Benefit of friends

Nepotism is disgusting and puts unqualified people into positions they don’t deserve

Remember that part time job you wanted when you were a first-year student, and didn’t get because the manager’s half-sister’s cousin’s dead-beat son was given the job?

How about that time when you wanted to work at a summer camp and were denied because some entitled brat happened to be the brother of the camp coordinator? If neither of these scenarios have happened to you, can you not empathize?

At some point in our lives we were all probably victims of nepotism, in some shape or form. Whether it be in school, or in the workplace, nepotism will always come back to bite one in the ass. Maybe it’s because I am becoming more cynical as I grow older, but I become more infuriated with the nepotistic behavior of employers and the ass-kissing prospective employees have to do, to be able to get an interview.

I am not saying that future employees and youth have to have everything handed to them, as we need to pay our dues. What I am saying is that employers should leave their neglected egos and family ties at the door when they enter a room to interview prospective employees. People should keep an open-mind when hiring employees, even when it comes to the “no-brainer” hires. If you had your own private doctor’s office, would you hire the little sister of your best friend to be your secretary, or someone who has secretarial diploma?

We saw it with the mayoral election this past year when Fiacco endorsed Fougere so that Fougere could follow through on Fiacco’s expensive new stadium, and we see it all around the province, city, and university.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be hired for a job, or promoted, when you have worked hard and earned it? Instead of sleeping around or kissing up so much to the point you know what your employer had for breakfast? I realize that this might be a foreign idea to some people, but maybe if one were hired based on their skills and knowledge, instead of the number of mutual friends you have, then maybe things at work wouldn’t be so stressful with internal politicking.

To clarify, I am not bashing networking. I think meeting new people is great. One’s connections should only allow a future employee to get an interview. Once that interview starts, that connection does not matter as it is up to you to secure getting the job, not your uncle’s stepdaughter’s cousin twice-removed.

I may be coming off as a self-righteous, entitled youth, but I am sure there are hundreds of us that are efficient and more qualified to do certain jobs than a distant relative of yours. I fear that Regina, as a whole, will succumb to nepotism to sate the hungry egos of those in charge of hiring employees. Which, will in turn, reinforce the ignorance of everyone when it comes to hiring and applying to jobs. Despite being “young,” I remember a time when people were hired based on what they know, not who they know.

Jordan Palmer
Contributor

Photo courtesy of theredeyeportal.wordpress.com