by Beth | Jan 22, 2016 | Adventures in Interviewing, Selecting Good Candidates
My daughter, Katy, received a text from a potential suitor that said “Your so pretty!” She showed me the text with a horrified look on her face and said “I’m sorry. If he doesn’t know the difference between your/you’re and to/two/too, then I am not interested!”
In my business, we receive hundreds of resumes for jobs per week and at least half of them have some sort of grammar and/or spelling error. Sometimes we interview them anyway because they have the experience that we are looking for, they wrote a “nice” cover letter or we decide to forgive that “one tiny mistake.” But here is the hard and fast truth: The easiest way to determine if the candidate is serious about the position is whether or not they took the extra 2 minutes to run spell check and proof their work. It really isn’t hard. It really doesn’t take much time. It really does make a difference.
So for those candidates that are continuously asking me for interviewing help, my best advice to get the interview is to please do a review of your materials before you send them. Better yet, have your neighbor, friend, significant other read your resume and cover letter, just for that extra set of eyes. And for my clients who ask, Yes! Grammar counts! Just ask my beloved teenage daughter!
P.S. May all boys within dating age of my daughter make grammatical errors like these. Amen.
by Beth | Jan 11, 2016 | Employee Hiring, Firing Employees, Interview Process
Traditionally in January, people start thinking about cleaning house, both literally and figuratively. Articles pop up online about how to deep clean your dishwasher (is that a thing?!), how often to wash your comforter and, of course, a myriad of content about how to be a better self in the New Year. At our house, we are cleaning out closets, attacking dust mites with a vengeance, and even getting the carpets cleaned. We have replaced pillows, bought new rugs for the hallway, and scrubbed the floor tile until it shines! Personally, we want to clean out the old to make room for the new!
In addition, we are also helping companies’ clean house at work. Now is the time that we often hear from organizations who want to ramp up during the next few months and know that staffing will be critical. Along with replacing the last year’s files with this year’s in the filing cabinet, many companies also begin to hire for open and new positions. The downfall is that we often do not move into a new space with new tools. We read the article on deep cleaning the dishwasher, then fail to make the steps to actually clean it. We examine the people on our teams and clearly see improvements, yet we fail to move into action. This year, we encourage you to review your interview and hiring process. Revamp job descriptions and determine ideal profiles for your positions.
The power of refreshment is invigorating as we are often making space for something new. It just feels so good to clean up! Our mantra has always been that you can’t move forward until you clean up the past, and you can’t create something new until you make room for it.
Here’s to a cleaner, more streamlined 2016!
by Beth | Dec 2, 2015 | Adventures in Interviewing, Employee Hiring, Interview Process
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.
Fist bump!
by Beth | Oct 20, 2015 | Employee Hiring, Employee Retention, Leadership
Do you walk into your office and see Zombies disguised as employees? Those lifeless bodies that wander around thoughtlessly in packs? Have you ever thought about how they got that way?
New employees are so always excited to start their new job. I have heard many new hires talk about their first day on the job just like they talk about their first day of school… with excitement and a lot of awe. So how is it that years or even months into their employment with a company, they lose their passion for the job?
Because we suck the life out of them with too many constraints and not enough direction. We make it hard for them to do their jobs with petty rules. We don’t spend enough time training our new people, and we really don’t take the time to explain our expectations to them. All of the sudden, we have a lifeless body of the previously excited employee.
If you look around and see zombies on your staff, it is time to take stock in your interviewing process, your training program and your employee handbook. If you are dictating when someone can go to the bathroom, you are running a daycare, not a professional office. It is time for a re-do.
And if that doesn’t work, try chocolate.
by Beth | Oct 6, 2015 | Employee Hiring, Hiring Managers
The question that every client invariably will ask me when we begin to develop their interviewing process is, “Why can’t I hire good people?” My poor clients are often doing their full time jobs and the full time jobs of other employees. My clients are tired, burned out, and are starting to hate the work they do because they need good help and are feeling overwhelmed. One client confessed to me that he hated going into the office every day because his direct reports will have put piles of work on his desk that ultimately belonged on their own desks. And his question to me is, “Beth, why can’t I hire good people?”
My answer? Because you don’t need good people. You need good employees. There is a big difference.
Think of it this way: I consider myself a good person. I vote, I recycle, I save dogs, I take good care of my clients. I hold the doors open for people, and I honestly care about our planet. Like I said, a good person. But if you put me in front of a computer for 50 hours a week with a set of headphones doing internet research, I would lose my mind! I would become a lunatic with a road rage problem! A good person, but a terrible employee, because I am in the wrong job. I need to be with people, working with people, talking to people, or I am not happy or productive.
Hiring good employees means that you hire people because they are in the right job. Hiring good people and putting them in a job they hate makes them bad employees. So my advice? Do not hire good people – hire good employees.
by Beth | Sep 23, 2015 | Adventures in Interviewing, Employee Hiring, Interview Process, Selecting Good Candidates
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.
