9-Feb Citizen Police Academy #12

13-Feb Event at Canyon King Pizzeria - The Love Boat Presents a Five Course Valentine's Extravaganza

            Is there a business that is not a "people" business?  I've never seen one.  By its very definition, a business needs customers to survive and must develop relationships in order to thrive. 

            Some of the most important people to your business are the ones that you hire.  One of the constant ironies in the business world is that the plans of the entrepreneur are dependent on the skills of those who probably don't have their dreams formed into an organized plan yet.

            I believe we'll have the kind of employees we all want, if we can establish the connection between their job and the successful realization of their goals, however unformulated they may be.  

            Entry level employees are too often focused on their paycheck.  The real worth of a job can be in the education it provides.  All of us can remember any number of things that we learned in our early positions.  Any money we may have earned went towards rent, groceries and mostly forgettable dates to the movies.  The education, however, is still with us.

            Page High School has a Career and Technical Education Program that makes a wonderful start to get students to draw a connection between their education and the world of employment. One of the components allows for interaction with local businesses.  It is an opportunity to let the students see the employer's perspective on the role of basic customer service and the success of their business.  In the coming days, we'd like to explore ways to allow these students to get a glimpse of the business world at your places of business.  Of course, it needs to happen in a manner that helps the students without hindering the daily operation of the business.  It takes some effort on the part of ownership or management.  The business owners could benefit by improving the mindset of those prospective employees in the pipeline. 

            We all have stories about ill-prepared prospective employees.  Here's an opportunity to incorporate some of the basics - at the sole cost of a little time.  If you have any ideas about how we can all take better advantage of, or enhance the school program, let me know.  More about it later.