Another Wave
There is a heavyset, ruddy man who stands like a bouncer at the entrance to the Wilshire Worksource Center. Gelled crew cut, gold chain dangling over his shirt and tie, he amicably nods visitors through the doors or down the hall, flush complexion and soft eyes conspiring to make him seem pleasantly drunk. Inside, 40 heads peer into the screens of 40 computers arranged along the shores of a sea of gray carpet. On the walls, inspirational posters show feats of athleticism and panoramic views of nature with titles like “Team Work,” “Perseverance,” and “Challenge.” The Worksource is a public non-profit that provides a free recruitment service to employers and potential employees—a sort of broker for interactions where Craigslist would otherwise be the sole intermediary.
I went in twice in two business days, once to promote myself as a “Great Event Security Officer” for the Staples Center, and then to work somewhere behind the velvet ropes at a new ‘Megaplex’ movie theater opening downtown. Each time, a bevy of stocky handlers in well-padded suits guided me through the hallway. With different lighting, I would have expected them to check my ID and usher me into a nightclub. For lack of a California Guard Card, I never made it past the hallway for the Security Officer gig, but the scene was much the same on the following Monday. A couple dozen jobseekers sat in rows facing a well-used dry erase board bearing traces of a year’s worth of motivational meetings and group interviews. Everyone there had followed the online instructions to “dress in a professional manner” and “come in interview attire”: you could tell it is an employer’s market by the fact that more than one young man was wearing a suit to the pre-interview screening for a job selling popcorn.
I signed in behind an elderly gentleman called Muhammed Islam and wondered how his name was affecting his job prospects. The man who gave the presentation for the Regency Movie Theaters hiring drive was named Colton. He was tall and clean-cut and had the manner of a state trooper speaking at a high school. “We are going to take you into the other room by number and give you a 3 to 4 minute interview to decide who we are going to push forward to the Job Fair on Thursday. Now, don’t be discouraged if we don’t call you on Wednesday. There are going to be lots more waves of interviews, and part of what we do here is help you with your resume and interview skills. We’re going to be sending them only the most top-notch people—if we don’t send them good candidates then they are not going to use us again, so it’s important that we send them only the most job-ready people. Now, don’t just say ‘I need a job.’ This is an employer’s market right now, and that’s just not good enough. There are thousands of people in Los Angeles who need jobs. That’s not enough to get you hired.”
There goes my angle. Part of what makes job interviews in the service industry so galling is the corporate expectation of feigned enthusiasm, or worse yet, ‘passion,’ for customer service on the part of job applicants. Needing a job, or needing money, is the fundamental reason that people would seek to spend the better part of each week ripping ticket stubs or tallying other people’s cash under the fluorescent glare of a shopping mall, but this reasoning doesn’t pass muster. Employers hope to uncover, or at least have you advertise, some aspect of your personality that jibes with the robotic servility that makes the business of corporate ‘customer service’ tick. What is it about you and your talents that would make you the ideal candidate to say “Thank you for choosing Regency Theaters, enjoy the show” to 500 people every night?
Upon hearing “Twelve!” I rose and went next door to a large room with five tables placed as far apart as the space would permit. One of Colton’s cohorts, a woman wearing a cross earring on the left and a rose on the right, beckoned me to the last table. I answered her questions about my work experience with an eye to proving cheerful competence, if not passion, in customer service, but Wednesday rolled around and Work Source never called to push me forward. In a pool of 400, Colton warned us, Regency would hire only 120. Maybe I’ll catch the next wave.
