it's ALL about the experience

The Petri Dish

Here's a fresh perspective about first impressions to keep in mind when interviewing as penned by Michael Maynard, a free-lance journalist who has joined us as a consultant to provide his weekly view on topics from Human Resources and Recruiting to business at large. 

Upon entering a business that I have not visited before, there are two things I initially check as indicators:  the receptionist and the noise level.  Understanding what each represents can give you an advantage in your interview process and in determining whether you would like to work for this business.  The receptionist and the noise level are initial keys to understanding the business's culture.

Business law considers a business as a single entity, similar to an individual.  Individuals have unique personalities.  Each business has its own unique personalities, which when put all together, create the company's culture.  The individuals who work for the business are amoebas in the business' Petri Dish, singular beings brought together whose collective health or disease determine survival.

Why is the receptionist such a big factor of the company culture?  The receptionist is the first representative of the business that an outsider meets. I've seen many instances where a security guard is the receptionist.  This makes me wonder if the company is concerned about robbery or other forms of illegal activities.  Or the receptionist is untrained to do the job and is overwhelmed by having to answer the phones and deal with the visitors.

If the receptionist is pleasant, the outsider feels welcomed and is in a positive frame of mind to attend the upcoming meeting.  If the receptionist is negative, the outsider wonders whether this attitude is prevalent in the business. If there is no receptionist, but a phone and a list of names with their phone extensions, the outsider wonders if the business is in financial difficulty or is uncaring about visitors.

The noise level is a much overlooked indicator of business health.  Good businesses are noisy.  Employees are constantly moving to meet with others.  There is laughter at the water cooler.  Impromptu meetings occur in the hallway.  Even if employees are having a loud disagreement, this is a welcome sign.  These employees are passionate about the company and the outcomes of the work. These employees feel secure about the business culture that they can talk loudly and disagree without concern about losing their jobs.

Nearly all the time, the business culture is instilled by senior management. Enron is a classic case of business culture being a mirror image of senior management.  Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling created a culture of greed and law breaking through their words and actions.

However, not all business cultures are representative of senior management.  Many years ago, I consulted for a local software developer whose management were seldom seen or heard. It was the Marketing Communication Manager who set the tone of the business.  The Marcom Manager had AIDS and his skin showed the ravages of Kaposi Sarcoma.  The employees rallied around their sick friend because he showed up for work each day with a smile on his face and went out of his way to help his job mates.  The employees did work hard and played hard, as he continued to do.

From my consulting experience, I know that it is very difficult to change an ingrained business culture. Changing senior management does not usually change the business culture.  There has to be a catalyst for culture change in the business, like the Marcom Manager.  All employees have to be aware of their role in sustaining the old culture and what they have to do to change it.  It is very hard to change an individual's behavior after working for the company for many years.  But the potential outcomes; increased productivity, reduced employee turnover and an overall happier work environment makes the effort to change worthwhile.

About Michael Maynard: Michael is a free-lance journalist and management consultant.  As a freelance writer he has written for CEO and CIO magazines and other magazine and newspapers.  He was managing editor and featured columnist for Global Business Newsletter.  He was also a featured columnist for the Washington Post-Newsweek syndicate.  For more than 25 years, Michael has been President and Co-Founder of Azimuth Partners, a marketing and business development consultancy.  You can reach him at michael@improvedexperience.com.

Technorati tags:  interviewing, recruiting and hiring, first impressions, business culture.

Sins of the Recruiter

I had to laugh when I saw this newly launched blog which is all about the (mostly) clueless behaviors of recruiters trolling for fresh meat. Seen through the eyes of a software development contractor who launched his search for a new gig a few weeks ago, it is an almost-daily log of recruiting behaviors that are least endearing to candidates.  Talk about first impressions...the posting tags read like a scene from a bad bar pickup: clueless, desperate, moron, foot in mouth, rookie.

Call it morbid curiosity, but I'm going to stop by again soon to see what some poor recruiter-schlump has done now to warrant a public flogging.

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I'm Claudia Faust, and in my day job I’m the head of Products at Improved Experience, where we help employers use feedback to measure and manage engagement for competitive advantage in hiring and retention. Learn more about us here.

Technorati tags: recruiting, first_impressions, improved_experience

Do You Trust Me? Yeah, Right.

Depending on your perspective of the political scene, this has either been a very bad week or a very entertaining one in Washington DC.  What is it about election season that consistently brings out the dirty laundry?  I'm bracing for a long, strange road to the White House next year.

All of this moral high ground really highlights for me one of the biggest differences between mediocrity and  excellence in business: the subtle art of credibility.  It's the great equalizer in the talent game, this balance between what you say and what you do: companies struggle with it in the never ending competition for that next great hire...and so do job seekers, in the never ending quest to find the perfect job.

It turns out that the more things change, the more they stay the same:

1. Deliver results.
2. Speak the truth.
3. Be consistent.

Oh yeah, and when all else fails, it doesn't hurt to take a breath and look around.  There's bound to be somebody else nearby on their own quest to build credibility.  Celebrate the moment before you go back to yours.

Technorati tags: Politics, Credibility, Recruiting, Hiring, Retention

Checkout Austin jobs at itzbig.

Low Expectations, Vastly Surpassed

     Did you catch Mike Taylor's post on his Online Recruitment blog about Paul Potts' appearance on American Idol?  Now, I'll be honest... I don't watch the show myself.  But Mike's post is alluring precisely because of the You-Tube video he planted in its center.  Wow, Paul Potts really can sing!!!

     Paul's video is nothing if not a master show piece in what I like to call "low expectations, vastly surpassed" or LEVS.  It's a bit like when your significant other strongly coerces you to go to a movie s/he'd like to see.  You have heard nothing but horrible reviews on it -- or just plain don't like the previews you've seen -- and are firmly convinced the time spent will be dismally worthless.  But alas, you emerge from the movie theater slapping your friend on the back and proclaiming, "That really was a great movie!" (This is exactly what happened to me, incidentally, when my husband drug me to see "Brother, Where Art Thou?")

     I wonder how often this LEVS phenomenon occurs in the recruiting world.  I know in my recruiting days I would occasionally meet a candidate for whom the resume was just plain underwhelming.  But out of sheer desperation to find some talent and fill the req, I'd reach out to contact the person.... AND then proceed to be completely blown away by their impressive talent and strong interviewing skills.  It's fair to say that my expectation bar was set pretty low.  Now, to be fair to the talent pool, there are plenty of really great candidates who don't write a stellar resume.  Of course, it can be hard to get to first base without a favorable first impression of the resume, an important step if one is to pull off the LEVS move.

     But on the other side of the fence, we in the recruiting world must ask ourselves how many candidates out there can talk about how they experienced the LEVS phenomenon during their job search.  Come on!  Who's got a story to tell in this regard?  Let's hear from you. 

Technorati tags:  first impressions, You-Tube, Paul Potts, recruiting and hiring

Great San Francisco jobs are at San Fran Jobs.

A Special Thanks to Moises Lopez

Check out Moises Lopez's perspective on our lunch.  He's much too kind--I wonder who was sitting across his table for that luncheon.....?  Kidding aside, thank you Moises, for a lovely tribute to our luncheon.

Meeting George Blomgren

We had occasion to meet George Blomgren through some networking on ERE and found out we share some very common views about the importance of providing a good candidate experience in the recruiting process. George is a career coach, speaker and writer on career development and has several blogs (for job seekers, and also for employers/recruiters).  He's also working on a web site for job seekers.  As if he weren't busy enough, his full-time focus is managing marketing for a national network of local employment and diversity recruiting web sites.  He writes about amy of the same things we do.  Have a look at his blog and you'll see what we mean. 

Search for jobs and careers at JobCentral.

Word of mouth and the Google interview

An interesting read is to be had here, where Pete Abilla has detailed his interview experience with Google last October.  Anyone who's worked in rapid growth, high technology has lived the two days described (I remember my own interviews at Amazon.com that were conducted in a hallway because there weren't any interview rooms available), so no surprises there.

What really caught my attention were the words he used to describe the people, business culture, and hiring process he experienced with the company.  Take a look:

Under a lot of pressure…grueling…nice…very bright…focused on their work…complained to me about their frustrations…lame and unprofessional…day 1, 4 interviews…very, very late…first interviewer came in late and really sweaty…tough questions…very open about frustrations with Google…clueless…sharp…nice…true innovation going on…no lunch…the atmosphere there is very cool…I felt energy…could visually see the innovation going on…day 2, 7 interviews…much tougher…fun and interesting…sharp…quantitative but warm…cold but not mean…observant but not expressive…nice, open and direct…in all, the experience was okay…the people I interviewed with didn’t seem happy to me…tired and grumpy…I didn’t get a feeling that Google treats their people very well.

Now it gets even more interesting.  Collaborating (commiserating?) with Pete’s views are a host of others (about half of whom were trying to help him solve a brain-teaser interview question he was given) who spoke up about their own job search experiences with the company:

Pretty disheveled…not so thrilled they had to be interviewing…immature interviewers…they pulled a bait-and-switch…unhappy with their jobs…you capture the essence of the Google work environment very well…covered in Smug…the fourth reich…had many other important projects on their minds which consumes a lot of mental and physical energies…the Google interview process can be painful…12 person interview process…pretty smart (though generally not brilliant) people…interview process could stand some scrutiny…you had an odd experience…chronically late…a great company for beginners…not good to work there if you aim high…Google sux!!...any company that sends you an unsolicited invite should always cover costs up front…too bad they didn’t offer more for you…egalitarian culture…a great phone interview until they asked me what my GPA was as an undergrad…I think I am better off not having gone there.

Holy feedback, Batman.  And you wonder if candidates talk to one another?

Now consider this:

• Pete’s blog is syndicated on at least 15 blog aggregator sites, including all of the biggies: Newsgator, Google, My Yahoo, My AOL, My MSN, Bloglines and Pluck.
• The Blogosphere is doubling in size every five and a half months, and is now over 60 times larger than it was 3 years ago. It doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon.
• As of my visit to his blog, Pete’s account of his interview had received almost 45,000 unique visitors since March 26, 2006.  Only 75 of them actually took a moment to leave a comment (does that say something to you about what might be going on in your hiring process?), and of that group I’d say that only one or two sounded like they had an axe to grind.

That’s a lot of free employment branding, don’t you think? 

The world is getting smaller by the day.

Technorati tags: recruiting hiring employment brand

The staring contest

This is part of a series about first impressions from the Job Seeker's perspective.  Yes, these things do happen to other people too.

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One time during an interview, the manager came in the room, said hello and then just stared at me for about 5 minutes. It was complete silence. He was playing some kind of head game. I did not get the job. This was my worst interview.

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Our two cents:  Regardless of whether the candidate “passed” or “failed” the manager's test, we wonder about the strategy behind the behavior, and whether or not HR was even aware that the tactic was being used. Clearly the job seeker didn’t understand the point of the exchange. Unfortunately, rogue interviewing practices like this turn into the "word on the street," with untold repercussions for the company. Interview training, anyone?   

If you have a story to tell, send us an email.  We're not above changing the names to protect the innocent!

Technorati tags: interviewing recruiting hiring

The Dream Job...Take Two

This is part of a series about first impressions from the Job Seeker's perspective.  Yes, these things do happen to other people too.

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Can you believe I went back for more? To read Take One, look here....

A year later, I applied for another dream job with a great organization. The posting was for a "Specialist" position. I felt confident after receiving a phone call from them just hours after submitting my resume electronically. They wanted to set up a phone interview with their COO right away--another good sign, I thought. I prepared well for the interview.

The interviewer was a little late to call me, but that was excusable. What DID bother me, however, was that he quickly explained after glancing at my cover letter and its reference to the "specialist" position that the posting I saw was incorrect. They already have a specialist, he explained. The posting should have read manager.

This might have been good news had I had direct experience in the job category, but I did not. I was certainly not in a position to manage anyone. For the management role, they were specifically looking for someone with a lot of experience in this particular area -- which I clearly lacked.

So...why, after reviewing my resume, would they request a phone interview if they knew that I was applying for something that wasn't available? Surely if they gave my resume any review whatsoever, they would have realized that I lacked the experience needed to manage in that particular area.

I felt the interview process was not only a waste of my time, but an emotional drain. I wanted so badly to work for this organization and had high hopes that I would get the job that they had posted.

Thanks for listening!

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Our two cents:  You know how annoying it is to talk to someone who is always thinking about what they're going to say next while you're answering their last question?  How about that recruiter who only sees what he wants to see in your resume?

Whether this scenario happened because the recruiter and hiring manager misunderstood one another, or because the recruiter was tunnel-visioned on that next "dialing for dollars" call - the result was the same.  The candidate was left wondering who couldn't understand what was written on the resume, and why her time was wasted in the process. Taking a few minutes to plan your recruiting calls can prevent a world of bad press... and maybe turn the wrong candidate into the right referral source.

If you have a story to tell, send us an email.  We're not above changing the names to protect the innocent!

Technorati tags: interviewing recruiting hiring

The Dream Job - Take One

This is part of a series about first impressions from the Job Seeker's perspective.  Yes, these things do happen to other people too.

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I found a posting for my dream job. Even though it would result in a significant cut in pay, I still wanted it. It was an opportunity to work with a well respected non-profit organization doing something I would thoroughly enjoy.

I was able to check off every desired requirement listed on the posting. The only thing I lacked was some experience they listed as "a plus". I was a near perfect fit! 

I put days of effort into preparing my application and resume. I was thrilled when I received their request for a phone interview, which I also tediously prepared for. When I received their call for the interview, it was very obvious to me that the interviewers had not even peeked at my resume or supporting documents, based upon the questions they asked. I realize it was my job to sell myself, but I immediately felt disrespected and put off by their lack of preparedness. If the organization was seriously considering me, wouldn't they want the interviewers to ask relevant questions?

When I didn't get the job, I followed up to respectfully inquire why I didn't get the job and what I skills I could acquire to get a similar job if posted again in the future. They specified one experience that they felt was a "must have" for the job that I lacked. Interesting, that experience was listed as "a plus" and not a requirement on the job posting.

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Our two cents:

This is a great example of the applicant going the distance and the employer not starting the race.  Unfortunately, lack of preparation before the interview happens all the time - with dismal results - as recruiters and hiring managers try to manage aggressive deliverables with limited resources and timeframes.

Preparation aside, saying "Thanks, but no thanks" to a candidate can be legally tricky for a company.  It is never easy to tell someone they haven't made the cut, but it doesn't have to be a negative experience.  The art of a "Great Candidate Decline" means that the job seeker continues to hold your company in high regard even after you've said "no."  Word of mouth is a powerful influencer in the talent marketplace, and a bit of recruiter or manager training in how to close off candidates can give you a structure to take advantage of this for your company.

If you have a story to tell, send us an email.  We're not above changing the names to protect the innocent!

Technorati tags: interviewing hiring