by Beth | Feb 22, 2023 | Interview Process
Last week, I was having dinner with a friend, and we were discussing how hard it was to meet new people. I turned to my friend, and I said, “It’s funny: I spend 5-7 hours a week in the gym, and I don’t know anyone there.”
She said, alarmed, “WHY?”
I said, “I think it’s because I wear headphones.”
“Well, take those headphones off!” she said.
Take your headphones off. What a concept. And this applies to recruiting, also. We put up so many roadblocks for applicants to even apply for a job and then complain that our applicant pool is so low. We keep doing what we’ve always done and expect different results.
Take your headphones off and look at your application process from a potential candidate’s point of view. Do they have to retype their whole resume into your applicant tracking system? Do they have to copy and paste their references in 3 different places? Are you making them jump through insane hoops to even be considered for the job? Are you using Artificial Intelligence to interview your candidates? Are your candidates not even talking to a real person for weeks in the hiring process?
If you want to change the quality of your candidates, maybe it is time for an audit of your hiring process. Take your headphones off and encourage people to talk to you. I am so happy to report that I have made some really great friends and connections at the gym, simply because I allowed myself to be available.
POWER THOUGHT: Take off your headphones and open the door to new opportunities. You never know who you may meet!
by Beth | Dec 14, 2022 | Employee Hiring, Interview Process, Interview Techniques, Selecting Good Candidates
Over the Thanksgiving holiday a few years ago, my daughter and I were listening to the radio. A song came on that we both love. I began belting out the tune at the top of my lungs and sang along to the chorus of the Zac Brown Band song. I sang “Long Gone” along in perfect pitch (to me at least). My kid laughed uproariously. “MOM”, she yelled, “Those aren’t the words!” I said, “Yes they are!” She giggled “No, really. It’s not ‘Long Gone’. It’s ‘Home Grown’!” She had to Google it for me to believe her.
This misunderstanding happens in interviews for new employees all the time. Someone on the interview team will recount what the candidate said and someone else will have heard the words from the person completely differently. The very first step in the analysis of an interview for the hiring team is to agree to what the candidate actually said. The candidate’s choice of words that they used are very important. For example, “My boss is really great to work with”. Did they really say “with”? Are you sure they didn’t say “My boss is really great to work ‘for’”? That simple word changes the entire meaning of the sentence as well as the intent of the comment. The word “with” denotes that the candidate doesn’t acknowledge their bosses’ authority, and if they don’t acknowledge it in the interview, they really won’t when they have direct deposit.
I talk about listening to the exact words all the time to my clients to ensure they get to hire someone who will fit with the company culture, leadership style and even the position itself. If you are not paying attention, you can miss something important in an interview which can lead to a bad hire. You can also really embarrass yourself in front of your beloved daughter.
POWER THOUGHT: Did you really hear what you thought you heard?
by Beth | Mar 11, 2020 | Employee Hiring, Interview Process, Interview Techniques
There is so much pressure in a job interview: the employer wants to fill a position, and the potential
employee wants a job! Because of this high intensity, people are prone to saying the oddest things. If
you are the person doing the hiring, how do you objectively evaluate the potential candidate to
determine if nerves are at play, or if there is truly an issue worth examining?
Take this example from an actual interview: “I am an alcoholic. I mean, workaholic.”
Many people doing the hiring would assume the candidate was joking and ignore a comment like this;
perhaps even chalk it up to interview nerves. Some people would laugh it off and maybe follow up with
something like, “Ha! Ha! I am TOO! Workaholic, I mean!” (wink, wink, nudge nudge).
In this particular interview, however, the Freudian slip coupled with additional red flags in this interview
gave my client pause. The candidate’s speech was slurred, they complained about their past boss having
an alcohol problem, and they also pointed out that their counterpart was fired for drinking on the job.
So how do you evaluate a candidate like this one?
If all evidence is telling you it wasn’t a Freudian slip, think about the potential risk this person brings to
you and your company. There is a theme in this interview that has nothing to do with the job at hand, so
it likely isn’t just a slip, or nerves talking. At the end of the day, your gut knows best, and moving along
to the next candidate is probably the wisest course of action.
by Beth | Feb 26, 2020 | Employee Hiring, Interview Process, Recruiting
My daughter Katy is in her second semester of her freshmen year at the University of Miami, and recently she decided to go through rush for a sorority. Each sorority had a sales pitch, goodie bags and t-shirts to offer, in addition to scholarship and job opportunities during and after college. After a full week of parties, get-togethers, meetings at all hours of the day and night, and inspiring speeches, she called me on the verge of tears. “Mom, I just wish I had some answers!”
It got me thinking – the same goes for candidates. You can offer people big salaries, benefits galore, pool tables and dry-cleaning services, but all of that is meaningless if they don’t get a solid, meaningful job offer. What candidates really want are answers. Timely, relevant, definitive answers. After all, they are making a decision that will affect their life significantly.
Case in point: Last week a candidate called me to say thank you. He said the A-list Interviews process was the most transparent and informative job-seeking process he had ever been through. “Just knowing when I would have an answer really reduced my stress, and I just wanted to say thank you for communicating with me clearly through a very difficult time.”
This voicemail came AFTER we chose a different candidate for the position he was seeking.
If you want to attract and retain great employees, start treating them well from the very instant they send you a resume. Communicate when they will have answers and meet those deadlines. Treating people like people goes a long way; it gives them positive feeling, and a sense they will be treated well as an employee too.
As for my kid? She pledged AD Phi and couldn’t be happier.
by Beth | Oct 16, 2019 | Employee Hiring, Hiring Managers, Interview Process, Interview Techniques, Interviewing Questions
I have a client who asks candidates this question: “If you were a type of cheese, which would it be?” The question makes people laugh and we have had some pretty clever responses. “Pepper Jack: I’m spicy!” and “Any one of them except blue cheese, because that one stinks!” are among a few of the responses I’ve heard so far.
For a cheese maker, a chef and perhaps a dairy farmer, this question might be appropriate. Perhaps even a marketing position could warrant this question as you might be measuring a person’s creativity.
However for most industries and positions, the information you are getting by asking that question is like just like Swiss cheese – full of holes. How does a description of cheese really evaluate the candidate’s qualities, passion for their work and integrity? Would you eliminate them from your candidate pool if they described themselves as Velveeta?
Focus on asking measurable questions in your interview and truly listen to your candidates. It is really the best way to get the relevant information that you need. Anything else is, well… cheesy!
by Beth | Apr 25, 2019 | Adventures in Interviewing, Interview Process
I am currently interviewing for a Vice President in an up and coming technology company. We recently flew in a promising candidate in order to discuss the position further. When asked to describe the best job he had ever had, he said, “I was a hot dog vendor in the red-light district, and I got to hang out with the ladies of evening.” Then he laughed.
This candidate checked off all of our other boxes: he had held the position before in another growing tech firm, he had the leadership skills that we wanted, and he was eager to get started, but this comment stopped us in our tracks.
As we discussed the candidate after the interview, one member of the interview team said that the candidate was “just joking” and we shouldn’t hold that comment against him.
But what if he wasn’t joking? There is a really big potential risk to take on when a candidate alludes to sex in an interview.
The bottom line is this: referring to and/or alluding to sex in a professional interview is completely inappropriate, no matter what the company, the product, the experience or the position. Whether this candidate meant to or not, you as the employer can’t under any circumstances take on that risk. It puts all of your other employees in a terrible position should this candidate not limit his inappropriateness to the interview process.
In other words, we can’t assume that he was joking. Next!
