Magic Pot of Jobs

Here’s another hint, jobseekers… You’re not going to get very far in your job search if you can’t be available to interview.

I received an email today from a guy who told me that he had recently switched jobs, hoping that it was going to be a step up for him, only to find that the job wasn’t a good fit for him after all. But he has only been there a month, and doesn’t have any leave yet, so he can’t be available to interview. He can leave early every Friday for the rest of the summer, though, so he can come meet with me to register after 3:00 PM on Fridays in August. Keep in mind that with his location, it would take him an hour to GET to me on Friday, so the meeting would be at 4 PM.

I do not have ANY clients willing to take someone on for a long-term assignment without at least one, and more likely two in-person interviews. If you can’t make yourself available to interview, you can’t do a job search. Period.

Also, do you really think you’re going to get the best of my attention at 4:00 on a Friday afternoon in August? Even if I didn’t have a daily commitment at 4:45 (which I do), I don’t know anyone who does their best work at that time.

And yes, there are plenty of recruiters out there who would stay late to interview a great candidate, but frankly, this guy was not that kind of superstar.

Tiff and I had lunch with the lovely Erica yesterday. We had a productive and engaging discussion on the differences between women’s and men’s communications styles in the workplace. While we didn’t necessarily come to any new conclusions on the subject, it did higlight the value of good interview questions.

Erica shared that she was once in an interview where the hiring manager asked her “how smart do you think you are?”

I don’t see the value in a question like this. What does it truly tell you about the candidate? It’s a question that would make even the most experienced job seeker uncomfortable, and doesn’t give the interviewer anything valuable to follow up with. It’s a purely pop psychology question.

If the interviewer wanted to get a good perspective on how a candidate thinks, or how comfortable she/he is in uncomfortable situations, a more direct approach would have yielded better answers.

Some suggestions:

How do you deal with difficult workplace situations?

Tell me about a time when the odds were against getting a project done on time.

Have you ever been in a work situation where you were the subject-matter expert? How did you approach teaching your coworkers?

The point of an interview is not to psychoanalyze a candidate. It’s to gather information as to how he/she reacts to work situations, and to see how he/she has applied knowledge from past work experiences.

There are amazing parallels between a job search and dating:

You see an ad for Accenture* online. You like what Accenture has to offer, and think that you might be a good fit based on a few surface qualifications. You offer up your contact information, and Accenture calls to set up a time to meet.

You then put on your nicest outfit, make lots of eye contact, smile, and be your usual charming self. Accenture asks you questions, you ask Accenture questions. You all get a feel for each other, and you are either interested in learning more, or you’re not.

In the second meeting, you have a chance to learn more about Accenture. What are Accenture’s vacation plans? What about culture? What are the benefits of a relationship with Accenture?

Then, the infamous third interview. You’re either offered “the job” or not.

But as much as there are similarities, there are notable differences.

I mean, if Accenture doesn’t call you back, you don’t sit and beat yourself up about it. “Maybe Accenture thinks I’m too fat! Or I bet it’s that I talked about my last job too much. Damn it, what if I never find another Accenture!?”

And the thing is that there is always another Accenture. It’s much easier for us to think that we’ll never find another mate again than it would be for us to accept that we will never find another job.

Now, only if there was someone who could check references on your behalf: How long have you known Accenture? Did you find Accenture easy to work with? How was Accenture’s punctuality?

*Just an example, sweeties. Accenture is the one place I haven’t worked. Yet. I’m still reading their horoscope for the right day to make my move. I’m also now shopping at Accenture’s grocery store, hoping that we run into each other in the produce section.

My friend Taryn recently told me this story over homemade guac. Let it be a cautionary tale about working for people who have no sense of humor (or a grasp on what is acceptable to say in an interview, for that matter).

Taryn had a great first interview, for a director-level position, at a trade association. She met with the office manager and felt like the interview went well, and that she had developed a good rapport with her.

A few days later, she met with the president of the association. Again, second interview, feeling good.

At the end of the same week, she received an e-mail from the president, alerting Taryn that she had some “concerns” about her, and wanted to meet with her again to see if they could be resolved. It’s at this point that Taryn calls yours truly, and asks what “concerns” means.

(Expressing concerns, btw, is simply a request for more information. Either that, or the person is terribly indecisive. When you can’t tell the difference, that’s a bad sign.)

Taryn goes back for a third interview, this time over her lunch break. The office manager and president chat her up with small talk for about ten minutes. Taryn, being the direct and ballsy hottie that she is, finally says, “So, ladies. Concerns. What’s that all about?”

The president proceeds to launch into a lecture about how Taryn is not allowed to drink at the national conference as they “have a reputation to protect.” (This is ironic, considering the business they represent, but I won’t kiss and tell here.) Taryn is a taken aback, and asks if she has done anything to give them the impression that she was a heavy drinker. No, they respond, but they just wanted to be clear about expectations in advance.

“Cool. Well, if that resolves it, then I’m heading back to work,” she says. The office manager chimed in at this point, and says there is actually one more thing: “Taryn, we’re concerned about your language.”

Taryn is racking her brain at this point “What have I done to give them the impression that I’m a drunken sailor?”

Taking a second to breathe, she asks for them to please explain, as perhaps she was just nervous during the interview process, and something slipped out. (Look, there goes the f-bomb!)

The president says, “well, Taryn, we asked you to cite an example of how you go above and beyond for your clients at your current job. You mentioned how you have one client that was constantly late for committee calls. You said that you call him a few minutes before the call every week, tell him to get his butt on the phone, and he always makes it on time.”

“OK,” waiting for the pres to continue.

Dead silence.

“Butt is NOT appropriate language in a business context. We DO have a reputation to protect here.”

Dead silence.

“Mmmmm, OK.” At this very moment, Taryn has decided not to take the job. While telling someone to “get his butt” is not the most eloquent way of expressing the sentiment, it does illustrate that Taryn did a good job of building a casual and friendly rapport with her client, something we here at the MISF call getting into the client’s operating reality.

And since when is “butt” a dirty word? It’s not as though she channeled Samuel L. Jackson and said “hey motherfucker, get that ass on the phone before I slap you like the bitch you are.”

At this point, Taryn stands up, and offers her own perspective: “Ladies, thank you for your time. If you were at all concerned about my professionalism, that’s what references are for. As you haven’t asked me for any, I can only assume that we’re not moving forward.”

They e-mailed her later in the day to request her references, and she declined.

Moral of the story: if the company makes you that nervous, or considers my niece’s favorite word ‘dirty,’ trust me that you don’t want to work there anyway.