain a physician to give each woman you hire a special physical examination - one covering the female conditions. This step not only protects the property against the possibility of lawsuit, but reveals whether the employee-to-be has any female weaknesses which would make her mentally or physically unfit for the job.

---Retain legal "consultants" to make sure the firm is completely shielded from all lawsuits --due to mental or physical torture, mis-placed expectations of wise management and any other imaginable grounds for a lawsuit. (Such as when 1), 2) or 3) above are alleged.)

5. Stress at the outset the importance of time and the fact that a minute or two lost here and there makes serious inroads on schedules. Until this point is gotten across, service is likely to be slowed up.

---You pay the money and they put in the time --no matter how pointless the task or arbitrary the deadline. If you really have to stop and stress this elementary point, you're interviewing the wrong people.

6. Give the female employee a definite day-long schedule of duties so that they'll keep busy without bothering the management for instructions every few minutes. Numerous properties say that women make excellent workers when they have their jobs cut out for them, but that they lack initiative in finding work for themselves.

---Layout vague demands but detailed project timelines. Done properly, you ensure the employee is responsible for any failures but management retains credit for all success.

7. Whenever possible, let the inside employee change from one job to another at some time during the day. Women are inclined to be less nervous and happier with change.

---Show a path to promotion, even if you have to invent new positions. If you make the new title sound impressive, you won't need to include a raise or stock options! Management should encourage the perception enterprising and energetic underlings can someday replace them but then use the invented jobs and titles to make sure this never happens.

8. Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the day. You have to make some allowances for feminine psychology. A girl has more confidence and is more efficient if she can keep her hair tidied, apply fresh lipstick and wash her hands several times a day.

---Instead of paid time off (to rest), invent "team building" exercises or "rewards" where employees are expected to feel grateful for accompanying management while they vacation or recreate on the company dime.

9. Be tactful when issuing instructions or in making criticisms. Women are often sensitive; they can't shrug off harsh words the way men do. Never ridicule a woman - it breaks her spirit, and cuts off her efficiency.

---All employees are sensitive so management should only give positive feedback. If employees can't get the job done despite your positive reinforcement, simply flush them out for new ones.

10. Be reasonably considerate about using strong language around women. Even though a girl's husband may swear vociferously, she'll grow to dislike a place of business where she hears too much of this.

---To **** with that! Deal with ***-**** real vocabulary world or ******* move on!

11. Get enough variety in operator's uniforms so that each girl can have a proper fit. This point can't be stressed too much in keeping women happy.

---Sell a wide variety of clothes with the company logo, on-site or via mail-order, at a nice profit. Make sure management gets a wide selection, free of charge of course, and wears them around the office to help set an expectation among the underlings.

* * * * * *

We hope you enjoyed? Please feel free to send us your own "updates." (If you're not already a subscriber, you can find our e-mail address via the subscription link on our home page.) We may re-publish this piece with some of your inputs.