Does Job Search Mean Jumping Through Hoops?
Posted by CathyG in job interview, job search on 06 2nd, 2009Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that companies increasingly make applicants jump through hoops to get jobs. Theoretically, they want to take advantage of the recession to load up on talent.
But is this really a great way to get talent? The companies are asking applicants to do things like
come to an interview dressed for a formal dinner;
interview other applicants and present their qualifications to the group;
bring 3 years of W-2 forms;
and more.
Some companies have a culture that includes bizarre interviews. Southwest Airlines invites applicants to come in groups and interact with each other. I read that they once invited pilots to a group interview, then told them to strip down to their underwear. Presumably this interview took place before women pilots were part of the applicant pool. Maybe the kind of guys who want to be pilots wouldn’t mind. Apparently some who were hired thought it was a great idea, so maybe they did relate to the culture.
Maybe I am missing something, but I don’t see how these tactics help employers make wise decisions. Research shows that statistical models predict success more than interviews. Besides, wouldn’t a top quality applicant with a lot of offers say, “Why bother?”
Read the article here.
What are your own thoughts and experiences? Click on the “Comment” link to share.
read comments (0)The Outsider Advantage
Posted by CathyG in career advice on 11 9th, 2008Being an outsider can be an advantage — if you know how to make it work for you.
Did you know:
- The man who made Goldman Sachs into a powerhouse firm was the ultimate outsider
- The founder of Kinko’s graduated at the bottom of his high school class
- A survey of small business owners revealed that 35% are dyslexic (as is Charles Schwab, founder of the brokerage house that bears his name)
Read the full story at The Outsider Advantage
3 job search strategies for a troubled 21st century
Posted by CathyG in career planning, job search on 10 19th, 2008When I went to my first career workshop, the leader said, “Call strangers. Ask questions. They’re bored and they’d love to help you.”
This strategy was fine until a few million people read the Parachute book. Now executives were fending off eager callers.
With the economy doing a tap dance, it’s time to take a look at some contemporary strategies.
(1) Go virtual.
Link up on Facebook and LinkedIn. But be responsible. Never share anything online that you wouldn’t share with your grandmother, pastor, boss, and most back-stabbing colleague.
When you “friend” someone, make sure you have a legitimate connection. If you don’t have a direct connection, go through an introduction. Recently I was asked to introduce two people on LinkedIn, and it was my pleasure.
(2) Introduce yourself by positioning yourself as a problem-solver.
Some time ago a professional looking woman told me she worked for Company X. “I’m just a creative director,” she said.
Just a creative director? I for one was pretty impressed. Erase the word “just” from your introduction vocabulary.
I would stay away from those stylized elevator speeches. But you can present yourself as a successful professional, even if you’re underemployed, unemployed or feeling you’re not moving fast enough.
(3) Be prepared with a low-key success story.
Example: You say, “I am a project director.”
Your listener says, “What does that mean?”
You say, “Well here’s an example. I just organized a project where I had to coordinate ten team members from 4 departments. I had to find suppliers, maintain the timeline and come in on time and under budget. We saved the company $50,000 with our system redesign.”
For more job search ideas, check out my irreverent job search guide.
Interviewing for the Biggest Job in the World
Posted by CathyG in job interview on 04 17th, 2008Ususally I try to stay away from politics, but it’s hard to ignore the US Presidential election. Whether you support Clinton, Obama or McCain, you can’t help noticing what candidates have to go through to win elections.
If you’ve ever made a hiring decision based on interviews, you realize how tough it is to get to the “real” person. Some candidates make great impressions during interviews but can’t survive six months on the job. And every so often a lower-ranked interviewee gets hired by mistake and surprises everyone by doing a terrific job. I’ve seen research suggesting that a linear combination of hard numbers (such as GPA and experience) will predict success more effectively than interviewer recommendations.
Conversely, some companies make employees jump through hoops that don’t seem related to career success. Dinners. Group interviews. Stress interviews.
The problem, of course, is that we tend to hire and vote for likeable, attractive people. We’ve all worked for and around some of those likeable, attractive people. If we’re especially unlucky, we have been forced to cover for these people and do their work.
Ideally, we would look at what candidates (and hiring prospects) have accomplished in similar roles. Unfortunately we rarely have access to this information. So we make do with whatever information we can get. And we ask candidates to demonstrate skills that have little relationship to what they’ll do on the job.
Remember the old joke about the drunk who was looking for his keys under a lamp post? “I lost them in the street,” he says, “but it’s too dark to look there.”
It happens a lot in real life, too.
Interviews With Hidden Agendas
Posted by CathyG in career advice, career change, career stress, job interview, job search, jobsearch on 03 15th, 2008You’re interviewing for a job and the interviewer wants to pick your brain. You sense they want your expertise without paying for it.
“Real” consultants run into this challenge all the time. Most of us learn to charge for “diagnostic” or “test-drive” challenges.
When interviewing, you may feel more constrained, especially if you need or really want the job. Here are some suggestions – but it’s always a judgment call. You’re on the scene. Use your intuition and your judgment.
(1) Are these requirements common in your field and at your level? If not, recognize a red flag. For example, a senior manager normally would not be asked for a writing sample. You have to decide if the company is coming from left field… or if the HR people are incompetent or bored, but your own manager will be just fine.
(2)Did you initiate the contact through a back-door or informational interview approach? You may be selling the employer on creating a job, not just filling one. Some experts recommend using the opportunity to demonstrate your problem-solving skills by presenting yourself as a consultant, not a candidate.
(3) Are you being asked to disclose information about specific programs and processes from your current career or business? I’d view these requests as a danger signal. Your manager may be testing your loyalty and ethics…or displaying some peculiar value systems of her own.
(4) Are you asked to prepare a written report? Be sure to write your name and identifying information on every page.
Frankly, I would take a risk and ask, “If you implement my recommendations, what will my compensation look like?” I can’t imagine an ethical company that couldn’t come up with a response. But I get surprised all the time and I would love to hear from readers on this one.
(5) Are you asked for on-the-spot recommendations to a specific, complex challenge?
This one is tough. You may be evaluated on how you approach the problem, such as the kinds of questions you ask. Or you might do better to say something like, “We had a similar problem in my last job. And here’s what I did…”
Let me hear from you: reply to this message and share your own thoughts. Do you have a whole different take on these questions? Let’s share!
Prime your intuitive pump: Your Intuitive Move http://www.midlifecareerstrategy.com/intuitionbook.html
Irreverent Job Search Guide http://www.midlifecareerstrategy.com/searchbk.html
