Whatever your politics, it's increasingly difficult to stick a toe into the sea of Presidential primary season coverage without getting sucked out into the chattering undertow.  I'm pretty sure I can recite the implications of Obama's fluctuating #s with new voters, chapter and verse, and I'm hardly the neighborhood wonk.  (Though I suppose I've just magnified my own wonk-itude by actually using that word.  Nevertheless...)

As Nigel mentions in the entry below, we're currently looking to add apprentice-level house painters in preparation for the upcoming exterior season.  And while, yes, our search certainly has a happy temporal congruence to the primary season, I'm more interested in a deeper point of comparison between the two processes: namely, what might we at Catchlight learn about ourselves as we seek to bring new painters into the fold?

Indeed, if every customer interaction provides opportunity for growth, so too should every interaction with a potential employee--perhaps even more so, and walk with me here a little bit...In all that we do, we ask that our painters treat every customer as they would want to be treated.  How much more concrete that standard becomes when we as a company might simply ask our men to treat their customers as we treat them, and how much more easily and naturally that correlation might be made if we take care to treat every job inquiry and application with decency and respect.  The ideal: a roster of valued employees who routinely, happily score highest marks with customers.  The ideal result: a roster of valued repeat customers.

We've also asked our latest round of applicants to take a closer look at our website and, as part of their application, to comment on specific aspects of the site, under the caveat that we're not culling responses for testimonials but rather for the potentiality of a good fit between employee and employer.  Applicants with finishing experience might therefore be encouraged to take a closer look at our finish portfolio; applicants with demonstrable customer service experience might be encouraged to speak about how the site is structured from that perspective.  Again, the ideal end result is that the successful candidate or candidates begin their tenure here with a considered understanding of our service and their value to that end.  Just as importantly, we've deepened our own understanding of how we project and where we might redouble that effort.

As always, we welcome your thoughts and comments.

Justin Keane

Director of Operations