It may not bother some candidates that a company’s executives are members of a cult that is popular with certain Hollywood celebrities. However, when there is evidence that principles from the cult are being used as management tools within the company, that’s a clear sign to run, not walk, from that opportunity.
While finding out that the company may be run by Operating Thetans makes for a good horror story, the reality doesn't have to be that creepy to make the research worth your while. When you go researching your potential future employer, I suggest looking for people who are part of the company, and find what they have to say.
Maybe you'll find a former sysadmin who blogs openly about how things go at the company. What if the IT department is in the middle of political upheaval over whether to move to Oracle or stick with PostgreSQL? Perhaps the company has had trouble hiring developers, and you'll want to ask about that at the interview.
No matter what you find, or don't, the potential goldmine of information available about your prospective employer makes some online research well worth the investment of time.
]]>Beautiful, every single one of them. I'd like to club everyone who posts at anonymous whining sites like jobvent.com with these rules, starting with #2 and #4.
]]>While tricks like this may not be common, there's a reception test that you run into every time you interview. Every interaction you have with everyone in the company is part of your interview that could have positive or negative effects, and the receptionist is the first candidate. The receptionist comes into contact with hundreds of people every day, and is likely tuned into observing people as they pass through the doors.
Whenever I have an interview, the first thing I do after showing the candidate out is ask the receptionist "What did you think? Any comments?" Usually I'll get something bland like "He seemed nice, I like that car he drove up in." Other times I get more interesting comments like "He took a long time to fill out his application. He spent a lot of time on his phone while he was writing, and didn't seem like he was very interested in the interview." or "It must have been a long trip, 'cause he practically ran in and asked for the bathroom." Those specific comments don't affect much as far perception, but it gives an idea of how you're constantly on display.
How you treat the receptionist speaks volumes about you. Were you polite? Did you say "please" and "thank you"? Or did you just grunt and drool before bothering to put on your Happy Interview Face? The receptionist, and those around you, will know.
It might not even be the receptionist who notices your behavior. Maybe that guy in a suit sitting in the lobby isn't another interview candidate, but the CEO waiting for the CFO to go to lunch. I've even sat in the lobby myself before interviews observing the candidate.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that your scrutiny starts when you step into the interviewer's office. You've been on stage well before that point.
]]>So many of the questions seem to be from people looking for silver bullets that are The Right Way to do things. There are questions like:
Asking "What will a prospective employer want to see in my code portfolio?" is like asking "Where should I take this girl on a date tomorrow?" There's no way to answer. We can answer in vague terms, like saying "Put your best code in the portfolio" or "Don't pull a Travis Bickle and take her to a porn movie," but that's about it.
These people seem to be looking for definitive answers where none can exist. Don't fall into that trap yourself. Treat every job in your job hunt as a brand new case, with unique requirements and a unique set of ways that the job can use your skills.
]]>That's why I was discouraged, although not shocked, to see some blog comments recently where the posters seemed to be endorsing mediocrity, making excuses for being an average, me-too candidate.
The first comment, over at Evil HR Lady, lambasted the interview question "Why do you want to work here?"
dumbest.
question.
ever.
i never ask that question since i'm not interested in azz-kissers.
as though 99% applicants aren't just trying to find a decent job with a decent company in their field. please!
if someone is interested enough to go through the hiring process, i don't expect them to have breathlessly anticipated employment with my company since they were just 'yay-high'.
let's get real, people.
Anonymous is saying "Candidates don't need to show passion and excitement for the job, because 99% of everyone is trying to get by." In fact, that's exactly why you should show how you're excited about the job, because it sets you apart from the rest of the crowd. Instead, Anonymous chooses to fight to maintain the middle ground, to firmly stay average and uninteresting. Chances are, he'll wind up with an average and uninteresting job working for an average and uninteresting boss, too.
The second, posted here on TWG by Andres Kievsky in response to What you say vs. what others hear, takes issue with my comments. I said that it was rude to send thank-you notes from your Blackberry minutes after the interview has ended. I think it tells the recipient that you're just cranking through job prospects hoping to find something that happens to fit.
Kievsky disagrees, saying that that's the way Generation Y does things and management better get used to it:
Understanding generational divides is something difficult, but a very important skill for any manager nowadays.
There are myriad differences in attitude and communication style between Generation Ys and older people. I suggest reading up on the subject before dismissing anyone.
Kievsky isn't wrong that the Millenials in the workforce are going to be a challenge to a business world that isn't used to these newcomers that have always had cell phones, always had the Internet. However, those Millenials are also going to be up against the wall if they don't understand the culture they're entering, and refuse to play by its rules. Maybe it's "normal" or "standard" for Millenials to send a thank-you SMS message, but that's a poor justification for alienating someone in a process that is all about human interaction.
Being the same as everyone else is cold comfort when you don't get the job, beaten out by someone who is willing to transcend the group she's lumped in with. As with Anonymous, rather than using the averageness of the masses to justify poor business sense, Kievsky and Anonymous would better serve readers by encouraging them to elevate from the norm.
]]>If you're not yet reading Working Girl, please do, even if you're actually a working man. Some of her posts are indeed specific to women, but most are applicable regardless of gender. Plus, her book is now announced, which I'm sure will be excellent.
(Wow, explanation of a clever magic trick, and a Rush link. This IS the Working Geek.)
]]>This article from the Wall Street Journal discusses how job candidates trash their chances of landing jobs by using overly informal communications.
After interviewing a college student in June, Tory Johnson thought she had found the qualified and enthusiastic intern she craved for her small recruiting firm. Then she received the candidate's thank-you note, laced with words like "hiya" and "thanx," along with three exclamation points and a smiley-face emoticon.... Workers in their 20s and younger are accustomed to online and cellphone messaging, and the abbreviated lingua franca that makes for quick exchanges, [David Holtzman] says. "It's just natural for them. They don't realize that it's perceived to be disrespectful."
Sometimes it's not even the medium or the message, but when you send the message.
Executive recruiter Hal Reiter recently received ... a thank you from a chief financial officer candidate sent by BlackBerry just minutes after the interview. "You don't even have time to digest the meeting and you're getting a thank-you note," says Mr. Reiter, chairman and chief executive of Herbert Mines Associates, a New York-based search firm.
In this case, the very method of sending the communication told the recipient that it wasn't worth much of the candidate's time. The candidate was on his way somewhere else and dashed off a reply, as if he was getting an odious task off his checklist, rather than giving a respectful letter that matched the gravity of the communication.
It's all about respect, and the ways that we can easily show our lack of respect or interest in others. Unintentional messages are messages none the less.
]]>There was a lot to cram into those 30 minutes. I wish I had more time. :-(
]]>I set an interview for Monday. Candidate says he has kid stuff. I suggest Saturday night. He says Why don't you have a date? No job for him.]]>
I think this page from the Dayak website is all you need to know about them. That much cheesy stock photography is never a good sign.
Seriously, this is just bad news for everyone. When you're treating people like eBay items, like interchangeable commodities, you're going to hire the absolute most average people, or worse.
]]>Most overnight successes take a decade.... [T]he best way to promote something is consistently and persistently and for a long time.
The same holds true for your personal brand, and your relationships with others in the working world. The term I like to use is "time and repetition."
]]>As with most interviews, preparation is key. Research who will be in the interview, and make a cheat sheet of who's who and what they do for the company. If you don't know ahead of time, keep track as you're introduced to each person. Notice where the power lies within the group.
You also should closely monitor the group dynamics. How screeners introduce themselves, their initial banter and the seating arrangement speak volumes about who wields the most clout.
Panel interviews may be the best predictor of cross-company dynamics, however. "You're not always going to be on the same page with everyone in the room," the article notes, and so it will be with your life on the job.
]]>Since I'm working on my Soon-To-Be-Officially-Titled book on job hunting, I turned immediately to the chapter on job interviewing. This phrasing caught my eye: "Prepare to close the deal." It's common advice to specifically work to get a job offer in the interview, and it's one I hammer on in my book. From the current draft:
You must ask for the job, explicitly. It may feel awkward, or seem like it's pushy or egotistical to come out and say "I want this job," but not doing so leaves things vague in the mind of the interviewer. You can blow an otherwise fantastic interview by seeming uninterested in the prospect of working for the company. Don't delude yourself into thinking "Of course he knows I want the job, or else I wouldn't be here." What you see as obvious may look like indifference to the interviewer. Don't worry about being too enthusiastic by asking to move forward. Part of what you're being interviewed for is your enthusiasm and interest in the company, the department, the team.
Trunk puts it in more sales-oriented terms in her book: "Prepare to close the deal. Leave nothing open-ended at the end of the interview." I can't disagree, but I know that for many of my technically-oriented brethren that that's a level of assertiveness, and salesmanship, that may be tough. Maybe the way for geeks less accustomed to closing a sale to think about it is like nailing down requirements on a project. Programmers hate to work on a project milestone without knowing what the milestone is, and so it is with an unknown interview outcome.
It's worth practicing, out loud before the interview, how you'll ask for the job. Train yourself to get over any discomfort of asking to close the deal. Write out a few sentences that you can practice saying. Try something like this:
I wanted to thank you for the time today, and I'm very excited about working here at Football Town. My expertise in scrum and XP methodologies fit where you've told me the IT department is going, and working in the sporting goods industry would be a dream for me. What are the next steps?
Does that feel weird to say? Practice until it doesn't. You're not memorizing the exact words, but getting used to expressing something that direct. When you're in the interview, if you follow that structure, the words should come out naturally. If it's true, and it comes from your heart, that's gold.
On the other hand, if your practice deal closing isn't true, that will come out in the interview. It won't just be in your closing, but throughout the entire encounter. Lack of enthusiasm stinks, and interviewers can smell it a mile away.
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