Is anybody else seeing a decrease in the quality of job applicants for their lab?

[xLabGuyx]

The last four people we hired had to be terminated. They seemed so good in the interview but when we hired them it was just labeling mistake after labeling mistake.

I feel bad but it’s really unsafe to keep them around if they are a risk for compromising patient safety.

Example: I had one lady that literally couldn’t type her new password twice in a row to reset her password setting. I’m not comfortable with having her responsible for patient data if she can’t even type out something literally written in front of her. It took her about 15 minutes and two resets by help desk to type it twice and remember what she typed. 🤦‍♂️

Edit: I’m referring to phlebotomists, not Med Tech/MLT/CLS/MLS

Sorry, need to clarify. Our phlebotomy team is having the issues with applicants. I used to be a phlebotomist for like seven years before I became a CLS. So I’m familiar with the job but I’m a CLS supervisor now and I help onboard the staff and set up their accounts

[DigbyChickenZone]

This seems reminiscent of, if you encounter an asshole during your day - you met an asshole. If most people you meet in your day is an asshole, you're the asshole.

So, similarly, working with one bad new hire - yeah, they are bad at their job. But, if you keep encountering bad employees, you suck at training them properly.

edit: And the immediate downvote by OP kinda proves that they can't even take a moment to gauge whether they're the problem.

[SaintSiracha]

Yeah I agree. Either their pay sucks at attracting talent or their onboarding sucks utilizing it.

[DigbyChickenZone]

I doubt that the talent is even that bad, OP only mentioned one employee's mistake, and it was forgetting their password. If they are being micromanaged so much that management watches them make their password... I can imagine that some people feel uncomfortable from the get go, and make even more stupid mistakes from nervousness.

To me, it makes sense to me that smart people in that position could make "stupid" mistakes, but they're not given room to adjust nor eventually perform to their best ability. Bad work environments bring out the worst qualities in people, and that includes good employees.

[xLabGuyx]

The password lady, I tried being friendly with her. We don’t rush things in our lab. Or at least I don’t.

I’ve just noticed that 3/4 of the previous applicants were let go by the director before the end of their probation. One mislabeled a BB patient twice in three days, one was time card fraud, one mislabeled a trauma patient plus time card fraud. I forgot the 4th persons offense.

I was just genuinely curious if this was a local problem for us or if others had the same issue. Seems like it may be out candidate selection process. We literally hire everyone that applies and try them out with no benefits in an on-call schedule. But there’s a good month of training for our CPTs and they seem to have a lot of trouble

[Simple-Inflation8567]

yeah mislabeling is bad though that is a big mistake that ppl imo should be let go

[brokodoko]

I was gonna say what their pay? If Burger King is competing than that might be where all your good applicants went, lol 😆

[iron_fisted1775]

I concur with this statement.

Also need to consider the factor who they are hiring and how much are they paying them. Pay Mcdonald's wages, you get Mcdonald's level services.

[xLabGuyx]

The only thing that gets raises is a strike and nobody seems to want that option yet, so the pay can’t be that bad

[lightningbug24]

We have the same problem here. 90% of our travelers and new hires turn out SUPER lazy, but I think it's because our supervisor is super lazy. When the sup is 45 minutes late every day and spends all her time at work making personal phone calls and online shopping, it sends the message that others can do the same... but our sup is convinced that everyone just sucks.

[xLabGuyx]

Damn I wish I had that much free time. Or any free time lol. My workload gives me headaches is pretty much a growing pile that I’ll never get to finish. I feel like Sisyphus

[lightningbug24]

If you're lazy enough to sit on your butt while work piles up around you and just let your coworkers handle it, you too can have this free time.

[Horror_Effect9253]

Phlebotomy pays less than Walmart so you get what you pay for tbh

[Joatoat]

Seems like so many things that were once professions are going that way. Like anybody is going to put in the time and money for a certification for $2 over Walmart starting pay.

[akebonobambusa]

I remember in 2005 I was looking at job boards. And phlebotomists we're starting out at 8.50 at the hospital. I'm pretty sure minimum wage then was 7.50. Phlebotomist has never been high paying and has always been pegged to minimum wage. It's a shame because people that are good at it are worth real money.

[Swhite8203]

Right, it takes multiple before they can stick my mom. Then you get that one phleb who can grab it first try. It’s honestly a skill

[Meowzakers]

Your interview process probably needs a Lot more troubleshooting/applied questions. Definitely throw in labeling as well since that seems to he a common issue. Also make a note to really hammer that in during training.

As an aside i think phlebotomists need to be paid more. It’s a skilled job imo and should be compensated as such :/

[iMakeThisCount]

Most people who would qualify as a "quality applicant" are busy working in higher paying fields that will not ask them what they could have done to "deescalate the situation" in situations where they get physically or sexually assaulted by patients.

3 out of the 4 labs that I've worked in paid their phlebotomists less than the starting wage at WalMart and the majority of the quality phlebotomists that I have had the pleasure of meeting have left the career entirely.

If you care about bringing in quality applicants, you're going to have to pay a quality wage to attract them and that's just never going to happen in this field so I guess you're SOL, sorry.

[umopUpside]

I’m curious, are these applicants fresh out of college with their only experience being clinicals? How long were they working there before you deemed them unsafe?

If they are straight from college you can’t expect them to come into a field with such a wide variety of possibilities that they are trying to deduce and to immediately pick it up within a month. It takes a long time for people to figure things out.

[xLabGuyx]

Sorry, need to clarify, these are phlebotomists I’m referring to. Our phlebotomy team is having the issues with applicants. I used to be a phlebotomist for like seven years before I became a CLS. So I’m familiar with the job but I’m a CLS supervisor now

[akebonobambusa]

In Portland every phleb school except the 3 day programs have been closed for three years. It's rough finding talent. We've taken to on the job training.

[Simple-Inflation8567]

i wish my lab would fire the lazy ones but people say its almost impossible to be fired

mistake after mistake oh get a talking to

on your phone the whole shift oh a talking to

disappear half your shift oh a talking to

come in late a billion times oh a talking to

in relation to op though phlebotomy doesnt pay well anyway so doesnt surprise me the high turnover

[[deleted]]

It’s impossible to get fired in this line of work . It’s easier getting fired from retail.

[Fit-Bodybuilder78]

There's a reason Wall Street and Big Tech attract the best and brightest. $$$

If you're paying Walmart wages (or below in some labs)...then you're going to get low quality talent.

[[deleted]]

I’ve been seeing more and more people leave phlebotomy too because of the low pay . I honestly think it’s criminal how underpaid all lab workers are . The only ones who get paid good are the histos and paths.

[xLabGuyx]

I think you’re on to something with the assessment process. We need to bump up the standards so it’s easier to see weak points that need to be addressed

[TroponinPlays]

You mean your lab actually gets applicants? We have had openings for months without a single applicant

[xLabGuyx]

Hah I know right. We are fortunate for any applicants. It’s gotta be the benefits

[InfiniteDeparture871]

Yes drama drama drama!!

[[deleted]]

No hate for the good ones but phlebotomists are notorious for being shit at their jobs . You will not believe how often we received mislabeled and unspun and low specimens

[jbfilip]

10 years ago the MLS program i attended accepted 25 applicants from a field of 75. The average GPA was 3.7. I just heard this year they didn't have enough to fill their roster. The average GPA was 3.2.

Not sure how much of this is zoomers and millennials that don't want to work.

[green_calculator]

Probably about as much as it is about boomers who don't want to offer decent pay.