Binders save time

Commentary:

(MoneyWatch) I've watched, with some amusement, the dust-up over Gov. Mitt Romney's now famous description of his hiring habits during the second presidential debate. While staffing up his administration in Massachusetts, he made use of "binders full of women" -- their resumes, that is -- provided by women's groups. The goal was to have a diverse group of qualified candidates to pick from, which seems to have worked (though the binders themselves quickly became an internet meme).

Whatever you think of Romney and his sometimes inelegantly stated views of the universe, the binder method has one thing going for it: It is an efficient way to find lots of people quickly. The most time-consuming part of hiring is putting out a huge casting call, and then screening out people who aren't actually qualified. Having a few pre-screened lists of recommended people, put together by people who've thought about the available jobs, turns the whole process into something much less fraught. Everyone on the list -- or in the binder, as the case may be -- has a high chance of working out. Knowing this, you can be much more relaxed and think about what's really important to you.

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Policy makers often use this method (remember the controversy over the Heritage Foundation's sending over resumes -- possibly in binders! -- to the new George W. Bush administration in 2000?). But companies that are too small to use recruiters, but are scaling up fast, could ponder who they might turn to for binders of resumes. Industry groups? Local universities? It may beat a more scatter-shot approach.

Listening to the clip, I realized that I've used something similar to the binder method when trying to drum up long lists of people to interview for book projects. I tend to need people who fit certain descriptions (they use their mornings well, for instance), but I don't want to just use my personal acquaintances. I'd like a more diverse group of folks. So I ask people that I know are well-connected and thoughtful to give me lists of people they think would work. Inevitably, these folks turn out to be great interviews. Once you're in the binder, you're golden.

Have you ever asked for binders of candidates?

[HackeyDad]

I'd guess Obama has never seen a resume, he wouldn't know they are gathered together in a "........" Take your pick, a stack of resumes, a pile of resumes, a box of resumes, a folder of resumes, a case of resumes or a binder of resumes, whatever.

[AccountantCO]

Facts: Mitt Romney started his company with a few friends with money to invest. They just happened to be men.

When he went into government, I doubt that his investor friends or colleagues had government experience or the desire to leave a lucrative job making lots of money just to move into poltics, so he went to sources to look for the people he needed.

As an woman accountant suffering under the Obama Administration's lack of focus on Jobs, Jobs, Jobs (as promised), please please, put my resume in some hiring executive's binder. I will even pay for the binder. I had a good position at a company during the Bush Administration, but the Obama policies destroyed that within 6 months.

The salaries paid to his cabinet members were set by the MA legislature so blame them if the women's salaries did not equal the men's, which they probably did. Have you ever heard of Government Pay Grades? They are assigned before the job is even opened.

[marc2111]

And now the game : http://www.romneybindersgame.com/ ! lol

[ImmaCommenter]

There are several issues with regards to the binders & what they represent.

1) He dodged the question.

2) Fact checking shows that there were no women in high level positions at the time Romney was "with" Bain.

3) He lied & said they sought them out, when facts show women's group approached him with them.

He's a liar who will change his position or say anything to win so he can cross "be US President" off his bucket list.

[ImmaCommenter]

There are several issues with regards to the binders & what they represent.

1) He dodged the question.

2) Fact checking shows that there were no women in high level positions at the time Romney was "with" Bain.

3) He lied & said they sought them out, when facts show women's group approached him with them.

He's a liar who will change his position or say anything to win so he can cross "be US President" off his bucket list.

[politicarl]

Binders are still very useful despite what technological elitists might claim, so there's nothing wrong with using binders. It is wrong, however, to fabricate a story to sell one's self deceitfully.

"While Romney did get a binder listing qualified female candidates after being elected governor in 2003, reporter David S. Bernstein said, it was assembled not by his staff, but by a coalition of groups led by the bipartisan Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus, which started collecting the information in 2002 as part of the Massachusetts Government Appointments Project (MassGAP)."

Report: Romney's 'binders full of women' story not true

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/17/report-romneys-binders-full-of-women-story-not-true/?utm_source=Raw+Story+Daily+Update&utm_campaign=9cc052b50b-10_17_1210_17_2012&utm_medium=email

[JoHaca]

Its also worth noting that his base point (that he noticed a lack of female applicants to his cabinet and asked his staff to go find him qualified females) was apparently a lie.

"Massachusetts Government Appointments Project, or MassGAP, that had formed in August 2002 to address the shortage of women in high-ranking government positions. The coalition had started assembling groups of applicants, reaching out to women's organizations around the state to present potential hires to whoever won the election.

'We contacted both candidates before the final election,' said Liz Levin, who was chairman of MassGAP until 2010. "

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2012/10/17/how-mitt-romney-had-whole-binders-women-for-staff-positions-governor/Fyb4PQrpegAYzSTJd1d8iK/story.html

[AccountantCO]

But isn't that what he said was done when he started to fill the cabinet positions? He reached out to women's organizations? I very much doubt any new governor has the time to make telephone calls to women's groups himself.

Your organization provided pages for the binders. Thank you, all women appreciate your efforts. And Mitt Romney supported your efforts also.

Whey is this an issue?

[tbkelly]

Really?

Here you have a newly elected Governor who is credited with hiring the highest percentage of women in high level jobs out of any state in the country, and you quibble with whether he approached women's groups for qualified candidates or they approached him? If you care about gender equality in the work force, why wouldn't you applaud his efforts? He wasn't obligated to hire anyone, and yet he not only hired tons of qualified women for high ranking positions, he hired more than any other governor in the country on a percentage basis? Instead of noting and applauding this record, you want to call him a "liar", even when you have no idea if there were other groups (beside MAPAC) that he approached.

I just don't get the hate. He did something you like, hiring women to high level positions, and you can't give him credit for it?

[Preponderance]

Exactly!

[Paris_Firecrotch]

The person who wrote this has got to be a slow adult, right? Can anyone tell me if Laura Vanderkam is legally retarded? If so she gets a pass for this.

[justamaz]

Liberals can't talk about the economy or even bring up Libya, so why not pretend that "binders" is a gaffe. Obama's base will fall for it, but everyone else is laughing at the media, just as they did for Big bird. Journalism has been hijacked.