To paraphrase the quote often attributed to Willie Sutton -- Why do we
go into these awful places and carry heavy boxes when we're supposed to
be "managers", well, "because that's where the records are."

I think there are certain physical attributes that records managers
have to have at various times in this job. You're going to touch some
icky, smelly things in some places. You're going to climb the
occasional ladder. You're going to be in an attic or a basement. Why?
Because that's where people sometimes put their records when we're
brought in to make things right. 

If the job says that you're going to make boxes, index folders and
order records from offsite, then, while we shouldn't ever NOT do those
things, it should not be a primary part of our job, except in the
smallest organizations.

I'm oftentimes referred to as "the most expensive box maker in the
organization". And I remind myself of that often. If I find myself
building boxes and putting bar codes on files, I always ask "why?".
Sometimes it just has to be done in order to meet a client requirement
or a deadline -- when it is all hands on deck. But if I were to find
myself doing that on a regular basis -- and taking away from higher
value tasks -- then I shouldn't be doing that.

And that is the key point. When you are hired for a job, you're told
what is expected of you. Sometimes you evolve into higher value tasks
over time; sometimes the expectations are very clear from day one. If
your management expects you to be doing certain things at a certain
level, you shouldn't be spending your time on lesser tasks. If your
compensation is at a certain level, you also have to factor in what the
cost is for you to do a task rather than a lower priced person or a
person that you bring in as a temp. At the end of the day, a manager
makes those judgments -- what is the best way to use our resources? 

With regard to putting the salary range out there for a job, I would
suggest that it would make the filtering process better for us all. I
don't want to waste a recruiter's time and they don't want to waste
mine. But many organizations work from the premise that if they show a
salary range of X to Y, there will be a surprising number of people who
are currently paid at just less than Y who apply for the position. On
the other hand, if they omit the salary range and screen candidates for
their preferred range, they will likely find qualified candidates who
are closer to X or even below X, thus saving the company money. The
balance to the process is that the recruiter will likely spend a lot of
time screening out people who are expecting to be paid more than Y who
apply for the job.



Patrick Cunningham, CRM
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"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

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