We May Leave Our Managers, But We Stay for Our Peer Mentors (Friends) at Work

I bonded with Dale as soon I met him after my fait accompli interview process with the rest of the Executive Team. Dale was the last interview on the schedule. All of the prior interviews frankly did not meet the threshold for an employment interview. Instead, they were meet-and-greet chats, e.g.: "So the CEO has hired you for the HR team; nice to meet you;" or "I understand the CEO is very impressed with your background;" or "Let me give you some advice about how to best work with the CEO."

My soon-to-be new company did not have a Head of HR at the time I was interviewed / hired, and hadn't had one for more than two years. I was recruited by the CEO as a Senior HR Manager to help bring their HR Department to the next level and to work with the CEO to recruit a new Head of HR. While I knew that I would do a great job for my new company and I was honored to be hired directly by the CEO, I wanted the same due diligence performed for my candidacy as I performed as a Recruiter for the candidates I hired. I wanted my strong skills, abilities and experience to be reviewed, validated and documented thoroughly so we could all start off in our work together on a high note.

As the Vice President of Loss Prevention, Dale did not disappoint. "So," Dale began, opening up his folder to my rèsumé, liberally highlighted and marked with his notes and questions, "What is union avoidance, and how would it benefit our company?" I exhaled with relief and smiled at him. "Thank you for interviewing me," I replied. "Please ask me all of your questions. If you have the time; I certainly do. I want you and the CEO to get all of the information you need to feel completely comfortable with me in my role." Dale smiled back. "Don't worry, that's my plan."

Being in a compliance role in any organization, especially a new organization, is not the Miss Popularity job, to put it mildly. So to have Dale as a colleague, peer mentor and eventual friend who was also in a key compliance role for the organization was a critical touchstone that absolutely contributed to my career and developmental success. Dale broadened my business understanding and acumen tremendously as we accomplished our work together: mergers, acquisitions, rolling out new programs like pre-employment drug testing, you name it. Small but significant things, such as upon arrival for a site visit, to visit the bathroom first. The tidiness - or chaos - of the bathroom more often than not indicated how well the site manager was doing their job. Dale was also intensely curious about my area of subject-matter expertise, and it was my privilege and pleasure to share my HR / Recruiting / Change Management experience, strength and hope in return. It was a peer mentoring relationship that benefited both of us equally: the type of work relationship flow that is pure business and career development gold. Dale was a significant factor in the length of my tenure with the company. It's the type of retention that CEOs with any smarts strive for.

Dale was subsequently promoted to an operations executive role; and currently, runs his own successful business. All expected and well-deserved. I had my first inkling of Dale's abilities beyond his compliance role about a month into my tenure at the company's national District Managers' conference. When Dale got up to speak on his topic, Loss Prevention, the entire group jumped to their feet spontaneously and gave Dale a standing ovation. Part of it was in recognition for the company's great shrink performance; but really, it was all for Dale: they saw him truly as their business partner and leader, not just the head compliance guy enforcing the rules.

Me, too.

Giving Pays Large Dividends for All of Us at Work

If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time.

But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.

  

-Lilla Watson

I've spent most of the day putting the finishing touches on this year's property tax appeal; my brain cells are squeezed dry. I am, as always, looking forward to a lively discussion on Tuesday, while Noah and Joel watch me channel my inner amateur lawyer.

Earlier today, our Senior Youth conducted their annual Bridging Service to send their dear comrades off to college. One of them quoted Lilla Watson during their presentation to us. Another youth, a former Coming-of-Age mentee, shared her love and appreciation for her older sister, headed off to start her college career. "I know my life would not have been the same without her in it; I will miss her terribly," she said.

Yesterday, my good friend Avon asked me to present a Career Workshop to up-and-coming young women served by The Northeast Parent & Child Society. I'm no fashion diva by any means; and my challenge was to coach these young women on how to make a great first impression.

In preparation, I reached back to my own early career experience, with a equivalent college loan debt of about $40,000, making only $8,000 a year during my first of many rides to the Recession Rodeo. What meant the most to me as I began interviewing for career jobs? The first thing that came to mind was how to look professional on a shoestring budget. So I put together an interview outfit accordingly:

• Navy jacket:      $6
• Navy pants:       $3
• Peach blouse:   $3
• Matching scarf: $1
• Navy shoes:      $7

And made it part of my "show me, don't tell me" workshop presentation.

That day, I shared my experience, strength and hope with about 60 talented young women, as my mentors before me have so lovingly and generously done for me. I validated their great outfits, all decked out for the Career Fair. I recognized some of their talents on the spot, and told them. I gave advice on how to best manage and conceal tattoos. I gave them my daddy's advice: if you make 30 calls and you get one "yes," you're having a great day: for after all, you only need one job. My friend and co-presenter Barb Wisnom provided a new, more positive trope on that theme: try and collect 20 "no's" and make it a game. Can you? I'm going to try it out. Because one of the hardest lessons when you're marketing yourself to potential employers (customers) to learn is that it's business, not personal. "How can your feelings not get hurt," one of the students asked. "Practice, repetition and time," I replied, with full knowledge and serenity.

Saturday was a day of vocational giving, and I received nothing in return except an unexpected and delicious sandwich from Ambition. And from my experience, the dividends that always come thereafter are: priceless.

Good Boundaries Make Good Hires

And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."

                                                 -An excerpt from Robert Frost's poem Mending Wall


Nothing is more frustrating when you need to hire 100 seasonal warehouse employees in 3 weeks than to have the post-offer, pre-employment drug test come back positive. Cost-per-hire time and money down the toilet (no pun intended), including but not limited to the wasted cost of the drug test, which could run about $35 - $50 a pop.

Now, you may not agree with the concept of drug-testing in the workplace at all: let's agree to disagree. In my experience in manufacturing and warehouse environments rife with automated conveyors, heavy forklift and cherry-picker lift-truck traffic, you want everyone to be clean, sober and constantly on the alert. A 5-story fall from a cherry-picker at the top of your typical warehouse to its cement floor is certain death. A human / forklift collision is at minimum a loss of physical capability and at maximum, life-changing paralysis or even death as well. You get what side of the fence I'm on.

Early in my warehouse hiring career, we had about 10 drug-test failures in one week. A $500 bite in one week out of my already thin Recruiting budget. The Operations, Loss Prevention (LP) and Human Resources teams got together and brainstormed. Here are some of the solutions we developed and implemented:

• We inserted messages into our employment application and ads that we were a Drug-Free employer;
• We posted signs with the same messaging in our interview areas;
• We developed a fact sheet for applicants to read during the offer process that not only spelled out we were a Drug-Free Employer, but also that we also required a post-offer, pre-employment drug test.

These hiring boundaries had an immediate impact, and we saw a drop in our pre-employment drug test failures. But we still had one or two each week, which continued to be a frustrating waste of time and money. I reached out to our testing vendor and asked what drug was the most common reason for failing our pre-employment drug test. It was marijuana, hands-down. We gathered the teams together again. "It's easy to grow and readily available, that's why it's an issue," one LP team member observed. "True," I responded. "It's not considered a 'hard' drug," a member of the HR team added. "So maybe applicants don't think we're testing for it." Great point. "Okay," I summarized. "Let's add that we test for marijuana to the fact sheet and see what happens."

I hit the jackpot later that week. Two well-dressed and professional young women attending college locally came in during the 2nd shift open-interviews; they were friends and I interviewed them together. As I prepared their offer letters and pre-employment drug testing paperwork, I gave them the revised fact sheet to read that spelled out marijuana as an illegal drug included in the drug test. "Ma'am?" one of them queried politely. I looked up. Disappointed, they handed back all of the new hire paperwork to me. "We can't work here," the young woman continued. Her friend nodded. "We smoke weed every day," she added. "We don't want to waste your time. Thank you for the opportunity." I nodded my understanding. "Thank you for letting me know," I said, genuinely grateful. "I wish you both the best of luck." I appreciated their candor, but wondered how many opportunities they had to pass up because of that personal choice.

Are you clearly and constructively communicating your workplace cultural and compliance boundaries as part of the hiring process? If not, consider the opportunity to lower your overhead costs -- your cost-per-hire / cost-of-turnover -- by proactively and positively sharing your workplace running rules with your lead candidates.

Good boundaries make good hires.   

Doing the Job During the Interview Benefits Everyone at Work

As I mentioned in this post last November, one of my best experiences of doing the job in the interview was when Bill, the best mentor / manager of my career to date, gave us both a break from the formal interview and asked me to write a press holding statement based on a chemical accident scenario he provided, giving me 15 minutes to do so.  I loved it.  I banged out the holding statement in 5 minutes and handed it over to him.  Bill looked at me, looked at his co-interviewer and smiled.  I knew then that I had the job.  More importantly, I had the wonderful experience of witnessing Bill's appreciation for my talent and abilities as part of the interview process.  Because Bill had the insight as the hiring authority to ask me to do the job in the interview, we had each other at hello.  It was the beginning of a rewarding work experience for both of us.

This past week, a colleague took this best practice one step further and invited their lead candidate to work in the office with them for 3 hours.   Clever Colleague wanted to see how Lead Candidate conducted themselves as they completed a key task together.  Both Colleague and Candidate were pleased, and both are now truly ready to seal the deal with a job offer.  

Clever Colleague was also smart enough to know (without prompting from me) that they should pay Lead Candidate for their work demonstration time.  

This is a best practice because it takes the hiring process out of the theoretical chatter that is the banal and tired employment interview and brings it into the realm of actually demonstrating the work that needs to be done by the prospective employee (vendor) to successfully fill the needs of the job at hand.

It just like good theatrical writing:  show me, don't tell me.  If you don't have the skill to demonstrate how you can you best meet the needs of your next employer (customer), you become like a forgettable movie ending:  like the bad narrative that someone else forced Harrison Ford to do at the end of Ridley Scott's first theatrical release of Blade Runner.  It just doesn't ring true, and it does not do you as the candidate (vendor) any justice at all.  (Or, as illustrated by my favorite line from Human Resources interviewees who have no HR experience:  "I'm really great with people.")

Work demonstration does not need to be just the hiring authority's idea during the employment sourcing process:  how have you (and will you) proactively demonstrate by doing the job in the interview that you will concretely meet / exceed your new employer's needs?  Is it a press release, a custom Crystal report, a draft marketing plan for your first 90 days in your new role?  The creative possibilities are endless, for both vendors and customers.  Make your best work demonstration offer to the decision-maker.

This week:  show us what you can do at work.

Be the Vendor (Not the Applicant) in the Job Interview (Sale!)

It's a point-of-view game-changer:  are you an applicant in a job interview, or a vendor?  I've witnessed the paradigm-shift as I've coached two talented professionals over the last month.  It's like watching the switch flip back to the authentic human capital offering.

Approaching a job interview as an applicant forces you into the frame of supplicant. Beggar. When you approach the interview in the sad context that the hiring authority is doing you a favor by talking to you, you're just another dancer in the Chorus Line, murmuring the meaningless mantra of "God, I hope I get it."  Oh, you'll get it all right.  Rejected, with that attitude.  You're starting out one-down from the hiring authority, in the supplicant's unmistakable veil of fear.  Fear of rejection; fear of not being able paying your bills, fear of (insert your worst fear).  In this fearful stance of the supplicant, the hiring authority has you at hello.  You're trapped, you're at their mercy and you did to yourself.  Don't get me wrong;  the "What Does He Want from Me, What Should I Try to Be" mantra is not necessarily the recipe for disaster:  supplicants are hired every day.  The hiring authorities who need that kind of control need that kind of applicant who surrenders their personal power for a paycheck.

It doesn't have to be that way.  You control this interview conversation more than you know.

This interesting switch dwells in all of us:  it's just a matter of being open to its possibility and creativity.   In coaching the First Professional, who had not been on an interview in several years and who with real anxiety asked me to put together a top-10 list of the toughest interview questions and answers to expect, I did something unexpected.  "Don't approach this as an applicant," I coached.  "If instead in this meeting you were the vendor providing these services on an outsourced basis for this customer, tell me why you're the vendor they should choose."  The Professional's fear evaporated, and the sparkle returned to their eyes:  the switch was turned on and they instantly empowered themselves.  They proceeded to knock my socks off with their proposal and their energetic self-possession.  They did the same with their new employer the next day.  They were head-and-shoulders above the other candidates in their expertise and self-confidence, who I'm sure were merely supplicants.

It's not just a matter of the supplicant answering the employer's questions correctly:  the real conversation is the subject-matter expert (SME) vendor meeting / exceeding the potential customer's needs.  And as my daddy taught me:  when the customer is doing most of the talking, and is selling you on them and their organization, the signs are positive that you can ask for the order (job), and close the sale.

I saw the switch turned on again today with the second Professional.  While their current employment situation is a bit sketchy due to economic forces, they have several potential "customers" interested in their services next.  The pressure is off, there's no veil of fear, they don't have just one potential customer.  As they engage in their initial customer conversation this week, they can be completely present, authentic and centered as the talented SME Vendor they are, exploring the potential possibilities together with the customer of working together, rather than stoop to some bizarre and hellish personal version of Quiz Show.

May the week ahead present innovative proposals and produce fruitful new partnerships for us all.

Do the Job Before You're Hired

I love Nick Corcodilos of Ask the Headhunter fame.  Among the plethora of gems in his wealth of sage advice for all of us -- candidates and hiring authorities alike -- is his mantra to do the job in the interview.  In other words, a successful interview is not the hiring authority asking you a prescribed set of questions to which you provide a pre-rehearsed set of stock answers.  Think about it:  how do the participants in an artificial conversation like that determine authentically how well they will partner and contribute to the bottom line together, or not?

Instead, Corcodilos encourages candidates to adopt the salesman's stance to discover the business needs the hiring authority has and then effectively provide and demonstrate how their needs will be met / exceeded during the interview.  Clearly, a much more authentic and revealing evaluation.

One of my best experiences of doing the job in the interview was when Bill, the best mentor / manager of my career to date, gave us both a break from the formal interview and asked me to write a press holding statement based on a chemical accident scenario he provided, giving me 15 minutes to do so.  I loved it.  I banged out the holding statement in 5 minutes and handed it over to him.  Bill looked at me, looked at his co-interviewer and smiled.  I knew then that I had the job.  More importantly, I had the wonderful experience of witnessing Bill's appreciation for my talent and abilities as part of the interview process.  Because Bill had the insight as the hiring authority to ask me to do the job in the interview, we had each other at hello.  It was the beginning of a rewarding work experience for both of us.

During this last transformative trip to the Recession Rodeo, my trope or variation on this theme is to do the job before you're hired:  as a 1099 contractor / consultant performing a small / short-term project for the potential employer.  

Doing the job before you're hired via a contract project is all upside.  Both you and the hiring authority get to experience what your shared work life will be like, allowing both parties to assess each other in much more detail than the much shallower artifice of an interview process.  You get to interact with both your potential boss and your potential co-workers in the daily routine of their work environment.  You can weigh the positives and negatives of working with the potential employer more objectively when they are your customer:  frankly, it's less emotional and for the most part, more collegial.  It also levels the playing field to the cost / benefit of a commercial relationship, rather than the often distracting power dynamic of the employer-employee relationship.  

During such a contract trial period, the employer benefits from the product you produce to move their business forward, and you are paid for your work product / talent in the process.  It's a business transaction:  it's a win-win.  

And if one or both parties decide not to move forward with an employment relationship, no harm, no foul.   The employer has not made a bad hiring decision; and you do not have a short tenure on your résumé to explain to the next hiring authority.

Both interview parties -- candidate and hiring authority -- literally putting their money where the static interview used to be:  now that's a human capital investment I can get behind. 

When You're an Employee, You Only Have One Customer

Ever since my father took me to the office one Saturday morning at the age of 4, I wanted a job.  It dawned on me:  so that's where the quarters and dollars Daddy doled out to me came from.  Cool.  Sadly, I was not invited back, as my fascination / love of technology with buttons also began with that visit:  I destroyed a large electronic adding machine by pressing too many buttons at once.  It was exciting, especially when it started smoking and whining.  I gained the reputation from that toddler experience with the male members of my family of being unreliable around machinery, which was totally unfounded and unfair.  Ask my husband Joel:  I am End-User Support for our house and can resurrect even the most hopeless computer fiascoes, most of the time.

So while most of my contemporaries in high school were wringing their hands next to the phone waiting for a boy to call for a date (or not), I engaged in the exact same ritual with a potential employer.

I asked my father for advice, as he was (and still is) a whiz at getting jobs.   It's always the same advice, it just took several decades to sink in:  "If you make 30 calls, and you get one sale, you're doing great,"  he'd dictate.  "What does that mean, Dad?"  I asked, confused.  "I'm not selling anything, I'm not a salesman."  Dad smiled.  "Yes, you are:  you're selling yourself.  And you know how to do it, because you're my daughter. You're just not concentrating."  I still didn't get it, clearly befuddled.  Dad spelled it out for me.  "Don't focus on one company:  apply to as many companies as you can.  That way, you increase your chances of getting a job, and you don't drive yourself crazy waiting for one guy to call you back and hire you.  Don't put all of your eggs in one basket."

Communication gap bridged, I got it.  It involved a lot more work applying and interviewing at many other companies, but it sure beat the soul- and energy-sucking anxiety of sitting next to the phone waiting for a call from just one potential employer.

Recently, as I was in the middle of a career coaching session with a good colleague, I took my father's advice one step further.  The presenting challenge was how to best frame a proposal to their manager (Read:  Customer) on their next career step up the organizational ladder, with the accompanying increase in compensation.  I coached Good Colleague that the proposal should meet both their needs as well as the profitability needs of their organization.  "What if my manager rejects my proposal?"  Good Colleague asked.  "Well, then maybe you've outgrown the organization, and it's time to look outside the organization,"  I replied.  Good Colleague was dismayed.  "But I don't want to leave the organization, I love it there," they said.  Good Colleague, like Dad, is in Sales / Business Development.

I thought for a moment.  "If that's the case, then you only have one Customer.  And from a business development standpoint, we all know how dangerous it is to bank your success on one Customer."  Good Colleague nodded.  "You don't have to necessarily leave the organization right now:  but there's nothing wrong with reaching out to colleagues in your industry, to ask their advice and grow new and existing relationships,"  I continued.  "At minimum, you'll make some great connections and build your reputation if your current manager ends up accepting your proposal, and at maximum, you'll be prospecting for new potential Customers.  It might be a job; it might be a project; or it might be a business that you'll start and grow.  The Customer potential is only limited by your willingness to try."

How many Customers do you have?  And are you keeping those Customer relationships warm and mutually rewarding by meeting everyone's profitability and success needs?

Banish Bitter and Blotchy From the Interview (Sales Call)

Several years ago, I sat at my company's booth at a large job fair. I was alone covering the booth as the other members of my recruiting team were out on a break.  

A job-seeker approached the booth:  a gentleman with salt-and-pepper hair, dressed in a nice navy suit, red silk tie, polished shoes, equipped with a leather portfolio and linen paper résumés.  On the outside, he looked great, quite hireable.  On the inside:  he was a mess and he proceeded to over-share with me (A career-long occupational hazard for me:  I'm a recruiter, among other SME gears, yet candidates more often than not mistake me for their therapist, whether it's on the phone or in person.).  "Hi!" he chirped, slapping one of his résumés on the booth counter.  "Need an accountant?"  I smiled back.  "Not at the moment.  However, I'd be happy to have your résumé in the event we need one in the future."  

His face fell, and he was visibly annoyed.  "It's because I'm 53, right?" he insisted.  He shook his head.  "It's why my boss let me go, and it's why I can't get hired:  no one wants to hire anyone over 40."  He began to walk away before I could even respond.  Usually, I'd let bitter-and-blotchy candidates like him go their miserable way.   The first candidate contact is like the first date:  candidates are (theoretically) on their best behavior, and hiring bitter-and-blotchy usually doesn't end well.   But he was clearly discouraged and clueless, not a winning combination.

"Excuse me, please don't walk away," I requested.  The job-seeker turned around, surprised.  "Are you talking to me?" he asked.  "Yes please, if you don't mind:  I can't leave the booth right now," I replied.  He came back to the booth, clearly curious.  

I leaned over the booth counter.  "I know why you're not getting hired.  Are you interested in hearing why?"  He nodded.  "You need to move past how your last boss hurt you, and let it go," I confided.  "And if you can't do it yourself, ask someone you trust to help you work on it, so you won't ever speak to a hiring manager like that again."  He was a bit stunned.  "I am hurt," he said, sadness replacing anger.  "I know," I replied gently.  "And it's stopping people from hiring you."

He paused for a moment.  "I've never had a recruiter speak to me like this before. I appreciate the feedback, but why are you telling me this?"

I smiled.  "Because you have a great résumé, and I just hired a 73 year-old last week."  

He laughed, and thought for a moment.  "Well, I have a good friend who's a Vice President of Human Resources:  I could buy him a cup of coffee and talk it through with him."

"Perfect, please do!"  I said,  extending my hand.  "Good luck."  He shook my hand.  "Thank you for telling me."  he said. "I appreciate your honesty."

I know what you're thinking:  how could this candidate not know the impact he was making with his bitter-and-blotchy presentation and baggage, especially spewing his grief and anger all over a hiring authority / decision-maker?   It's pretty simple:  a lot of folks are so verklempt over their losses and challenges that their feelings are driving the bus instead of their common sense and sales ability.  They're not focused on consciously managing their changes.

Change Management SME's emphasize that in order for people to effectively manage change, they must achieve some closure with the past and let it go, so they can move forward and resiliently embrace change.

Whether you're selling yourself in an interview, or selling your product to a potential customer (same thing in my reckoning),  leave the past and the bitter-and-blotchy attitude behind:  so you can move forward, close the sale and build your success.

A Job Interview Transformed Into a Sale

A Dear Colleague of mine went on an employment interview last week, in response to a job posting for which they were imminently, if not a bit, over-qualified.

They are clearly the lead candidate for the advertised job.  While the salary rate is below what they made in their last position, it would be a logical career move, given the economy, to take the position and gain the resume' experience. 

And then something magical happened.  During the interview, the Decision-Maker identified three projects for which Dear Colleague was also imminently qualified, which were also a bit out of the scope of the advertised job but clearly a priority for the Decision-Maker. 

Dear Colleague, as a result of their recent experience in building a consulting / contract client base, was able to on the spot hear the needs of a potential Customer through the artifice of an employment interview.  Dear Colleague nimbly then asked some key intake questions to confirm the needs of the Employer-Turned-Potential-Customer.  Then, Dear Colleague proposed potential and viable solutions to the Decision-Maker in a consulting role.

Long story short:  Dear Colleague is putting together a project proposal for the Decision-Maker.  And Dear Colleague is still in the running for the advertised job, which for bureaucratic reasons, will take longer for Decision-Maker's organization to process than Dear Colleague's consulting project proposal.

The supplicant candidate transformed the discussion - and themselves - into a Vendor (read:  Entrepreneur) meeting the needs of the Customer; building the product (read: Dear Colleague's skills and abilities to meet / exceed the Decision-Maker's needs) just-in-time, on the spot; asking for the order; and closing the sale.

Supplicant transformed into Entrepreneur:  now that's an economic turnaround I can get behind.

How - and in what direction - will you transform your Decision-Maker meetings this week?

Reputation Makes Recruiting, PR and Marketing Ring True (Or False)

One night earlier in my recruiting career, I was uncharacteristically awake past 10 PM.  When I'm up this late with nothing interesting to read or watch, I turn on the t.v. for background noise and catch up on my work email.

A new email pinged in at 10:25 PM, not from a colleague but from an executive-level candidate responding to a query email I had sent earlier that day.  Here's what it said:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Good evening:

There's no amount of money you could pay me to come and work for your company.  The (hiring manager) is a flaming asshole and everyone in the industry knows it.  Good luck with your search, your (sic) going to need it.

Sent from my BlackBerry
Please forgive any typos
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It startled me.  My husband Joel heard me gasp and woke up.  "What's wrong?" he asked, startled himself.

"Look at this email!  I've never seen anything like it from a candidate before," I replied, offering the laptop screen for him to view.  Joel smirked.  "I'm sure he's drunk," he concluded. 

I shook my head, bewildered at the candidate's carelessness.  "Friends shouldn't let friends email drunk.  Doesn't this guy care about his reputation in the industry?"  Joel arched a sage eyebrow at me.  "Well, is the hiring manager an asshole?"  I smirked my reply back.  Joel went back to sleep.

Just a few weeks after the drunken candidate email, I was networking on the phone with another industry executive to solicit candidates for the same job.  He was coldly cordial and (I presume) soberly to the point.  "I hear nothing good about your leadership team.  Your company doesn't have a great reputation out in the market.  Your sales have sucked for the past few years, and I predict you'll be out of business in the next 3 - 5 years."  I thanked him for his time and hung up.

Now, I love recruiting.  However, I listened to these two poignant and juxtaposed data points and came to the conclusion that no matter how good a recruiter I am, including but not limited to how positive an ambassador I am for my organization, no amount of recruiting lipstick was going to make the organization's reputational pig pretty. 

As the job market and the overall economy continue to rev up in fits and spurts, it's important to engage in organizational listening, in social media and other channels, to understand what your customers, candidates, vendors, etc. are saying about your organization.  And more importantly, to incorporate that listening into both your external and internal customer interactions, to ensure that the communication is consistently authentic.

Have a lot of open positions to fill and not getting a lot of candidates?  What's the word on the market about you and/or your organization?  What does my girlfriend Google say?  Or surely, you should have some inkling:  could it be the 20% of your workforce that you shed during the worst of the recession?  Or the chronic complaints from your customers about your service?  Whatever the facts are for your organization, consider addressing them proactively, factually, productively and future-facing.  And ensure that the recruiting, public relations and marketing streams are integrated, singing the same authentic message about your people and your products.

What's the word on the market about you and your organization?  And what are you proactively doing to address the message authentically?

The Interview as Business Proposal: And the Product is You

The job market is starting to pick up, thankfully, and many of you have job interviews this week.  I'm thrilled for you:  break a leg.

Some of you are spending the evening with one eye on the Super Bowl and multi-tasking with Google and the very best intentions to find the ultimate answer to the ubiquitous (and uninspired) question, "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?"  Your navy suit, which will telegraph trust to your (hopefully) new employer, is pressed and ready on its hanger in the closet.  Your alarm is set. You've Google-Mapped the (new) employer's address. Your portfolio is stocked with multiple copies of your resume'.  You're drinking O'Doul's to ensure that you're bright-eyed in the morning.

A much smaller percentage of you are finalizing the proposal / presentation of how you're going to meet / exceed the business needs of your future employer (read:  customer).  You've done your homework and your metrics are crisp and to the point.  The customer is expecting a potential employee, and you will knock their socks off by exceeding their expectations as a potential strategic supplier, in-sourced or out-sourced.  You will present the product that you know the best:  you.  You will also conduct the same preparations that your competitor candidates are currently undertaking, e.g. the well-pressed suit, etc., but your unique selling proposition -- that puts you ahead of the pack -- is that you understand your meeting tomorrow is a sales presentation to meet the new customer's needs, not just an interview.  And if you've played your cards right, you're the only candidate, because you've made the right connections thanks to your network to reach the decision-maker before they've even thought of advertising their needs to the open market.

How do I know?  I've done it and won it myself.  Several times.

And you will, too.  Happy hunting; let us know how it goes.

Thank You Fer Teh Job Oppertunity

Gentle reader:  whether you are looking for a new job, or you're looking to be retained and/or promoted in your current organization, I beseech you, I beg you, I implore you.  Please proof what you send to hiring authorities and decision-makers.  Emails, documents, etc.  It's so sad and tragic when you don't.  Repeatedly.  

Seriously, stop it.  You need a job.

Speaking of which:  I'm not going to repeat verbatim in today's blog post my blog post from last August, Write Your Life, Write Your Career.  Read my advice as a hiring authority and a decision-maker to you there.  Not learning to write and proof to minimal business standards is, at the very least, a career-killer.

Those of you who don't proof your work and are subsequently not hearing back from the job applications you submit:  I'm going to give you some brief yet poignant examples as to why:

• state university of ny, albany ny

(Hint: it's not proper grammar, and since I know for a fact that e.e. cummings is dead, you're definitely not hearing back from me);

• Shift Manger, Ruby Tuesday's

(I love mangers, especially at this time of the year:  what does this have to do with your management experience?);

• Sent From My Verizon Wireless mobile phone

(Not as impressive as it was a few years ago; now it's definitely just lazy.  Not a real signature.  You can change this default signature yourself, just check the Verizon Wireless website or ask Tech Support at your local Verizon Wireless store);

•  Subject:  Your Career Oppertunity

(Big ouch.  You misspelled the email subject line.  I don't even open up your email, I just move it from my email Inbox to the Candidate Regret folder); 

 

• Education:  Saratoga Springs High School        

(I know font formatting in emails can get messed up in web transit; that's why you should attach your C.V. as well as cut and paste your C.V. into the body of the email.  Otherwise, it's like receiving an anonymous ransom note from a serial killer with a lack of attention to detail);

•  Hi:  I'm interested in teh job.

 (Hi.  You don't know me, therefore "Hi" is inappropriately too familiar for a cover letter salutation.  And you misspelled "the."   As the hiring authority, two strikes against you as the candidate.  We won't be familiar any time soon).

Note: please consider any typos you find in this blog post as a pop quiz.

Happy education; happy hunting; and happy holidays to you and yours!      

What Dating and Interviewing Have in Common (Except Please Don't Date Who You Interview)

Among several passions, interests, entrepreneurial endeavors and job experiences, I've been an inside (corporate) recruiter for about 21 years. I've been a salesman's daughter all my life. My daddy, who worked as a wedding and bar mitzvah photographer on the weekends as a second job, had me cold-calling prospects when I was 14 years old.

Howard (my father) taught me then and since that selling is not shoving unwanted products down customers' throats: it is instead first determining the customer's needs and then meeting those needs. It was a great and early introduction to my own native skills, and it definitely formed the basis of my success as both a recruiter and a candidate.

As a result of my journey to date, in both robust markets and during several rides to the Recession Rodeo, I've come to the conclusion that the following skills are congruent: interviewing; selling; marketing; networking; and dating. Had I recognized these skill intersections when dating was a primary interest in my life, I definitely would have dated more.

However, in the spirit of full disclosure as an HR practitioner, you definitely should not date who you interview.

There are several opportunities at play within these skill intersections, for both employers and prospective employees. These are not meant to be inclusive or ranked in order of importance; merely thought- and continuous improvement-provoking.

I also use these skill intersections to illustrate how accessible the recruiting and interview process can be when I train others to both interview and recruit.

First: an intense curiosity to learn about new people and to have new experiences with them. My friend Nan (who is a writer and an English teacher) and I share this gift. Nan applied her skill masterfully in the dating category. To this day, I marvel at her ability when she was single to secure at least one date in nearly every social situation. As a runner-up to Nan, I always make a new networking connection no matter what the setting, because of my native curiosity to draw out and learn people's individual stories, which more often than not, are wonderful takeaway nuggets.

Second: the ability to read signals, verbal and non-verbal, and determine whether or not needs are being met for both parties. I have ended meetings or revised the original meeting agenda, no matter what side of the interview table I sit on, when I determine that there isn't a needs match on both sides, in the spirit of saving time and preserving mutual esteem and credibility.

One example was an interview for a senior HR position as a candidate: once the recruiter finished his clearly rote description of the position, I then asked him why he wasn't considering our mutual friend Lynn -- she was a perfect match for the position, which substantiated my intuitive conclusion that the position was not for me. He subsequently recruited and hired Lynn. I love vocational matchmaking.

And then there was the guy with a strong Accounting background who came to my then-company's job fair booth and began our interaction complaining that he had been job-hunting for several months and that he couldn't catch a break because his last boss was an asshole and that his age was a problem and that's why he couldn't get hired. Yikes. I stopped him and told him the truth: that he needed to resolve his frustration before he approached the next hiring authority, as he was clearly undermining himself. He was grateful: no one had ever given him that feedback.

Speaking of signals: watch-checking -- whether on a date or an interview -- telegraphs a clear "Stick a fork in me, I'm done" message. A strategically placed clock over the candidate's (or date's, or customer's) shoulder is a more subtle and respectful time-tracker.

Third, and perhaps most important: knowing what you want, whether you're the candidate or the hiring authority. I'm a big advocate of defining exactly what you want (and what you have to offer) affirmatively and in detail before recruitment (or job search) begins. This preparation invariably produces expedited screening processes, specific and meaningful interview questions and dialogue, and on-target needs identification for both candidates and hiring authorities, which in turn translates into focused marketing that invariably produces better results. Covey's classic "begin with the end in mind."

However, the human experience often presents these nuggets in the form of learning from our mistakes, e.g. learning first what you don't want.

Like dating the newly recovering medical student for a year and a half despite the fact that on the first date, he took me to dinner knowing full well that he did not have the money to pay, but cutting him slack because he was adorable. Unfortunately, just being adorable was not enough to sustain a relationship. I subsequently learned my lesson after that relationship on the first date with the immature lawyer who took me to the movies knowing that he did not have the money with him to pay. There was no second date with the immature lawyer, lesson learned.

And then there was the wonderful 5-hour first date with the man I knew would become my husband. Except I had the sense by then not to mention that intuition during that first date.

Fourth, as noted above: the ability to identify red flags, large and small, and to assess whether or not, according to what you have clearly defined as what you want, if the red flags you identify are manageable or deal-killers. And to not ignore those red flags, instead to drill down into them with additional questions / discussion to confirm or deny your red-flag intuition.

A candidate example was the nonprofit Executive Director who called me before 8 AM the Saturday morning after my first interview with her to spontaneously continue the interview -- I respectfully withdrew myself from consideration. I could easily extrapolate what it would be like to work for her: she'd show up on my doorstep early every Saturday morning expecting coffee.

One of the sadder hiring-authority examples was the guy who showed up still drunk for his first day of work from celebrating his new job into the wee hours the night before. His employment offer of course was rescinded.

Because here's where the first date and the first interview are identical: for both the hiring authority and the job candidate, it's as good as it gets: we're all on our best behavior. So if the red flags bleed outside the boundaries of your standards on that first date or interview, more likely than not, it's not going to get any better than that first encounter. Then both parties need to decide whether or not to move forward -- whether or not needs will be met on both sides.

Hiring authorities: The manner in which you recruit employees should be the same as the manner in which you attract customers, as it requires the same passion and energy. And you never know when a job candidate can end up as a customer, especially in a local economy like SmAlbany. Recruiting is part of your branding and your reputation. Everyone, internally and externally, is a customer -- it's a win-win set-up and ultimately reflects best on your organization.

Job candidates: you are the product that you're selling to the prospective employer. Have you determined their particular needs? Can you clearly demonstrate how you will meet / exceed their needs in the interview? Have you asked for the order by telling the hiring authority that you want the job, and that you're the best candidate for the job because you've laid out the true facts of how you will meet and / or exceed their needs? (Asking for the order without making the factual case of meeting the hiring authority's needs is like saying "I love you" on the first date, by the way -- it cheapens everyone in the conversation.) It's a lot more work, but it feels much better than the stereotypical candidate paradigm of supplicant, don't you think?

That symmetry goes for subsequent interviews too: I'm a big fan of Ask the Headhunter, where among other nuggets, I wholeheartedly support his philosophy of doing the job during the interview, as this benefits and identifies needs on both sides of the interview table. One of my best career interview experiences as a candidate was the interview task to write a sample press release as if there was currently a plant emergency. I loved it, and my hiring (and subsequent) manager, Bill, picked up on my energy. Needs met and matched!

Seriously though -- please don't date who you interview. I'll talk more about that in a future post.

Good hunting: have a great week.