21–30 of 32 posts
I found it a bit of an odd article. I alternate between Mr Happy, Mr Grumpy, Mr Angry, Mr Sad. (Fortunately, I'm never Mr Tickle.) While it was interesting, I'd hate for people reading this article to think it was genuinely a good idea as a hiring practice. People are complicated, and cannot and should not be pigeonholed into such simple categories.
I just learned which vendor I'll be avoiding. Key cutting is exactly the job I least want ex-convicts to do. It is low-skill, so anyone can do it, but high-risk (you are literally giving your keys to the person, asking them to convert them to a numeric code, easily retained, and produce copies...) (Obviously, I'd prefer an in-house locksmith or resettable locking system, but instead, I use a vendor I've known for 20+…
What's the weakest link in your case? How resistant are your locks to picking? Can someone just smash a window or drill the lock?
(There's also the forced/destructive vs. covert vs. surreptitious entry issue. Someone entering without leaving a trace and without making a sound is far more concerning than someone breaking out an angle grinder and grinding away for 5 minutes on video with an alarm going off.)
I just learned which vendor I'll be avoiding. Key cutting is exactly the job I least want ex-convicts to do. It is low-skill, so anyone can do it, but high-risk (you are literally giving your keys to the person, asking them to convert them to a numeric code, easily retained, and produce copies...) (Obviously, I'd prefer an in-house locksmith or resettable locking system, but instead, I use a vendor I've known for 20+…
> asking them to convert them to a numeric code, easily retained, and produce copies... This must be different from any key-cutting system I've ever seen. Any time I've ever gotten keys cut, the machine is setup with a jig, so they put the original on one side, and the blank on the other, and you trace the original against the guide, while the blank gets ground to match. I suppose they could cut an extra, but it'd be…
I just learned which vendor I'll be avoiding. Key cutting is exactly the job I least want ex-convicts to do. It is low-skill, so anyone can do it, but high-risk (you are literally giving your keys to the person, asking them to convert them to a numeric code, easily retained, and produce copies...) (Obviously, I'd prefer an in-house locksmith or resettable locking system, but instead, I use a vendor I've known for 20+…
You're either assuming the person cutting your keys also knows your address, or that burglars are in the habit of walking round with a bunch of keys and systematically trying them all in the front door looks of every house that looks like it might be worth stealing from. I'm not sure what is the point of mentioning that your physical security vendor uses PGP other than signaling how awesome your security practices ar…
There are exceptions, and famously if someone's going to be providing quality information based on a "nefarious past" like Frank Abagnale, sure, but for a low-level clerk position, eliminating risk by barring 5% of the population from 5% of the jobs (not even particularly good ones) is a reasonable tradeoff.
I'd trust an ex-con with finances of the cash register variety, but not unsupervised and unaccounted-for access to large amounts of cash. (It's not something you'd want to have to trust an $8-12/hr employee with in general, but in some cases it's unavoidable.)
If someone had higher skills (say, an auto mechanic who was also convicted of a serious felony), the risk/reward of having that person working as an auto mechanic is probably a lot better than a low skill person taking a key cutter job vs. another form of retail job.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's the weakest link in your case? How resistant are your locks to picking? Can someone just smash a window or drill the lock?
Actually, with my locks, the weakest would be someone getting a key. Second weakest would be either the $400 bolt cutters, or very noisy actions with angle grinders. (There's also the forced/destructive vs. covert vs. surreptitious entry issue. Someone entering without leaving a trace and without making a sound is far more concerning than someone breaking out an angle grinder and grinding away for 5 minutes on video…
I suspect that you've never visited a Timpson's, which are your general, run of the mill high-street key-cutter. You walk in with your keys, ask them to make copies, they cut them while you wait (and watch if you want), you walk out with your new keys.
For most people that's pretty much fine whoever is cutting the keys as they don't know where you live.
If you're paranoid and/or have threat models that include lots of things that your average man on the street doesn't have to worry about, then you should be cutting the keys yourself.
Most important for me is: > "We purely interview for personality," says Mr Timpson, who has been leading his family's firm for the past 42 years. > In explaining the thinking behind this rather novel approach to recruitment, Mr Timpson, 74, says that while you can train someone to do a job, you cannot train their personality. Timpson are good in the UK because for a long time they've been happy to interview ex-offend…
So it was just a really happy coincidence that the owners son (James Timpson) becamse the chief executive officer? ;)
Most important for me is: > "We purely interview for personality," says Mr Timpson, who has been leading his family's firm for the past 42 years. > In explaining the thinking behind this rather novel approach to recruitment, Mr Timpson, 74, says that while you can train someone to do a job, you cannot train their personality. Timpson are good in the UK because for a long time they've been happy to interview ex-offend…
> Timpson really are an equal opportunities employer. We consider anyone for our vacancies as long as they are able to do the job. This includes ex-offenders and other marginalised groups. We recruit exclusively on personality and expect all of colleagues to be happy, confident and chatty individuals. So it was just a really happy coincidence that the owners son (James Timpson) becamse the chief executive officer? ;)
The idea and context reminded me of the identical Mr. Prestos in The Stars My Destination:
If you consider that presenting a cheerful face for customers is part of the retail job description, then the Mr. Men-themed interview is essentially a work sample.
"If they tick all the right boxes then we put them in the shop for half the day."
Which is followed by a longer work sample, it appears.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Timpson really are an equal opportunities employer. We consider anyone for our vacancies as long as they are able to do the job. This includes ex-offenders and other marginalised groups. We recruit exclusively on personality and expect all of colleagues to be happy, confident and chatty individuals. So it was just a really happy coincidence that the owners son (James Timpson) becamse the chief executive officer? ;)
I know you're joking, but come on, it's a family business c: