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 | May 27, 2015 | Hiring Managers, Interview Process, Updating Position Criteria
I recently got a new/used car, and at the end of a long day of interviewing, I got in it to go home. It has one of those keyless buttons that you press to make it start (this is new technology to me). I pushed the button and… nothing. I began to try everything I could think of to get the vehicle to start. I discovered the “key” in the key fob where I turned the car off, then on again. I opened and shut all the doors. Nothing happened.
One of the employees who was leaving at the same time offered, “Beth, do you need some jumper cables? I don’t have any, but I could call somebody!” I gracefully declined. Even if she had jumper cables, I would not have known what to do with them; regardless, I was pretty sure the issue with the car was user error, not engine failure.
As I continued my discovery process (which really involved me sitting in the front seat staring out the window in amazement, hoping a solution would just present itself), my client walked by and said “Is the car in park?” The car was in reverse. I put the car in park and it started right up at the push of the button. Boy, did I feel like an idiot, and I can guarantee you that I have not heard the end of this from my client, beloved husband and friends (nor will I EVER)! It was such a simple fix!
“What is the point?” you may be asking yourself. Last week, an article came out about a tech company failing to attract female candidates. After some conversations, they realized that the job title they’d used for years (“hacker”) was not perceived as inclusive by potential candidates. Once they changed their verbiage from “hacker” to “developer”, they began to attract many more female candidates. Sometimes a very simple change (in this case, of one word) can make all the difference in the world. Read the article here.
The next time you find yourself not attracting the types of candidates that you want (or when your new/used car will not start), take a second look. Put your process (and car) in park. Take a second to review your job ad to ensure that the language you are using directly reflects the message you want to portray. Then, press the button and GO!
Meanwhile, I will be reading the manual for my car…
by Beth | Feb 16, 2015 | Hiring Managers, Interview Process
I used to think I hated sushi. I thought “Who on earth would willingly put raw fish in their mouth, swallow and LIKE it?!?” I held strong to this belief until 1996, when a guy named Randy Smith asked me out on a date and took me to my first sushi restaurant. I had no idea how to order, what to do, how to eat and how to use chopsticks, so Randy showed me how. He ordered very mild fish, because he did not want to turn me off of sushi. He wrapped a rubber band around my chop sticks so that I could learn how to hold them, and he showed me how to mix the wasabi in with the soy sauce so that I didn’t destroy my nostrils.
That night changed my life. Not only did I begin a lifelong relationship with Randy Smith, but also with my love of sushi.
During this amazing night, I also realized I learned an important life lesson as well. The fact is, I could have learned about sushi on my own. I could have struggled with my chopsticks and put WAY too much wasabi in my soy, but I had a guide… someone to show me the ropes, so that my experience was so much more enhanced and the likelihood that I would actually like sushi was increased.
Now how does this apply to business? I realized early in my professional career that I could teach myself certain skills and muddle through all of the mistakes that come from learning a new ability. But I also realized that there are times when it is better to have a guide, a professional who can lead me through learning a new skill set, increasing the likelihood I would both like the activity and my effectiveness when executing it. At A-list Interviews, I am your guide in interviewing for new employees. Can you do it yourself? Yes. Should you? Sometimes. But having someone in your corner with an objective opinion acting on your behalf and showing you the way will definitely enhance your experience. Hire all you want, when you want, but hire an expert to help. You deserve it!
by Beth | Feb 16, 2015 | Adventures in Interviewing, Employee Hiring, Hiring Managers, Interview Techniques
I have not truly relaxed since 1978. In fact, I hate that word! The word “relax” in the same sentence with my name seems like an oxymoron. I am wrapped tight and proud of it! So imagine my dismay when my swim coach says to me “Beth, you are going to have to relax in the water.”
What?
This makes no sense to me. How do you go fast in the water and relax at the same time? When I asked my swim coach this question, he responded, “You let the water move you. Feel it supporting you.”
Wait…what?
After some consideration and time trying to reconcile this with my logical brain, I just surrendered to the concept and we began working on relaxing in the water. Much to my surprise, my coach was right! Once I began to relax into my swimming instead of pushing my performance, I actually moved more efficiently in the water with less effort, cutting 15 seconds off my 100 yard freestyle, and 11 seconds off my 100 yard backstroke.
As this lesson in life was presented to me, it also occurred to me that if I could encourage my clients to relax during the interview process, we might have similar results. I said to one of my clients the other day that he might think about relaxing while we are in the interview process. He looked at me like I had grown a third eye but agreed to try. The result I observed was that the interview process began to truly work for us and allowed the next amazing hire to come to the table faster, just like my swimming. And when they appeared, it was much easier to identify them!
I will keep working on relaxing in the water to improve my swimming. I encourage you to relax during the interview process to increase the likelihood of finding the right people for your team. In the end, I guess Yo-Yo Ma was right. “With every year of playing, you want to relax one more muscle. Why? Because the more tense you are, the less you can hear.”
by Beth | Dec 2, 2014 | Adventures in Interviewing, Employee Hiring, Hiring Managers, Interview Process, Interview Techniques
Last year during the World Series of Poker, there was a gentleman who made it to the final table and was the first person to lose. He came in 9th place. This year the same gentleman made it to the final table where he tweeted to his network “Not going to get 9th place again.” Guess what happened? He got 9th place again. By the way, the chances of a person getting 9th 2 years in a row at the World Series of Poker is 1 in 42 million.
Many of my clients will call me and say that they aren’t getting the right candidates to the table. I ask them to tell me what their job ad says. I am always a little taken aback by the negative language that people use, like “If you can’t be on time, don’t apply.” I guarantee that when candidates read that line, they see “if you can’t be on time, APPLY.” And they do!
If you truly want to transform the candidate pool, change your language, starting with the job ad. Begin by asking for what you want, not what you don’t. Then share your mission statement and talk about WHY you are in the business you are in. Simon Sinek wrote a book and shared a TED talk called Start With Why that describes fierce loyalty and invested interest when people understand why you do business. Write about the people that you help and how the position will impact them. Describe the position and how it will contribute to the organization, your staff and your clients. If you want to win the game of staffing, then ask for the A-list candidates that you desire and leave 9th place in the dust! I’m ALL IN! Are you?
by Beth | Sep 30, 2014 | Employee Hiring, Hiring Managers, Leadership, Uncategorized
When I owned my restaurant, we would have really busy times, and in those busy times, I would jump behind the counter and help my staff serve our customers. I was notorious for making margaritas by the bucket. I would go into the basement, get out the tequila, lime juice, triple sec, and apple juice (our secret ingredient) and literally create buckets of margaritas to serve with our amazing enchiladas and nachos.
While my staff was thrilled to have me help them get our customers served as quickly as possible, it was a short term fix to a much larger issue. When we would get hit with a rush of people, as the owner of the company, my time was NOT best served by helping out my staff in the moment… my time was best served by getting more staff on the floor in order to help the customers get their orders. In other words, I needed to focus on the bigger picture… why we were short staffed at all in that moment.
Three years into owning the restaurant, I quit making margaritas. I refused to step back behind the bar to help, but instead I would begin calling to get more people on the floor. When I hired a general manager, it became his job to make those calls, and my job was to make sure that we had enough staff trained and ready to go for the busy times.
I see this all the time with my clients. They spend their time doing the extra work when they should be spending time looking at the business as a whole. In other words, make your margaritas on Saturday, and focus on your whole business during the week.
¡Olé!
