Mariah's World: Why Employers Need to Stop Hiring Unqualified Mollys?

Mariah's World: Why Employers Need to Stop Hiring Unqualified Mollys?
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Mariah’s manager Stella interviewing Molly.

Mariah’s manager Stella interviewing Molly.

TV Guide

If you’ve been tuning into Mariah’s World on E! like I have, you’ve probably frowned up at the cast of characters she calls her staff.

When it was revealed that this top selling artist would be filming a docuseries, I was excited to see her offer a sneak peek of her wedding plans, life as a mother and gain a glimpse of her infamous diva behavior. Instead, the docuseries has mostly showcased her relationships with her staff and an inside look at how they make the Mariah Carey brand come to life. The featured entourage includes a creative director who thinks it’s just as much as his show, a lovestruck backup dancer, a fiery manager and a ditsy tour assistant named Molly. This cast of characters is cringeworthy as they slowly ruin the magic that is MC with their internal drama, lack of punctuality and time zone knowledge. They are probably the reason why she ended 2016 with that nightmare of a Rockin’ Eve performance.

So how did this award winning artist find herself surrounded by employees like this, more specifically Molly? On the first episode of this docuseries, we were introduced to Molly when Mariah’s manager, Stella, interviewed and hired her for the tour. During the interview, Molly exuded unprofessionalism as she took her finger and rubbed her teeth while she was speaking with Stella. It was the first sign of the young girl’s downfall, but Stella hired her anyway with two mandates - don’t cry and don’t have a boyfriend. From then on it was clear that Molly was too young, inexperienced, socially awkward and delicate for the position. Why would you have someone like that working for a superstar? Leading up to episode four, “Mimi’s Anniversary” we watched Molly struggle to find her way while seeking bad advice from other members of the team, being unprepared and overthinking everything until she was eventually fired.

Molly represents the hundreds of employees who exude similar behavior and characteristics but somehow snag some of the most coveted jobs in the industry. How Sway? Qualified job candidates get overlooked and passed over every day for Mollys, but then employers are later disappointed in their hiring decisions. Stella probably picked Molly because she saw her as a push over and someone she could underpay for the lack of experience. Employers do that every day by hiring unqualified employees to save a buck, but it puts more work on the other staff members. It will take more time for the new employee to pick up the slack and take ownership of his or her work. That means more overworked grumpy employees and more over time that’s being paid out. It also builds a lack of confidence and trust between the staff and the new hire early on.

Another assumption for why Molly was hired is that she may have had a favor bestowed upon her. Nepotism is real. What other reason would Stella hire an assistant who had never worked with high-profile clients before? Molly must have had a relative or neighbor get her a spot on the queen’s tour or Stella knew she would make for good TV.

It’s cool to take chances and give people opportunities, but don’t overlook those who have put in the work. There are tour assistants who have experience working with other artists who would have been great assistants. There are people who may have never toured with an artist, but their management, concierge, and past entertainment experience would have proven more beneficial than what Molly brought to the table. I know people who would have learned how to hook up an Apple TV before leaving to go on tour. They would have practiced assembling the program to every TV model ever made and time themselves to have it working within minutes. It was clear that Molly would never incline herself to prepare for a tour in that way based off of the initial interview. That’s the type of work ethic and determination employers should be looking for but instead, companies continue to hire Mollys.

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