catch-as-catch-canAt the end of an interview, a candidate asked me, “Can I ask you a fun question?” I responded with, “Sure!” The candidate then went on to ask me, “If you were stranded on a desert island, and you could only have 1 c.d. for your c.d. player, which one would it be?“ I said “Patsy Cline’s greatest hits.” “Awesome,” he sighed.
I began to ask myself about the point of his question. Through his question, what did he discover about the company culture? Nothing. What does he now know about the job? Nothing. What information does he now have that he didn’t before? None. So, why ask the question?
People are constantly asking me what questions I ask a candidate in an interview so I tell them. It is no secret. I want to know about your relationship with your past managers and co-workers, how you handle being overwhelmed, and how much research was done on the company for which they are interviewing. These questions all apply to the job. I do not ask about deserted islands, how many golf balls fill an airplane, or if you were a cheese, which one would it be, because those questions cannot be evaluated. Whether you consider yourself as blue cheese or swiss cheese does not help me determine if you can do the job that I am asking you to do and if you want to do the job that I am asking you to do. Questions related to Patsy Cline can come later after they have been hired.
And truth be told, I would actually not be listening to Patsy on that island. I would use the c.d. to reflect the sun to a passing airplane so that I could be rescued.
In a recent interview, we asked candidates some questions about project management. One candidate was talking about how their part of a project was completed when their bosses’ portion had not been finished. I said to the potential employee, “What would you do should this happen again?” and without missing a beat, he said “I’d chew her out. Just joking!”
After the interview was over, I said to my client “You know that we cannot hire that candidate based on that statement.”
The client responded, “But he was just joking, Beth.”
I replied, “Maybe so, but chewing out your boss? That’s not funny.”
In an interview, our job as hiring managers is to listen actively to the exact words of the candidate’s response. Remember, a job seeker will attempt to put their very best foot forward to impress a potential employer. If you listen to the actual language they are using within their finely tuned responses, you can identify personality traits and core values around work. Through this knowledge, you can identify how a person will fit into your culture, what type of management style they will thrive under and more. Therefore, if you are going to listen to the candidate’s “just joking” comment, then you also have to pay attention to the “chewing out” part.
When we are conducting interviews, we tend to listen to what we want to hear because we want to hire someone. We want the candidates to succeed and become our next new employee! And we are often willing to do whatever it takes to make the candidate ideal, including dismissing a comment like “just joking.”
We do not know what the candidate meant when he said that he was just joking. Maybe he was. But maybe he was not. Can you take that chance with a critical function like a new hire? If you do take that chance and he was not joking, do you want to work with an employee who will “chew you out?” While it may appear the language being used was positioned as a joke, hiring is no laughing matter.
I used to think I hated sushi. I thought “Who on earth would willingly put raw fish in their mouth, swallow and LIKE it?!?” I held strong to this belief until 1996, when a guy named Randy Smith asked me out on a date and took me to my first sushi restaurant. I had no idea how to order, what to do, how to eat and how to use chopsticks, so Randy showed me how. He ordered very mild fish, because he did not want to turn me off of sushi. He wrapped a rubber band around my chop sticks so that I could learn how to hold them, and he showed me how to mix the wasabi in with the soy sauce so that I didn’t destroy my nostrils.
That night changed my life. Not only did I begin a lifelong relationship with Randy Smith, but also with my love of sushi.
During this amazing night, I also realized I learned an important life lesson as well. The fact is, I could have learned about sushi on my own. I could have struggled with my chopsticks and put WAY too much wasabi in my soy, but I had a guide… someone to show me the ropes, so that my experience was so much more enhanced and the likelihood that I would actually like sushi was increased.
Now how does this apply to business? I realized early in my professional career that I could teach myself certain skills and muddle through all of the mistakes that come from learning a new ability. But I also realized that there are times when it is better to have a guide, a professional who can lead me through learning a new skill set, increasing the likelihood I would both like the activity and my effectiveness when executing it. At A-list Interviews, I am your guide in interviewing for new employees. Can you do it yourself? Yes. Should you? Sometimes. But having someone in your corner with an objective opinion acting on your behalf and showing you the way will definitely enhance your experience. Hire all you want, when you want, but hire an expert to help. You deserve it!
Over Christmas my beloved grandmother sent us a 750 piece puzzle with a picture of puppies with different color bows and colorful wrapped presents in the background. Randy, Katy and I gathered around the coffee table and seriously didn’t get up for 3 straight days. We began with the outline of the puzzle, filled in the colorful gifts, the bows, and finally the puppies who were all tan. It was so satisfying when we were finished with it!
Completing a puzzle is like completing the interview process. You begin with an outline of what you are looking for, and as you interview more and more people the picture of your very best fit begins to fill in the middle. There are times that you get frustrated. There are times that you get a string of pieces that all fit in at once, and you are so proud! There are times that you look at the same piece a 1000 times before you actually are able to put it where it belongs. Overall, at the end of the interview process, you should feel like you won the lottery, not like you finished the puzzle but piece number 750 is missing.
The journey of putting your puzzle together is fraught with detours, bumps and bruises and in the end, it is so completely satisfying when it all comes together. This feeling is precisely why I do every day what I do. I LOVE it!!!
Last year during the World Series of Poker, there was a gentleman who made it to the final table and was the first person to lose. He came in 9th place. This year the same gentleman made it to the final table where he tweeted to his network “Not going to get 9th place again.” Guess what happened? He got 9th place again. By the way, the chances of a person getting 9th 2 years in a row at the World Series of Poker is 1 in 42 million.
Many of my clients will call me and say that they aren’t getting the right candidates to the table. I ask them to tell me what their job ad says. I am always a little taken aback by the negative language that people use, like “If you can’t be on time, don’t apply.” I guarantee that when candidates read that line, they see “if you can’t be on time, APPLY.” And they do!
If you truly want to transform the candidate pool, change your language, starting with the job ad. Begin by asking for what you want, not what you don’t. Then share your mission statement and talk about WHY you are in the business you are in. Simon Sinek wrote a book and shared a TED talk called Start With Why that describes fierce loyalty and invested interest when people understand why you do business. Write about the people that you help and how the position will impact them. Describe the position and how it will contribute to the organization, your staff and your clients. If you want to win the game of staffing, then ask for the A-list candidates that you desire and leave 9th place in the dust! I’m ALL IN! Are you?
At the end of an interview, a candidate asked me, “Can I ask you a fun question?” I responded with, “Sure!” The candidate then went on to ask me, “If you were stranded on a desert island, and you could only have 1 c.d. for your c.d. player, which one would it be?“ I said “Patsy Cline’s greatest hits.” “Awesome,” he sighed.
