Tag Archives: Trump

This Recruiter’s Perspective on DeVos: The Conclusion

Posted in Human Resources, Public Policy, Recruiting, Talent Acquisition by

Part III of III.

Part I and Part II of this series, respectively,  focused on what the job, Secretary of Education, is and what skills, knowledge, experience and abilities a recruiter might look for in a qualified candidate. The final part of this series focus’ on Ms. DeVos’s qualifications for this role and ultimately my conclusions on her fit for the job.

Upon review of her credentials, it is without a doubt that I state that Betsy DeVos is not qualified for the role of Secretary of Education. Further, had her resume come across my inbox, I wouldn’t have even scheduled a phone screen let alone recommended her for a face-to-face interview with the hiring manager. 

Ms. DeVos’s website, betsydevos.com, provides some insight into this candidate’s past professional experience and is my primary source for the following information. 

  • Education credentials: Ms DeVos has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Calvin College, a private school, in Grand Rapids, MI. Calvin  College is accredited  by the Higher Learning Commission. Though Calvin College does have an education program, her Bachelor’s degree is in business administration and political science. Not Education or Public Policy. 
  • Direct and relevant experience: Ms. DeVos has zero instruction experience. Zero years of instructing any student whether that be in public or private school; primary, secondary or college. 
  • Experience serving in a public or private education administration role: Betsy DeVos has not served in an administration role, ever. 
  • Experience in educational public policy. Kinda?  Here are my findings. Ms. DeVos’s website states that she serves on a number of national and state boards, including Board Member for the Foundation for Excellence in Education from 2012- present. However a search of the foundation’s website comes up with zero results for Ms. DeVos’s work on this foundation. However, The Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation is listed as a 2016 donor  and 2015 donor in the $50,001-$100,000 donation range. Other Board positions Ms. DeVos has formerly or currently sits on that hold educational reform as part of their mission include the American Federation for Children, Alliance for School Choice, Great Lakes Education Project and The Potter’s House School. Clearly, Ms. DeVos has a vested interest in education as evidenced by the charitable foundations she is associated with. However, when one peels back the layers, you will see that her interest is very narrowly focused on school choice- this is the primary mission of these organizations. One might question her ability to arbitrarily review empirical facts about the state of education if one has spent a ton of money and time serving one cause. 
  • Former or current state Board of Education member. Ms. DeVos has never served on a Board of Education for any public of private school system. 
  • Experience managing a large team of professional employees. Ms. DeVos is listed as Chairman of the Windquest Group, a privately held investment and management firm with a diversified consumer product and service portfolio. The Windquest Group appears to be in the business of investing in innovative start-ups. None of these companies, per Windquest’s website, have any relationship with education, educational technology, etc…Further, there is no evidence that Ms. DeVos manages a large staff in her role as Chairman. 
  • Experience managing a large budget. There is no evidence that Ms. DeVos manages a large budget in her role as Chairman at the Windquest Group. One may presume that as a Chairman or a Board Member that she had oversight of budgets in her roles, but there is no evidence that she had the sole responsibility of a multi-million dollar budget. 
  • Experience managing a debt portfolio in the trillions. Ms. DeVos’s previous experience does not provide any evidence of having had responsibility for a large debt portfolio. Rather, it seems her and her family have only enjoyed managing financial surpluses. 

 

This Recruiter’s Perspective on DeVos: A Series

Posted in Human Resources, Interviewing, Public Policy, Radical HR, Recruiting, Talent Acquisition by

Part II of III.

In the first part of this series, I outlined what the Secretary of Education actually does.

Now we turn to an analysis of the requirements of the position. 

The biggest challenge and the part that is both equally amusing and horrifying is that there are no actual qualifications for the position of Secretary of Education. I’ve searched the Department of Education’s website and can’t find anything definitive. I think there are more written qualifications for an Administrative Assistant in my company than there are for this position. Using basis reasoning and logic, in addition to reviewing the basic requirements of positions such as Teacher, Principal, School Superintendent and School Board Member, one might reasonably expect that the Secretary of Education hold the following minimum requirements.

  1. 4-year degree from accredited institution in either Education or Public Policy required. Master’s degree in related field preferred.
  2. Instruction experience in a public or private primary, secondary educational institution or institution of higher learning.
  3. Experience in an educational administration role such as district superintendent.
  4. Experience in educational public policy.
  5. Former or current state Board of Education member.
  6. Experience managing a large team of professional employees.
  7. Experience managing a large budget.

Indeed, here are samples of the minimum requirements for various Superintendent roles in Michigan, the home state of Mrs. DeVos.

Superintendent/Principal K-12 schools for the Fairview Area Schools. Requirements include:  Master’s Degree in Education or related field, experience in school administration/staff management, and a proven track history of budget preparation, adjustments, and successful implementation of approved budget.  Applicant must possess excellent verbal and written skills, a firm understanding of a small school environment, and a strong record of high moral, ethical, and professional standards.

To apply for the Superintendent position at Williamston Community Schools in Michigan, candidates must possess the following background:

  • Experience as a teacher, building administrator, and/or Central Office administrator;
  • Master’s Degree plus Administrative Certification with evidence of on-going leadership training;
  • Accomplishments which reflect ability to enhance educational programs and increase student achievement;
  • Experience with Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS);
  • Deep understanding of curriculum and teaching methodologies;

And one more, cause three is better than two. The Allendale Public School District in Michigan publishes a candidate profile complete with required professional background: Master’s plus administrative certificate , Teaching and Administrative experience, Possesses a strong background in K‐12   education, previous Superintendent/Central   Office experience preferred , An instructional leader with previous success   improving achievement for all students,  Successful experience implementing   instructional technology, and experience in school construction preferred. 

Tune in for the final part of this series where we will put Mrs. DeVos’s experience and background under a microscope and make our final recommendation.

This Recruiter’s Perspective on DeVos: A Series

Posted in Human Resources, Public Policy, Radical HR, Recruiting, Talent Acquisition, Uncategorized by

Part I of III

By now, you have probably heard that Trump is POTUS and he has picked his cabinet nominees. Those nominees are now in various stages of confirmation hearings by the Senate. Shortly after the election, Trump nominated Elisabeth “Betsy” DeVos for Secretary of Education. And all hell broke loose- see here.

To try to be as fair and balanced as possible, I decided to look at this nomination from a recruiter’s perspective and to answer this very fundamental question, does Mrs. DeVos meet the minimum requirements for the position of Secretary of Education?  In this three- part series, I’m going to explore 1) the essential functions of the role, 2) the minimum requirements of the position and 3)the candidate’s qualifications and my recommendation.

So, if I’m going to declare myself a recruiter and also use this post to determine the qualifications of others, it behooves me to outline my own competencies so that you know I’m speaking from a place of experience and not relying on alternative facts.

I have 13 years of HR experience, and of those, about 11 of those years have been dedicated in whole or in part to recruiting responsibilities. I have sourced and recruited for staffing agencies and private industry, from entry-level manufacturing employees to skilled professionals and technicians to C-Suite Executives. Each role required a custom-designed sourcing and recruiting strategy to find the best talent available that met the skills, knowledge, abilities, general competencies and soft skills required  for successful execution of that position. My hiring recommendations have always been based on a detailed analysis of the position, it’s responsibilities, the skills and knowledge required of the position and the skills, knowledge and abilities of the candidate based on thorough and deliberate vetting process.

The Essential Functions of the Secretary of Education

There is no publicly available job description for Secretary of Education. After reading the Overview of the U.S. Department of Education, I was able to make some educated (no pun intended) guesses.

The Secretary of Education is required to:

  1. Manage a department that has over 4,000 local and remote employees.
  2. Manage a budget of approximately $50-$60 billion dollars.
  3. Manage a department that has over 200 separate programs.
  4. Establish policy, administer and coordinate Federal assistance to primary and secondary schools totalling over 150,000 schools with 55 million + students.
  5. Establish policy, administer and coordinate Federal loan, grant and work study programs for millions of undergraduate students.
  6. To advise the President and Congress on matters of education policy, programs and activities.
  7. Oversees education research to analyze data for trends that will identify effective teaching techniques and education best practices.
  8. Enforces Federal statutes that prohibit discrimination and adverse impact in education and to ensure equal access to educational opportunity for every individual.
  9. Promotes public understanding of the department’s mission, goals and objectives.
  10. Refrain from establishing schools, refrain from establishing curricula and refrains from setting enrollment or graduation requirements.

Now that we have set the foundation for what the Secretary of Education’s charge really is, stay tuned for my next post detailing the minimum requirements we can probably all agree would be reasonable for successful execution of this role.

 

 

Trump and the ACA

Posted in Benefits, Employee Relations, Public Policy, Radical HR, Wellness, Workplace by

Hold on to your hats people. All the stuff you learned to do to implement the ACA will be methodically undone. And that’s if we are to believe Trump’s campaign rhetoric. For some of you, okay most of you HR folk, this will be a blessing because we all know that implementing this hot mess of a thing was stressful.

To recap, all of this started in 2010 with the passage of Obamacare as our GOP friends have so endearingly referred to the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The very utopian goal of the ACA was to provide access to affordable and quality health care coverage to all Americans regardless of age, income or previous health conditions, reduce the number of uninsured Americans and reduce healthcare costs overall. And then congress got ahold of it and made the ACA’s actual mechanics more complex  and nebulous than the instructions of a shitty piece of Ikea furniture.

The ACA eliminated lifetime maximums, eliminated denials of health care coverage due to pre-existing conditions, put limits on annual out-of-pocket maximums, raised the age to 26 for covered dependents and mandated free, no-cost preventive health exams amongst other things. The Individual Mandate of the ACA requires individuals and their families, with some limited exceptions, to have minimal health coverage or incur a penalty. To further this agenda, the ACA’s Employer Mandate required companies of a certain size to offer comprehensive, affordable group health insurance to covered employees.

It’s no secret that the GOP hates Obamacare and decries it as a symptom of a socialist government. Republicans have alleged that the program would actually increase health costs and result in death panels, whereby government bureaucrats would actually decide the life or death fate of those considered uninsurable.  The GOP painted a picture of the ACA as the final nail in the coffin of small businesses in the U.S., another example of over-regulation of business and yet another obstacle to free enterprise.

And even when the GOP was too busy dragging their feet in protest to just about everything the Obama Administration attempted to do in the last 8 years, they pledged to find a sliver of time to offer an alternative plan to the ACA. But hence, it was not meant to be, as we sit here today, they have not presented their alternative. And that is why Trump is in a world of shit now trying to figure out how to dismantle this thing while somehow safeguarding the millions of Americans who are now insured on the health care exchanges made possible by the ACA.

 

Here is what I think.

Don’t hold your breath. This thing is gonna take a lot of time to figure out. What was built in the past 6 years can’t be undone in one year. Trump states he will repeal and replace Obamacare. With upwards of 20 million Americans in jeopardy of losing coverage with the repeal of the ACA, I think Trump would have to think twice about pulling the rug out from under that many people.

I think the individual mandate is dead. No longer will all Americans be required to have health insurance and no longer will individuals who opt-out have to pay penalties. I think this is likely to be one of the areas of the ACA that is repealed quickly. Thus no more 1095 administration.

I think the employer mandate is dead. However, many medium to larger size companies had comprehensive and affordable coverage long before the ACA as a means to attract employees. For those companies, this won’t cause much ripple. For smallish companies that did implement a health care plan- they will have to decide to keep it to remain competitive in job market that is employee-driven.

Trump and the GOP are going to introduce some sort of Health Savings Account whereby companies are either required or strongly encouraged to make contributions. Ultimately this looks like a stipend that employers give to their employees to buy health insurance. They are also going to allow coverage to be sold across state lines which theoretically increases options and decreases premium costs.

Based on Trump’s 100 day plan, what’s clear is how fast he will act to repeal Obamacare. What’s not clear is what he will replace it with. And if I’m reading between the lines, I don’t get the warm and fuzzies that affordable, comprehensive health care coverage for all Americans is even a priority for Trump.  And this is scary because I am confident that healthcare costs will continue to rise, that the sick will get sicker and proper coverage will be out of their reach. But for someone born with a silver spoon in his mouth, who probably has the privilege of a personal physician available to meet him in his gilded tour at the onset of tummy ache, health care coverage for all just wouldn’t even register as a thing.

 

If Trump Becomes President

Posted in HR Competencies, HR Policy, Public Policy, Workplace by

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The world of HR is inextricably linked to and highly influenced by politics in America. As the country and the world turn their attention to the outcome of the U.S. general election on November 8th (get out there and vote folks), HR practitioners also attempt to predict how the new presidential administration will create and shape policy that impacts the world of work for the next 4 years.

For funsies, let’s imagine Donald J. Trump is elected president, shall we. For this experiment, we’ll make several assumptions. 1) Assume Trump does everything outlined on his platform,  2)Assume he gets no push-back from things as trivial as the balance of powers- congress and courts and 3)Assume we don’t get blown up first by North Korea because Trump goes on a 3am Tweetstorm fat-shaming Kim Jong-un.

Headline: Trump creates 25 million new jobs. Based on the first presidential debate, I’m assuming Trump is speaking about the manufacturing jobs that were off-shored within the last few decades to countries like China and Mexico. So, the jobs he is talking about “creating” are not the knowledge-based, white-collar, high-paying jobs that prop up the middle class these are blue-collar, low-paying manual labor jobs. But don’t worry HR, these won’t be unionized jobs so no need to brush up on the National Labor Relations Act. Just dust off your work comp and OSHA knowledge.

Headline: Trump repeals Obamacare. Not only does Trump repeal Obamacare lifting HR from the burden of stupid 1095 administration, he also does not expand Medicare and probably relieves employers from the burden altogether of actually providing medical benefits to employees. Trump Industries subsequently announces the creation of a new business venture, health insurance.

Headline: Trump Administration Repeals FLSA Changes. Encouraging business and job growth by limiting Federal government regulations Trump eliminates the increase to the FLSA salary test and all other proposed changes thereby keeping all FLSA provisions as they were written in 1938. Further, Trump repeals the Federal Minimum Wage and leaves the States to determine their own minimum wage. Federal prevailing wages on government contracts are also eliminated.

Headline: Year 2020-Women Still Earn Less for Equal Work. Trump has laid out zero plans for closing the gender pay gap during his campaign. Given his convictions to allow businesses to run unfettered, the Trump Administration will not be using its executive powers to make sure that women and people of color earn the same as white males for equal effort, equal work. HR will continue to have to document pay disparities to prevent EEOC claims of discrimination.

Headline: Women Earn Less but Get Paid Maternity Leave. While Trump mostly favors de-regulation and repealing Federal Agency regulations and final rules, he does favor paid maternity leave. Trump will pass a bill requiring employers to provide 6-full weeks of paid maternity leave, a program that looks similar to the State of California’s already existing Paid Family Leave (PFL). And sorry men, you are excluded. HR must be ready to administer leave in conjunction with FMLA and other State paid leave laws.

Headline: Trump Nominates Putin as Replacement for Justice Scalia. Don’t say it’s not possible. You are also the same person who thought Trump would never, could never be the f-in Republican Nominee for President of these United States.

During the Obama Administration, HR has had to remain on the forefront of the ever-changing political landscape. HR has been on the frontline partnering with the business, educating leadership and ensuring complicity with new laws. We grumbled, we whined, we bitched through it all. But now, as an HR practitioner, I feel stronger and I feel like we made the workplace better for employees. It feels like it would be a shame to roll all of that back under a Trump Administration.