Many people may not be aware that before I became an interviewing specialist, I owned and managed a restaurant in Boulder, Colorado. When I owned the restaurant, I hired a manager who committed several crimes right under my nose. I really had no idea how bad it was until my 2 best managers at the time came to me to turn in their notice together. They sat us down and told us horror stories about what it was like to work at my place of business and ultimately mine and my family’s second home. We fired the manager effectively immediately. After the fired manager was gone, the complaints really started pouring in… My employees suddenly felt they could freely speak about this former employee. We had lost really good staff and continued to have turn over as a result of this incident. If it were not for the courage of our two managers, who at the time were ready to quit, I still would not have known.
I had heard complaints before from other staff members, but I didn’t really take them seriously. Looking back on it, I should have. So, why didn’t I? Because the complaints seemed so minor. “He didn’t do his side work right.” “He didn’t wipe down the counters.” “He makes me do his work for him, even though he pays me for it.” I simply thought people were just blowing off steam.
After we fired him, I asked my staff: ‘Why didn’t you tell me that he was stealing money/inventory/food?” And the answer was always the same: “Beth, I tried to talk to you about this.”
The biggest complaints that I hear from my clients is that they wish their employees would be more forthcoming about problems in the business/department. But, the employees say, “If you don’t take my small problems seriously, how am I supposed to talk to you about the big stuff?” In other words, those early, seemingly minor, complaints are opportunities for employees to see how you handle the little stuff. They are trying to figure out if you will hear them with the big stuff. They will talk to you about the tip of the iceberg as a way to begin the conversation about the bottom of the iceberg.
Your job as the boss is to take complaints very seriously, even the smallest of them. Usually, if you have an employee who is willing to come talk to you, the problem is bigger than they indicate. Use this opportunity to really look at the work environment that you are providing and make sure it is operating the way that you intend. Don’t ignore it, or you will be “the last to know”.
Every client that I begin to work with wants a certain level of experience for the position that they want filled. They say, “Beth, they have to have 5 years experience. Not negotiable.” The problem with experience is that it is a mixed bag. According to the book Talent is Overrated, “…people with lots of experience were no better at their jobs than those with very little experience.” Are you shocked? The book goes on to say, “Researchers from the INSEAD business school in France and the US Naval Postgraduate School call the phenomenon ‘the experience trap’”. Their key finding is that while companies typically value experienced managers, rigorous study shows that, on average, ‘managers with experience did not produce high caliber results’”.
So, if experience does not make for a good hire, what does? Basically, you are looking for 3 traits in good people:
Can they handle conflict resolution? Whether there is conflict with the boss or conflict with a team member, how does this person resolve it? Basically, if your employee needs to you to solve their problems for them, then that is what you will spend your time doing. It is called management.
Can they do the job? This sounds like experience, right? It is not. It is more about basic communication and team work. Do they want to help the customer? Do they take ownership of their work? Do they ask for help when they need it? These are the qualities of the employee who is self sufficient and motivated to get the job done.
Do they want the job? Are they passionate about the work they do? If so, then they do not mind the occasional drudgery of the job. They love to solve the problems of the position and motivates them to innovate.
If you want to hire good people, do not get caught in the experience trap. Find the person who can solve conflict, has basic customer service skills and the passion for the job, then train, train, train. In the end you will then have to manage less. You will be so glad that you did!
Sand on the stage, beach balls in the air and Parrot Heads! This was the scene at the Pepsi Center several years ago for a Jimmy Buffett concert I attended. The back-up singers and dancers began rousing the crowd to get into the groove, which reached a feverish frenzy until finally, the man himself stepped out onto the stage to a packed house of screaming fans. If you have never been to a Jimmy Buffett concert, it is hard to describe how the music started, the colors of the lights flashing and just how enamored I was with the entire scene, especially because right before the concert, I was the lucky holder of a backstage pass to meet a legend himself!
Meeting Mr. Buffett was indeed a lifetime experience, and one that I keep living over and over. I relay the story often to my friends, colleagues and now you. However, because you were not there, you probably do not have the same attachment to the story as I do. Shaking his hand, listening to the crowd in the background, and having my photo taken with him was truly amazing. But since you were not there with me, it is not possible for you to have the same relationship with Jimmy that I now have. After all, listening to Margaritaville on your iPod is just not the same.
Now you may be asking how this relates to interviewing for employees. Imagine that you send your very capable team to an interview with a candidate. Then imagine them trying to describe the interaction to you in a manner that encompasses all facets of the interview. It is simply not the same thing as meeting with the candidate face to face. Even when your team takes great notes and really listens to the candidate, they will not be able to fully describe the interview in its entirety. No one can, anymore that you could possibly grasp the full experience of meeting Jimmy Buffett. In order to fully experience a candidate’s interview, you have to be in the room with them. You have to shake their hand and see how they interact with you in order to know if this candidate will be a good fit for your open position. With approximately 2/3 of all hires being mistakes, and the money that those mistakes cost, can you really afford to short change an interview process by not being present?
I am fairly certain that none of you know my full name is Margaret Elizabeth Smith. When I was a little baby about 5 months old, my parents called me “the baby” until Mom got pregnant with my brother. My folks figured out that calling me “the baby” was short lived, for obvious reasons and they had better come up with something to call me. Mom tried, “Maggie, Margaret and Meg”. Dad didn’t like any of those. Dad tried “Liza, Liz and Lizzie”. Mom said “Over my dead body”. Dad came home with Beth, and it stuck…sort of. Dad calls me “Bethy- Boo”, Mom calls me “Bethie”, my husband calls me “B”, my nieces and nephews call me “Aunt B” and my beloved grandfather called me “Becky”. Swear.
Last year, my daughter Katy entered the 6th grade at the ripe old age of 12 and she decided that calling me “Mom” was for babies, so she began calling me “Bethly”. Her friends even now call me “Befly”.
I must be a total whack job, because I answer to all of it.
I have seen lots of ads lately with crazy job titles on them. For an admin position “Chief Administrative Officer” and my immediate reaction was “Here is a C-level position that I have never heard of before!” Until I read the complete job ad that included answering the phones and opening the mail, I was under the impression that this person was higher than entry level. It was confusing. If I am confused, and I read job ads all the time, imagine what the candidates must be experiencing. Call the job what it is, so that people recognize themselves in that job and they apply.
Just because I am crazy and answer to 10 different derivatives of my name, doesn’t mean your candidates will. Happy Name Calling!
As hiring managers, we spend more time analyzing resumes than we do actually interviewing candidates. Most applicants don’t write their own resumes or cover letters. Therefore, we spend time “pre-screening” candidates on materials that they didn’t produce. Have you ever looked at a candidate’s application and knew they were the one? Then, you talk to them on the phone and know that they would never work out?
The biggest waste of time is spent trying to judge a person on a piece of paper that they likely didn’t produce. If the applicant followed directions specifically, have no spelling or grammar mistakes, and the tone of the materials is appealing, (which will weed out about 70-80% of applicants) schedule an interview.
Barbara Walters is one of the best interviewers in the world, bar none. She is prepared, she does her research, and people tell her things that they don’t tell anyone else. Charlie Rose is another great example of an amazing interviewer. He asks probing questions, and then he is amazing at letting the conversation take its course.
I am also an interviewer, but my job is vastly different from Ms. Walters for one reason: the power difference between the interviewer and a candidate is one sided for the interviewer. Barbara Walters is a powerhouse in her own right, and yet, the people that she interviews run countries. There isn’t a large power difference on her side. They aren’t looking to her to provide them a lively hood, and really, she looks to THEM for her lively hood.
When a hiring manager is interviewing someone, they typically don’t understand the enormous power that they have over their candidates, and when you don’t understand the dynamic between two people, you can’t make effective hiring decisions.
Many people may not be aware that before I became an interviewing specialist, I owned and managed a restaurant in Boulder, Colorado. When I owned the restaurant, I hired a manager who committed several crimes right under my nose. I really had no idea how bad it was until my 2 best managers at the time came to me to turn in their notice together. They sat us down and told us horror stories about what it was like to work at my place of business and ultimately mine and my family’s second home. We fired the manager effectively immediately. After the fired manager was gone, the complaints really started pouring in… My employees suddenly felt they could freely speak about this former employee. We had lost really good staff and continued to have turn over as a result of this incident. If it were not for the courage of our two managers, who at the time were ready to quit, I still would not have known.
