by Beth | Jul 7, 2021 | Company Culture, Employee Hiring
A few weeks ago, I had a potential new client call me wanting to discuss my services. He asked me if I conducted confidential searches. He further explained that he needed to fire the person in a top-level role in his company, but he couldn’t NOT have a body in that seat. Can you help me, he asked.
My answer? No, I do not do confidential searches, and here is why: you can’t find Prince Charming while you are married to the frog.
When you begin a new search under the cloud of secrecy, lies and lack of transparency, that is the type of person you will attract. Keeping a secret is really, really hard, and it is especially hard when you are interacting with the person that you KNOW you are going to fire. You will most likely slip up. Or the candidate, who instinctively knows that their head is on the chopping block, is likely looking for a new job. What happens when they see your ad? And with all of the focus on getting fired/ finding someone new, you can be sure that this person isn’t doing their job well anyway.
In addition to the secrecy, think about the tone that this sets for all of your other employees: how will they feel when they find out that you treated someone on their team in such a shady way? Do you think they will stay with you? Think again.
Letting someone go from your team is horrible for all parties. But putting it off for any length of time only creates additional bad will, drama and disruption.
Bottom line? Cut ties with the frog as soon as possible. Re-group, bolster your existing team, and hold out for Mr./Ms. Right. There is nothing more satisfying than working with people who all want to be there.
POWER THOUGHT: Break up with the frog to make room for the Prince/Princess.
by Beth | Jun 9, 2021 | Employee Hiring
No two people are alike, and we all have strengths and weaknesses. The reason this is important is because it takes all kinds of people to make the world go round. What you are good at doing is very different from what I am good at doing, and this is how innovation occurs. Our diversity is how we solve problems. Here are three hilarious examples of our differences:
1. Last week I interviewed a candidate for a Senior Financial Analyst position for one of my clients, and I happened to ask her how comfortable she was using Excel. She responded with a short laugh, and then she said, “Well if this tells you anything, I have an Excel spreadsheet on how to care for my plants.”
2. Conversation with a client:
Client: “How is your day going today?”
Me: “It’s great! I am interviewing 17 people today! I am SO in my happy place!”
Client: “That is because you are SICK!”
3. Conversation with Katy, my daughter:
Me: “How is school going?”
Katy: “Great! We are studying the plague, and it is riveting!”
In all three of these examples, someone has a strength that makes the other person want to throw up. And isn’t that just lovely??
Power thought: When hiring, make sure that you hire people with strengths that are different than yours. That is how to become more efficient and productive. After all, it takes all kinds of people to make the world go round, and, perhaps more importantly, move your company to the places you want it to go.
by Beth | May 26, 2021 | Employee Hiring
I hate to shop. I do mean that I HATE to shop! I hate everything about it: the time, the energy, having to try it on, having to take it back if it doesn’t fit. There is NOTHING that I like about shopping.
This past week I traveled to see one of my favorite clients out of state. She greeted me enthusiastically and said “You look so cute! Where do you get your clothes?!”
Funny story.
Last fall, Katy, my daughter, called me from a store and said “I found a really cute sweater that I think you might like. I am going to buy it and bring it home for you to try on. If you don’t like it, I will bring it back and return it.” I DID like it! A lot! So, I kept it. Then, Katy went back to that store and bought me some more clothes. I tried them on and kept most of them also. I had a new wardrobe, and I never had to shop.
BLISS!
My client turned to me after I told her this story and said, “Everybody needs a Katy.”
She is so right.
Katy has already gone shopping for me for summer clothes because she was worried that I “wouldn’t have anything to wear”.
Katy saw a project that needed to be done. She told me what she was going to do to solve the problem, and then she went out and did just that… solved the problem. We joke now that she is my personal shopper, and several of my friends have jokingly stated that they need her to shop for them too.
Can you imagine having an employee that sees a problem, then tells you how they are going to solve it for you?
When my client told me “Everybody needs a Katy,” she wasn’t joking!
And I do look really cute in my new clothes.
Win/Win.
POWER THOUGHT: A really great employee takes a project and runs with it. “Shop” for candidates like that.
by Beth | Apr 14, 2021 | Adventures in Interviewing, Employee Hiring
Yesterday, I was interviewing with one of my favorite clients, and we were talking about general hiring practices. I said to him “When you talk to a client, you want to always say “yes”. You want to solve their problems, because that is how you get to do the work that you love. Also, that is how you make money, which gives you the opportunity to grow. “
My brilliant client turned to me and said “Exactly. When talking to clients, your default should be yes. But when you are hiring your default should be no.”
He is totally right.
Hiring is about rejection. Think about it. You receive 300 resumes for a job, and you will reject AT LEAST 299 of them, if not all 300. Then, you receive another 300, and the process starts again.
The reason that hiring is so hard for business leaders is because their default is set to yes. When a client comes to you for help, you WANT to say yes. It’s fun!
As hard as that can be for some people, the reality is, you just can’t do that in hiring.
Power thought:
Make a conscious effort when hiring to switch your default from yes to no.
by Beth | Mar 17, 2021 | Employee Hiring, Selecting Good Candidates
I graduated from college before the internet. (I am totally dating myself here!) I put on my panty hose (barf), printed my short resume on good quality paper, and drove to company #1 to see if I could talk to someone about getting a job. Then, I drove to company #2 and did the same thing. If I went to 5 or 6 companies per day, it was a good day! In other words, I had to be strategic about applying for jobs.
In this day and age, you can apply for 100 jobs on a Sunday morning in your favorite p.j.’s and fuzzy bunny slippers. There is no strategy required on the candidate’s part.
Last week, one of my favorite people on the planet called to me to ask me “How do I stop waiters from applying to my high-level job?”
The short answer is “you can’t”.
Quit worrying about what you can’t control and start working on what you CAN control.
Write a job ad that gets folks excited about the opportunity that you are offering. Start with your mission statement. Talk about the required soft and hard skills. Keep the ad short and concise. And end your ad with an invitation to apply. “We look forward to hearing from you!”
Focus on your Ideal candidate and hold out until they show up. And they WILL show up. I promise.
Power thought:
“Do your work, then let it go.”
– The Tao Te Ching
by Beth | Feb 17, 2021 | Employee Hiring, Selecting Good Candidates
I love Grape Nuts. I mean, I LOVE them! I have been eating them for over half my life. They are so VERSATILE! I eat them with fruit, with yogurt, with fruit and yogurt, with a little milk at night before bed. Swipe some almond butter on a banana and dip it into a bowl of Grape Nuts and eat it. YUM!
In early December, I noticed that I was getting low. When I went to Safeway to buy some more, they didn’t have any. They didn’t have any the next week either. Sprouts didn’t have any, nor do they carry them at all. When I asked the woman at the counter, she said haughtily “That is a POST product. We don’t carry any of Post products.” Ok then.
By January, I was getting really desperate, so I visited my trusted friend, Amazon. They had some. 2 boxes for $20.00 and an extra $10.00 for shipping. I am not doing that. The next week, no Grape Nuts at Safeway, and the online price was now $60.00!!! Are you KIDDING me? And I am not the only one to notice: read here.
The problem was that at this point, I was actually considering it! I told myself that I would skip Happy Hour that week and buy the damn Grape Nuts.
UGH…
On Monday, I sashayed into Safeway, and there on the shelf like a beacon of light was 2 boxes of Grape Nuts. The angels wept and the choir sang. I bought both of those bad boys for a whopping $4.99 a box, saved myself $50.00 and I didn’t have to skip Happy Hour.
SCORE!
When you are searching for your right candidate, you have felt like I did about my Grape Nuts. You look and look. You “post” your job ad on Indeed.com, on Linked In, on Monster… anywhere that you think might have your person. You are desperate. You start to get a tightness in your chest. Did they quit making my beloved Grape Nuts? Is there a WAR on Talent??
And then, when you least expect it, your prayers are answered… a gift from the Hiring Gods… or in my case, the cereal makers.
Power thought: I want you to be a “cereal” interviewer, not a “cereal” hirer. Hold out! Be patient. Your dream hire is coming!
