Ah, the thrill of starting a new job.
You’ve finally left behind the boss who can never be pleased, the nosy receptionist who thinks gossip is part of her job description, the 20-something colleague who habitually drops words—Bebo, Zooppa, Vimeo—that sound like street drugs to you, but mysteriously manage to elicit oohs and aahs from the higher-ups.
This first day will be easy. Filling out paperwork: name, address, next of kin in case of death, number of exemptions claimed for taxes, blah, blah, blah. Here’s the bathroom, here’s the candy machine, here’s the office of the CEO who’s out playing golf right now.
Then begin the first 60 days, when expectations are low because you’re still, you know, “learning your way around.” The tiniest accomplishment impresses your supervisor, as if his newborn babe had uttered a first word, and it was “profit.” Sure, your employment during this time is “probationary,” but short of being AWOL for a day or screaming obscenities at the firm’s highest-paying customer, it’ll be a breeze.
Yeah, right.
These days—particularly with a glut of prospective hires on the market—company expectations are perhaps higher than ever. Whether you’re aiming for Hooters or Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, the screening process can mean multiple interviews and even surreptitious behavioral tests. Orientation might take weeks. And then there’s the training. Raising Cane’s devotes eight pages in its manual solely to the art of making Texas toast.
Still think you have the right stuff to earn a living just about anywhere? Here’s a glimpse into some unique expectations and acclimations at a handful of Baton Rouge companies, from the family firm to the Fortune 500.
Hooters
If you think it takes little more than blonde hair and a certain well-endowed portion of the anatomy to work here, well, you’d be wrong.
As it turns out, it takes a whole lot more to be “delightfully tacky, yet unrefined,” as the restaurant famous for, uh, its hot wings depicts itself.
It’s no secret the “nearly world famous” Hooters Girls are the cornerstone of the company. Hooters proudly admits that it uses sex appeal to hawk cheese sticks and fried pickles, and Hooters Girls must sign a statement on sexual harassment acknowledging that.
“The element of female sex appeal is prevalent in the restaurants,” reads the official company history on Hooters.com, “and the company believes the Hooters Girl is as socially acceptable as a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader, Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, or a Radio City Rockette.”
So just what does it take to be a Hooters Girl?
“We look for the All-American Cheerleader/Surfer-Girl-Next-Door image to fill our restaurants,” company recruiting materials say. “In other words … very bubbly, outgoing personalities!”
Even if you’ve never set foot in Hooters, you probably knew those little orange shorts and white tank top, socks and tennis shoes constitute the uniform. But were you aware that suntan pantyhose, bras and a smile also are required? That neither your belly nor your booty can be showing? That clumpy mascara is a no-no, and that lipstick must be refreshed throughout the day? That you can never, ever, ever come to work with wet hair? And that undyed roots and unnatural highlights are against company policy?
There’s another reason Hooters Girls must be perpetually camera-ready. Their job requirements include promotional and charitable appearances in the community at a moment’s notice. Like donating their torn pantyhose to help clean up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill [they were stuffed with hair and other absorbent materials to make booms], and participating in Hooters 4 Haiti to feed the hungry.
For those aspiring to move up the corporate ladder, there’s MIT [that’s “manager in training,” not Massachusetts Institute of Technology], and Hooters University.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana
“Tell me about a recent situation in which you had to deal with a very upset customer.” “Describe a time when you set your sights too high or too low.”
Questions asked during a job interview aren’t as innocuous as they might seem. It’s what’s known as behavioral interviewing, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield uses the technique to figure out whether you’re going to fit in.
Exactly what are they looking for?
First, you have to be willing to treat customers with respect, says Kim Kochurka, director of the Blue Cross Learning Institute. Patients, doctors, hospitals—they’re all calling with their own monstrous problems that have to be solved. There’s no “I was just having a bad day” here.
You also have to understand the very complex, confusing and endlessly changing world of health care, even if all you do is answer the phone. How else are you going to know where to transfer the guy with blepharospasm who wants to know if his HMO will cover the botulinum toxin injections and magnesium chloride supplements?
Since health care is a highly regulated industry, and someone’s always watching over your shoulder, you also have to be willing to do the right thing at the right time for the right reason.
And you absolutely, positively have to know how to keep a secret, because no matter how much you might like to gossip about your councilman’s colitis, his medical records—and everybody else’s—are protected by law.
“What’s unique about us is the many compliance rules we have to follow, especially when it comes to privacy and security,” Kochurka says. “There’s a reason: It’s a highly regulated industry, so adherence is critical to your success as an employee, because we can’t compromise on those types of issues.”
Kleinpeter Farms Dairy
If you’re a chair-slouching sloppy dresser with a dead-fish handshake, don’t come knocking at Kleinpeter Farms Dairy.
But experience isn’t necessary.
Whether he’s scouting for gallon fillers, dairy farmers or delivery drivers, President Jeff Kleinpeter simply wants to find eagerness and a willingness to learn.
“It’s so obvious when you meet somebody for an interview, and they’re slouching over in their chair with their shirt hanging out and they have that dead-fish feeling in their handshake that they’re not going to make a good team member,” he says. “Nobody has to walk in in a three-piece suit, but I do want to see a little bit of excitement about the job.”
Training, of course, depends on the post. Dairy farm workers have to become versed in American Humane Society animal treatment requirements. Processing plant workers have to learn about chemical safety. Drivers must know hand-held technology as well as safe vehicle operation, like backing up as little as possible.
But, oh, the benefits once you do make the payroll.
Before Kleinpeter introduces a new ice cream flavor, everybody in the company comes to the “tasting window” to give their opinions. And every Friday, when the company cuts open eight tubs of ice cream for a quality-control count of fruit, nuts and other solid ingredients, everybody has all the ice cream they can eat.
Object 9
No drama.
That’s Rule No. 1 for working at Object 9, an award-winning creative marketing agency whose clients include Red Stripe Beer, Baton Rouge Area Chamber and Intercontinental Hotel Group.
“The work that comes out of here is very much a team effort; everybody brings something to the table,” managing partner Jon Cato says. “We can’t be up here working in the wee hours of the night together if we have a bunch of high-school stuff going on. If you’ve got drama, you’re not working here.”
Some of the other job requirements: eating lots of cake, following the Half-Cookie Rule [nobody wants the other half, so don’t even think about leaving it] and a willingness to contribute to any just-for-fun creative exercises that might be posted on the dry-erase board. The current one: Name an everyday word that sounds really gross.
It also helps if you like to play kickball, since the company has empty lots next door that make a terrific practice field at lunch.
And the first time you do something embarrassing, know that you’ll earn yourself a nickname that ensures the event lives on in infamy, like Jenner Jenner Chicken Dinner, Triscuit or Andy Boy.
Ferrara Fire Apparatus
No matter what job you do at Ferrara, you absolutely must know how to properly use a tape measure.
So be prepared to take The Test.
That’s because there are a lot of pieces and parts that have to be cut and assembled for these precision fire-fighting vehicles that are sold all over the world, Human Resources Director Craig Ledoux says.
Competition for jobs here is stiff. A recent advertisement for an electrician on the company sign in front of the Holden facility elicited 100 applicants in just four days.
If you’re a mechanic, you’d better like purple. Once you’re hired, all 400 employees are dressed in color-coded work shirts to easily distinguish their profession in the factory. Sheet metal workers wear gray; plumbers, brown; trim techs, green; and so forth.
And you can’t be shy about having an audience when you’re working: Ferrara invites its customers, whether they’re from China or Chile, to come watch their vehicles being built.
Community Coffee
Ever gone into the break room to pour yourself a cup of Joe and wondered what went horribly wrong with the recipe?
Here’s one workplace where that probably never happens.
Part of your training at Community Coffee—whether you’re someone’s personal assistant or loading boxes on the delivery trucks—is learning how to make a proper cup of coffee. And that includes sampling poorly made coffee.
It’s called “My First Cup.”
“We teach them all about the quality of our coffee, but we also teach them how to brew a great cup of coffee and what coffee maker to use,” Chief Financial Officer Annette Vaccaro says. “We teach them the gold standard of coffee brewing, and everybody gets to go through it.”
The Shaw Group
If you go to work for The Shaw Group, say good-bye to those free lunches, football tickets or wine baskets you might be accustomed to getting from salespeople or colleagues.
And you may be prohibited from starting that side business to make extra money.
As a firm that butters a generous helping of its bread with government contracts, Shaw has a strictly enforced code of conduct.
What that means, says Khanh Bui, staffing manager for the E&I Division, is that a compliance officer has to pre-approve any gifts or free lunches, and that side business could be considered a conflict of interest.
The work environment is strict in other ways, too. Records of time spent on any particular project must be meticulous, and health and safety requirements must be followed to the letter. Any violations of procedure mean getting sent home for the day.
Newbies must become acclimated to those expectations through an orientation program called Neo.
“We have to follow those rules and processes,” Bui says, “because those are our customers’ rules and processes.”
Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers
Don’t expect to walk into a Raising Cane’s restaurant, fill out a quick application and start work the next day.
Crew members are generally interviewed two or three times, by different members of the management team, before they take their place. It isn’t experience they’re looking for. It’s respect for others: what’s known as Cane’s Love.
“Orientation really begins before they’re hired,” says Clint Penfield, director of the restaurant’s Baton Rouge operations. “Our interview process is very long. They get to know a lot about the organization before they’re even hired.”
After that, you spend 10 or 15 shifts in training, 40 if you’re going for a management position. Looking for work in the support office at Raising Cane’s? Doesn’t matter.
You still have to work on one of its restaurants for two weeks, learning the finer points of chicken fingers, crinkle fries, Cane’s sauce, Texas toast and cole slaw.
The benefits are unique as well. Unlike other fast-food chains, Cane’s closes its restaurants for major holidays, as well as crew-member appreciation days, a spring picnic and a Christmas party that includes employee friends and family.
