Job Search Solution Blog by Tony Beshara

For those of you that read this blog religiously, you will remember the quote last week from the employer who interviewed one of my candidates. For those of you that didn’t catch it, here’s what happened: I sent two candidates to an employer, and here is what he wrote about one of the candidates:

“Seemed distant, poor body language, and lacked enthusiasm.  He also seemed to not have done much diligence on researching our company or preparing questions that would give him more insight into the position or general responsibilities.  His previous production numbers also seemed askew from what our expectations for the role would be, which I know I’ve shared with you.  When asked about how he would go about prospecting into smaller clients than at his last two positions, he replied by defining a market segment that was not in line with the market segment I had just explicitly defined.  Also, he was dressed in an unpressed button down shirt and slacks–no tie, no jacket.  While I would not find this an automatic disqualifier, combined with the other mitigating factors, I do not believe he will be a good fit at our organization.”

Well, the candidate got hired Friday. (It was not one of our clients, but that’s okay. We’re really proud of him.) He said that he learned from his interviewing mistakes. He did research on the company. He had some really good questions. He said he was more engaged in the interview. He said that he made it a lot more clear what his production and previous performance numbers were. He said that he dressed much more professionally.

He thanked me for what he learned and was grateful that he found a position. We are very proud of him and confident that if he keeps learning what he did here, he’ll do fine.

It’s rather unfortunate that hiring authorities decide about a person’s ability to do a job based on their interview performance. But, interviewing is like democracy, it’s not really fair, but it’s the best we’ve got.

Congratulations to our candidate!

I had two candidates interview at the same place back-to-back. On paper, both of them were equal. Both had different backgrounds, but experientially. They were about the same. Here is the feedback the hiring manager wrote me:

Candidate #1:

Intelligent, articulate, sound sales acumen and realistic expectations on what an inside sales role would be like for him.  Was open about needing to get up to speed on some of the technology that would be necessary for him to be successful and asked very good questions about the company.  Came well prepared, took notes, good energy, and appears detail oriented which is an absolute must for working at Mentis.  Next step in our process would be an interview with Jason and another member of our outsourced sales management team and will need his availability for next week.

Candidate #2:

Seemed distant, poor body language, and lacked enthusiasm.  He also seemed to not have done much diligence on researching our company or preparing questions that would give him a more insight into the position or general responsibilities.  His previous production numbers also seemed askew from what our expectations for the role would be, which I know I’ve shared with you.  When asked about how he would go about prospecting into smaller clients than at his last two positions, he replied by defining a market segment that was not in line with the market segment I had just explicitly defined.  Also, he was dressed in an unpressed button down shirt and slacks–no tie, no jacket.  While I would not find this an automatic disqualifier, combined with the other mitigating factors, I do not believe he will be a good fit at our organization.

These two guys that were relatively equal, I couldn’t  believe it! I helped each one of them exactly the same way. One of them obviously worked hard at preparing for the interview. The other one obviously didn’t. It’s really sad and a shame. The second guy’s skills were really good, but he certainly didn’t communicate that at all.

The lessons are hard to miss.  Dress properly and sell yourself the right way.

It’s a daily occurrence in our profession that people don’t call us back when we’ve been trying to help them. I’m not complaining about it, because I would’ve gotten out of this profession 48 years ago if it really bothered me that much. It’s sadder than it is anything else. And it’s kind of a shame that we treat each other that way.

The biggest issue regarding courtesy is hiring or interviewing authorities returning calls from candidates to let them know that they are no longer being considered for the position, or that someone else was hired, or nothing happened at all. This is probably one of the most frustrating, if not, the most frustrating experiences that, especially candidates, as well as hiring authorities (recruiters also), go through. Us recruiters get used to it and don’t take it personally. We realize that as Teilhard de Chardin writes, we’re all “spiritual beings acting human.”

I’m not trying to make excuses for this kind of lack of courtesy. But how much effort does it take for an interviewing or hiring authority to pick up the phone and, at least, leave a message that their call was appreciated, but the organization is going to go in another direction? It’s so very easy to do. It doesn’t take much of an investment, and certainly doesn’t take much time.

Ninety eight percent of the time interviewing or hiring authorities just plain don’t return calls or emails or texts to candidates they are not going to hire. I’ve never quite figured out why it’s so hard to do and why people don’t do it. The vast majority of the time, job seekers are already experiencing emotional distress. Looking for a job, even if you have one, is an emotional strain. And then to be “rejected” by simply being ignored is simply discourteous.

Interviewing and hiring authorities aren’t the only people that do this kind of thing. I can’t tell you the number of candidates that I’ve interviewed over the years, gotten them an interview within one or two days of when they visited with me, call them numerous times, only to have them never call me back (until, of course, they need me again). I realize that we are in the kind of business that when people need us, they really need us, and when they don’t, they just don’t. Okay, fine! But how hard is it to pick up the phone or write an email or text me and simply state that you don’t need me anymore. No problem.

This is more of an observation that it is a complaint. Complaining about this won’t do any good. I’m also convinced that making an observation about it isn’t going to change the fact that most people are going to continue to do what they do. I’m not sure that this lack of courtesy is intentional. In fact, if you ask most people, “do you like being rude?”, very few people would tell you that they do. And wouldn’t it be nice if we all did everything we were supposed to do. We are not talking about saving the whales here. We’re simply talking about courtesy of informing a hopeful job candidate who thinks he or she has done well on an interview and is being considered for a job that they are no longer in consideration. It doesn’t even need to be a phone call. It could be a text or an email. But simply ignoring people and not responding to them in any way, just is not very nice.

A number of years ago, I presented a candidate…a rather perfect candidate…  to a prospective employer. It was a vice presidency’s position and carried a $200,000 base salary. My candidate had been one of my clients and had lost his job due to a restructuring. VP jobs are not easy to find and he had been out of work for about three months. On paper, he was absolutely perfect for the job. When I presented him to the hiring Executive Vice President, he started laughing. He explained to me that he wouldn’t hire my candidate if he was the last candidate on earth. After a pregnant pause, he explained to me that a few years earlier, the roles were reversed. My client had been looking for a job, interviewed with the fellow who was now my candidate, and claimed that he had been totally ignored. The now hiring authority claimed he called my candidate numerous times, emailed him a few times and never heard anything from my candidate. According to the now hiring authority,  this took place after a seemingly splendid two-hour interview where the now Executive Vice President was told he was a “perfect” candidate and that he should expect to hear from my now, candidate’s company immediately. And then nothing!

I know that I don’t return every call to everyone who I work with… especially candidates.  But I try to make it clear to everyone that I work with in the beginning that I won’t be able to return every call. All it means is that I haven’t found them an interview. But I am sure that there are lots of candidates out there with whom I did not make that clear. For that, I apologize.

Again, getting upset about this kind of thing that goes on does not do any good. But if a gentle reminder to be courteous nudges just one person to return a call, this was worth writing.

I got this email today:

“Tony, hope all is well. Tonight, I participated in my company’s ‘Iclub.’ It was done virtually. What a joke. I got a $300 bonus.

I’ve always loved my company, and I’ve always loved what I’ve done. I have been bought in for the 23 years that I’ve been here. However, I have never felt less appreciated.

Given that and the fact that I know my comp has fallen far behind the market, it’s definitely time for me to see what’s out there.

Spiffing my resume up this weekend. Call you Monday.”

Thanks,

XXXXXX

It’s always been this way. The major reason that people leave the company is because they don’t feel appreciated. A little love goes a long way!

Most people would answer the question of “Why are recruiters in the business?” with the idea that if you’re real good at it (and that’s pretty rare) that the person can probably make some really good money. Once in a while, you’ll find somebody that will give it a little more thought and come up with, “to help people.”

This week was really fun and gratifying. One of our newer recruiters, Amanda Martinez (been here right at a year) placed a lady in a human resources manager’s position. The lady was so thankful and joyous; she started crying with joy when she accepted the offer. Of course, that’s the first time that’s happened to Amanda and, I will admit, I don’t ever remember it happening before. The lady was so overjoyed at getting the job she thanked Amanda profusely.

The feeling this gave Amanda will last for as long as Amanda remembers the experience. The money will always come and go. It will go long before this feeling will ever end.

It is moments like this that is the real payoff in this business. That’s why we’re really here!

Not a week goes by that at least two or three candidates turn down excellent job opportunities because of “advice” from other people. Instead of using common sense, they convolute the decision making process by becoming phenomenally confused because they ask the opinions about what they should do from people who really have no idea what they’re talking about. They get so many opinions from so many people they get confused. Confusion leads to fear and fear leads to them doing nothing.

Advice about changing jobs or what kind of job you ought to take is like advice about marriage. Everyone who has ever been married thinks they know something about it. Many people don’t know their own marriage very well, let alone, someone else’s. Most people know very little about what kind of job might be available for someone else, but because they have looked for a job or found a job before they will give their advice as though it was absolute and global.

So, the first thing a job seeker ought to do is to limit the number of people they get job search advice from. The second thing is to be sure that the people they ask are credible. Do they know you? Do they know your industry or profession you are in well enough to give valuable advice. Your loved ones, spouses, family and your close friends may know you really well, but they may not know the perspective of the kind of business you are in. They may act like it, but most of the time they don’t. Heavily consider the qualifications of the people you seek advice from. Your mother may think that your the best oceanographer in the world, and you may be, but she has absolutely no idea of the prospects of you finding a job in Dallas, Texas… (Very poor… we don’t have any oceans here).

Feature this, your pastor or spiritual adviser may know a great deal about spiritual life and even your spiritual practices. But he or she may not know squat about the accounting profession, or sales or engineering. Your spouse loves you but doubtfully knows the landscape of your profession. They probably think… In fact I hope they do.. that you ought to be the president of the Western world. Let’s face it, they love you and want what’s best for you but they really don’t know how you might get that job.

I have found that even 60% of the advice about finding a job on the Internet isn’t incredible and some of it is flat out awful. I’ve written in other posts about some of the junk posted on the Internet written by people who have either found a job or two or hired a few people and then write about ideas that are absolutely foolish. Quick example: there are literally hundreds of articles on the net about how to apply for job by sending your resume to a company’s job posting. These authors teach people how to “customize” their resume to the posting, etc. Out of close to 100 articles I reviewed, not one of them…NOT one..explains that 30% of the job opportunities that are “posted” are not really open or that the odds of finding a job in this way are 1 in 375. 99% of the people writing these articles are authors, researchers, professors, HR professionals, ex-HR professionals etc., most of whom have, at best, a very narrow perspective…theirs..of what’s going on with the job market.

So, get advice from whomever you wish. But realize the perspective from where the advice comes from. Take it with a big chunk of salt and compare it to what you are experiencing. Unless the people you are getting advice from are in the trenches, helping people find jobs every day be careful.