The correlation between marriage and employment

While seeking to fill up the staff gaps in my department early last year, I was awakened to the memories of the emotional and logical challenges I went through in my quest for a marriage partner. I had a clear mental picture of the woman I wanted. While it is true that the ratio of women in Uganda almost triples that of men, how would I tell that indeed she was the one when I found her?
Likewise, employers pass through the same challenges while seeking employees. While there is oversupply of labour, the challenge is finding and contracting the right talent.
I (and most employers) need similar qualities in our employees to the ones I wanted in a wife. Which inclide:

Values
The idea of getting married to a thief who will not only rob you of your valuables in the house but will also terrorise the neighbours, an egomaniac who will burst out at you in public, a liar whose word you can never trust, an impatient person who is controlled by instant gratification, a lazy dishonest person, name it, always terrified me whenever I thought of committing the rest of my life to a person.
Likewise, an employer needs to be sure that the person they are hiring has good values such as integrity, honesty, patience, transparency and diligence. The kind of person the employer can entrust with the company’s resources without worry.

Cognitive capabilities
There is nothing as pleasing as keeping oneself in the company of a very attractive partner. It can be so ecstatic. You feel like the conqueror who owns the Oil Region. While it is good to surround yourself with beauty, to what end can this take you if the person has no brain power? I do not want to use words like dense. I may otherwise be misconstrued as rude. Have you ever dated an intelligent person? If you have, then you know the true meaning of value for money.
In the same breath an employer will seek to find a person with good cognitive abilities, has good ideas and can hold a logical conversation and challenge the status quo.

Background
Just imagine one morning you wake up with a missing arm. Another morning you find your leg missing. All being consumed by your beloved. You will definitely get out of that home faster than you can believe. The experience will make you regret why you never did a background check on your spouse.
Banks commonly use the Credit Reference Bureau to find out a client’s credit history before issuing them a loan. If the history is dirty, that is where the engagements end and a “regret notice” is delivered.
Likewise, employers do a background check before hiring employees to be sure they are bringing reputable people on board.

Enterprising
Marrying a “taker” causes such immense financial, emotional, psychological and physical stress. Takers are people who have little or nothing to offer in a relationship. Some people call them layers. Their hands are too soft to venture into income generating activities. The only things their hands are fashioned for is to receive gifts and handouts from the spouse. They have no clue how food gets to the table.
Similarly, an employer will seek to contract an enterprising, innovative person who will think outside the box to cause positive change that will give an organisation financial sustainability.
Such an employee will always hunt and fend for the company and bring to the table (balance sheet) food (revenue) to eat. They will exploit all opportunities in the interest of the organisation and the organisation’s success will be their own. In this capitalism, while organizations talk about cost management, families talk about cost sharing. An enterprising person is the only solution to financial challenges. If you read the Bible, a proper definition of a noble partner in Ephesians 5 will give you a spiritual insight into the person employers and partners are seeking.

Mr Kasasa is the head of business banking at dfcu bank.