Over the Thanksgiving holiday, 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 actual 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 really important in an interview which can lead to a bad hire. You can also really embarrass yourself in front of your teenage daughter.
My personal trainer is Christine Neff, (a.k.a. Marquis de Sade). She has this wicked sense of humor as she gleefully kicks my butt all across the gym. I looked at her with this evil stare and she yells “Now there is that ‘I love you, Christine’ look!” Last week, she made me do push-ups. I hate push-ups! The reason that I hate push-ups is because I really struggle with them. They do not come easy to me. So, she says to me one day that the push up that I only ½ do is the very best one… Huh? “Your strength comes from the struggle,” she replied.
Finding the right person to hire is always a struggle, which is why my clients have difficulty with interviewing. You cannot just go online and place a special order for the right fit. You especially cannot get any deals or shortcuts when it comes to finding the right employee. You have to go through the 7 step interview process fully and completely, and yes, you may struggle. The person that you hire out of desperation, out of fear or out of panic will never work out for you. You have to complete the interview process in order to hire the brightest and the best; then when you finally do hire, it is SO satisfying!
When I met with Christine before Thanksgiving, I was able to finish 4½ whole push ups! The ½ push up was by far the hardest. But with arms shaking and sweating profusely, I struggled and I continue to get stronger.
There are some days when I help my clients with interviewing where we speak to people all day only to find no one qualified to move to the next interview. This can be really discouraging, but when we understand the importance of finding the right person for the job, we also understand that having no one to move forward is inherent to the process.
After a particularly difficult interview day where this exact scenario occurred, my client turned to me and said “I just want to thank you for your hard work and for hanging in there with me. I am really grateful for having you here.” WOW! It is wonderful to work with people that understand we do not always find the right person immediately. I am even more grateful that when this happens, they still see the value of the A-list Interviews process. As I drove home from the session, I had such a warm glow in my heart and it got me thinking…
Do I say “thank you” often enough, even in the face of adversity? I certainly hope so. If you have not heard “thank you” from me recently, I want to express my gratitude now. Some of you on this distribution list are amazing clients; some of you are incredible network partners or even people I have only met once at an event; some of you are people I perhaps have never met. Regardless, I sincerely appreciate your readership, partnership, trust and support over the years for myself and A-list Each and every one of you have contributed to my success in some way.
During the month of November, I find it timely to remind you all of my gratitude: gratitude for my clients, my vendors, my employee, my family and my friends. Quite simply, thank you.
And just as my client reminded me earlier this month that a simple thank you speaks volumes, I now pass it along to you and yours, and please know that I am eternally grateful for you all.
Back in the 1950’s, many vacuum cleaners were sold door-to-door; in other words, a salesman would come to the home, be invited in, and he would stage a demonstration of the vacuum’s effectiveness. Usually, that demonstration involved dumping dirt and debris on the carpet and then using the vacuum to remove it.
But what happened if the vacuum didn’t suck up the dirt? The homeowners were left with a mess in the middle of their living room. (And of course, they did not buy the vacuum.)
Surprisingly, people today often use the job interview as an opportunity to dump unwanted “dirt and debris” all over the conference table. Candidates report how awful their past employers were, how horrible their last job was and how impossible the boss was to please. Last week, a candidate complained to me that he had “embellished” his skills when applying for his previous position and was subsequently fired. His exact quote was “if they had just TRAINED me on those skills (that he already told the boss he had), then I could have been successful!”
Just like with non-working vacuums, if there is a big pile of “dirt and debris” sitting on the conference table after an interview, then the candidate isn’t working and you need to keep searching for the right one.
Several weeks ago, my client and I called a candidate to get her scheduled for an interview. She asked for a phone interview at noon on the Friday afternoon that we had available for interviewing. She was very specific about the time. When I asked her if there was a reason for that particular time, and she responded by saying, “Yes. I am in a wedding that day and it starts at 2:00.” Since we schedule phone interviews all the time, I asked her if another day and time might be better, and she said “No. I do NOT want to miss out on this opportunity.”
On the day of her interview, I asked her if she was ready for the wedding, and she said “Yes. We have done our hair and makeup, and I am sitting in a church pew in my Bridesmaid’s dress. This is a first for me.” It was a first for me and the client as well!
The most amazing part about that interview wasn’t the dress or dedication to taking the call, although these were great steps to showing her enthusiasm for the position; it was actually in her preparation. She had done her research on the company. She referred to Yelp reviews. She asked excellent questions and she referred to her “list” of questions several times. She knocked the ball out of the park… all in her bridesmaid dress.
Imagine being in an interview for a job that you really want. The interview team is a panel of people not talking, asking you pretty hard questions, and you are concentrating solely on impressing them. All of the sudden, one of those people points out that you have a spider crawling on your shirt. What would you do? Would you scream? Jump up and run? Brush that spider off and then kill it DEAD?
This actually happened to a poor candidate that we interviewed this past week, and he calmly brushed the spider off his shirt and continued his interview gracefully. Then, he joked about being Peter Parker.
We all laughed uproariously. He followed up later that day with a thank you email for the opportunity to interview, expressed his desire to come back for the final round as he really wanted this job, and he signed his email: “Your friendly neighborhood spider man. “
I have spent hours talking to my clients about what to look for in candidates, and the ability to handle difficult situations is invariably one of the top qualities that my clients want. An employee who can laugh at themselves and the situation, handle it gracefully and leave you impressed in an awkward set of circumstances is someone you have to hire.
And as for Spiderman? He comes in this week for his final interview for… you guessed it, a web developer.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, 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.
