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Lateral Wiggle

Lateral Wiggle

buy cheap accutane uk by | Mar 13, 2024 | Employee Hiring

http://shanghaikiteboarding.com/community/0789155305-hager-werken-white-and-pink-embalming-powder-on-sale-in-south-africa-getin-molepololewed-nov-24-2021-082526-gmt0200-south-africa-standard-time-in-parys/ A few weeks ago, I was meeting with my Indeed team and my A-list Interviews team over an ad that I had posted. It wasn’t getting much traction. And if you know me at all, you know that I review traction on ads as closely as my financial advisor looks at stock reports. 

It can make or break my whole day. 

Anyhoo, this particular ad was giving me heartburn, until one of my people said, “We need to figure out the Lateral Wiggle.” 

Huh? 

“Lateral wiggle.” In other words, what are the surrounding skill sets that can substitute for the ones you want? For example, Google sheets and Excel. Not quite the same but close. For my lenders, I have a bank that just hired a lender with no banking experience, but she came from many years with Enterprise. Lateral wiggle. For my Customer Service Reps, any experience with Starbucks, Chipotle, or Chick fil-A. They have the best customer service training programs that I have ever seen. 

Approximately 50% of information on a resume is either exaggerated or an outright lie, so resumes are already suspect at best. When you are struggling to find the right fit, broaden your scope with lateral wiggle and a solid interview process, and wiggle your way into an amazing new employee! 

 

POWER THOUGHT: Can’t find your great fit? Maybe it is time to wiggle.

Cool Your Jets

Cool Your Jets

My interview team and I had an amazing first interview a few months back. We were all talking about how great it went, when my client, the CEO, says, “Let’s blow the doors off and just hire this person!”  The whole team looked stunned, until I said…

“Cool your jets, dude. We have the second interview, the third interview and reference checks before we make an offer.” 

The CEO was mollified. 

The second interview was even better. The Candidate REALLY knew their stuff, and the whole team was impressed. Again, the CEO says to me, “I am telling you, just hire them! Make a job offer!” 

“Dude! Cool your jets! We have a third interview and reference checks!”

 He said, “I really don’t think all of that is necessary.” 

I said, “I know you don’t. I also know that you need this position filled. However, taking your time does benefit you in the long run. You will see.” 

The third interview with this candidate was a disaster. They were late, not engaged, and “annoyed by having to come back a third time”. Boy, did their annoyance show. 

The CEO was dead silent. The whole team was quiet. I said nothing. The CEO said to me “Did you know this was going to happen?” “No, I didn’t”, I said. “I can’t predict behavior, but when I am worried about nothing going into a third interview, I might as well tell them to not come. They will blow it every time.” 

“Well thank God for the third interview. We really dodged a bullet.” 

We didn’t hire that candidate, and the amazing candidate that we were looking for was right around the corner. We DID hire that one, and wow is she awesome! When you are too fast in an interview process you can make mistakes. 

 

POWER THOUGHT: Slow your roll and cool your jets. You will be so glad that you did!

A Bird in the Hand

A Bird in the Hand

A client of mine called last week. He needed help deciding between two candidates. We walked through the interviews and his notes, and there was a clear winner when we talked it through. He was very excited about offering the job to the top candidate. His next comment, however, totally baffled me. 

“I will wait to let the other candidate know after this one has accepted the offer.” 

“Why?” I asked, incredulously. 

“In case, they don’t accept. You know the saying: A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” 

I paused for a minute. 

He is right from a conventional wisdom standpoint, but when it comes to hiring, what if the bird in the hand is the wrong bird?  Are you really going to hire someone that is clearly your second choice? 

Many of my clients think this way: that somehow hiring a second choice will still be a great hiring decision.  It isn’t, though. The new hire will act like the second choice (because they were), you will treat them like the second choice (because they were), and you will ultimately fire them because they were your second choice. 

If for some reason your top candidate doesn’t accept the position, your job is to figure out why, fix that issue, then start over with a brand new candidate pool. 

As it turned out, the top candidate did accept the position, and all is well on the home front. 

 

POWER THOUGHT: When it comes to hiring, a bird in the hand only counts if it is the right bird.

When You Are Tired of Interviewing – Part 2

When You Are Tired of Interviewing – Part 2

Several weeks ago, I wrote about my daughter’s frustrating job search (read about it here). Out of 37 jobs that she applied to, she heard from about half. She received a job offer from a hospital that she didn’t even interview with (a mistake), she was offered a job on the spot and was subsequently rejected by email 3 days later, she was offered 5 jobs in departments that she didn’t want, and she broke down crying that she was going to be living in my basement for the rest of her life. 

Then, she received a call from a Nursing Manager at a hospital in Dallas. They had about a 6-minute conversation, and the woman said “We are having in person interviews in Dallas next week.” Katy said “Well, I am going to school in Miami.” The woman said that they could do a zoom call. 

Katy decided to fly to Dallas for that interview, because it was a job that she really wanted. The woman promised to send Katy an email with all the details. Katy never received that email. She called the woman several times and didn’t hear back. Katy finally called the HR department to get the address of where to go. She got to the right hospital, on time, and had a FANTASTIC interview. Katy was SO excited! 

The following Friday, Katy received an email at 8 pm from the Nursing Manager, saying how sorry she was. The Nursing Manager had been sending emails to the wrong email address, and realized that Katy had never received any of her communication. 6 days later, Katy received her job offer. She is completely ecstatic.

The lesson here is that you can’t mess up the right thing. It is mind-boggling to think about all the ways that this could have been a disaster, and it wasn’t.

When you are tired of interviewing, keep plugging away. Your right job/employee/opportunity will present itself in time, and you can’t mess it up. Go! 

 

POWER THOUGHT: You can’t mess up the right thing, and the wrong thing will always be a struggle.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Do You Hear What I Hear?

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?