Beth's blog
Interviewing Tips & TechniquesCreating your Ideal Candidate list
You can't have what you want unless you know what it is... and nowhere is this concept more important than in your hiring process. Here, I discuss just what that looks like, and the difference that makes:
What did your bad boss teach you?
In my early 20's, I worked as a manager in a retail store, and one of my co-workers was a middle aged woman with three children. After working there for some time, her husband was offered not only his dream job, but also the opportunity to move back to California near...
Kansas, Tornadoes and Wells Fargo (Oh My!)
On our last road trip across Kansas, we had been driving for hours under blue skies, with temperatures in the 70s and no wind. Suddenly, the only radio station within reception range broke into the broadcast with a tornado warning. Tornado warning? There wasn’t a...
Have a problem to solve? Drive across Kansas.
For various reasons, I have driven across Kansas several times in the last 3 months. Holy cow, is it boring! Driving east from Colorado on I-70, you soon find yourself with very little to see and even less to do. By the time you get to Hays, Kansas, your entertainment...
Crabby Employees? It’s the Crab Effect
Have you ever seen a bunch of live crabs put into a bowl? They crawl on top of each other to get out, and the crab on top is pulled down by the others. Ultimately, there is so much fighting for the top position that the crabs just wear themselves out. What a crabby...
I know your secret…
When I founded A-list Interviews over a decade ago, one of the first books I read was Martin Yate’s “Hiring The Best”, which describes the interviewing process as a “dirty secret” in business. He observed that we promote people within our organizations, ask them to...
Please let me fail like Bob!
This week, I have had multiple conversations with several clients on the topic of leadership skills. The most commonly-held “deep dark secret” of those in a leadership role is that they feel to some degree unprepared or inadequate in the skills needed to lead others....
Maintain your form and go for the win!
Phyllis Francis represented the United States in the 400 meter race, and she completed her semi-final looking very relaxed. She won both her first round heat and her semifinal heat easily with a time of 50.58 seconds and 50.31 seconds, respectively. When the reporter...
“Break” from tradition… in the break room
This past week I met with a client whose business is in a period of rapid growth. His business has grown so fast over the last 6 months that his brand new office space (occupied for only a year) is suddenly too small. At the same time, he came across an ideal employee...
Meet my new employee, Stephanie… I mean Jan
Last week, I met with a new client and I was introduced to their new employee, Stephanie. "But we call her Jan." said my client. Wait... what? Apparently when Stephanie first started her job, my client said to her, "What's up, man?" She asked, "Did you just call me...