Two weeks of the NFL season are in the books.  Are you enjoying the slow-paced action as replacement refs try to figure out what is going on?   Difficulty spotting the ball, clock operation mishaps, and some basic misunderstanding of the rule book have made a typical fall Sunday afternoon somewhat less enjoyable....particularly if your team is on the losing end of a bad call.  I believe there is almost universal accord that the current replacement refs are not working.

But, a larger lesson to be drawn is that, perhaps, not all human resources are easily replaceable.  That a race to the bottom in terms of labor might not be the wise path to take.  Certainly the "scab" refs are cheaper than the refs that are striking, but they are also pretty bad.

So, I wonder how many of those who are disgusted with the incompetence being displayed by the replacements are still looking at Chicago and the teachers strike thinking, fire them and bring in someone new?  There are so many unemployed, and, hey, anyone can teach 3rd grade.

Be careful what you wish for.

Yesterday, the great Tim Sackett had a wonderful post on HR's role is primarily a sales position.  So, put on your sales hat and tell me how you would recruit in the following scenario:

You're the HR director for a school district in Wisconsin.  $834 million in cuts to education have been enacted by the state government.  Despite massive cuts to valued programs such as Advanced Placement, music, and art, as well as a significant number of teacher jobs eliminated, you somehow have to fill a teaching position under the following constraints:

• Wages are frozen, or tied to an increase in the Consumer Price Index
• Health benefits  (including dental) that were negotiated by taking a lower salary now require the hire to pay 12.6% of wages
• Pension benefits that were negotiated by taking a lower salary now require the hire to contribute an additional 5.8%
• Wellness incentive premiums are suspended
• Collective bargaining rights have been stripped away
• Rights regarding teaching hours are suspended
• Rights regarding non-teaching duties are suspended
• Grievance procedure rights are suspended
• Class sizes will be increased
• Older, more experienced educators that you might have counted on to serve as mentors and models for younger teachers to emulate, have either been laid off or have taken early retirement.  Emeritus programs have been reduced or eliminated
• Rights regarding assignment, transfer, and reassignment have been suspended. 
• The people you are trying to hire have been demonized by the state government and the press, as lazy and parasitic. 
• Seniority rules that might have encouraged hires to put in their time have been eliminated, meaning it is likely that you are likely going to have go through the search process again in the not too distant future
• Its frickin' cold in Wisconsin from mid-September until May.

So, how do you convince the best and brightest educators to not only come to your district, but stay?   How do you lure a competent teacher with two kids, ages 7 and 8, to come to a state where the schools in which they will enroll have undergone significant turmoil?  What's your value proposition?