Career Coach Office Hours: December 6 2022
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
I answered questions about #jobsearch #hiringstaff #management #leadership #workplace issues. Join me at 1 PM Eastern on Tuesdays and Fridays. You can also message me on Linkedin before the show and I will answer it, too.
AND IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!!
Thinking of Making A Career Change? For Now, Start at the Beginning
Can I say an employee didn’t give a two-week notice when called for a reference? Why do you want to do that? Seriously. Why do you want to do that? Are you intentionally trying to harm someone who left because they weren’t happy where you were, where they were, and needed to go somewhere else? Yes, in theory, you could do it, but what’s the point? Focus on what they did well for you. Focus on their strengths and capabilities–what they accomplished, how they went about doing it, all the pluses because frankly, you never know when we’re going to run into these people again. Remember, it’s a small world, a very small world. And I don’t care if you’re in a big city here. It’s a small world. And if you say something vile about someone, because they didn’t give two weeks’ notice, maybe their new employer forced them to do it, in order to get them to join within a specific period of time. Maybe this person left because you were horrible, or they were afraid you’d be horrible to them over the last two weeks that they remained, and they wanted to get the heck out of there. So you can do it but why do you want to do it? And the answer seems to come down to you want to harm someone who wants to leave you. It’s like being a jealous ex-husband or wife, who says, ‘This person left me! I don’t like them. You should be very careful getting into a relationship with them.’ Don’t do it. Seriously. It’s very immature. Focus on their successes–what they accomplished, that you were sorry to see them leave, be a mensch, or “fensch”or you’re a “woman” about this, and move on. Get someone else to replace them?
Why do employers think candidates can interview at any time? I’m employed full time. Employers think I can drop everything and speak to them? Are they insane? What are your thoughts? Some are but most are basically putting out a time that they want to benchmark against. So for example, “could you do tomorrow at two o’clock?” Well, you may not be able to do it. And the correct response is to say, ‘I can’t do it at that time. I’m currently working. I could do something in the lunch hour. I could do something before I get into my office. So I walk in at nine, I could do something in the car while I’m driving to work. And we could start at [8:15] and be done at [8:45]. I could walk in on time. If we run a few minutes late, it’s not a problem. But we could do it in a number of different ways. But remember, I’m currently working. I want to be respectful to my current employer.’ And some employers are aggressive about this. You have to be at my office tomorrow at [8:30] or else we won’t consider you. We’re going to go with someone else.’ That’s their crap. You don’t have to comply with it, obviously. And why do they do it? Well, I’m gonna go back to the first example I gave, often they do it because they’re putting out an available time that they have to see if it works, because they too are busy. They too have stuff going on. And they have time slots that might be available. And when you say, ‘you know how’s tomorrow at 10,’ you’re doing the same thing with them. So understand, it’s part of the game. Don’t fixate on this. Move on. Just get yourself onto someone’s calendar. It’s not a big deal.
Tough Interview Questions for Managers: What Qualities Are Most Important When Managing a Team
How can new business leaders effectively motivate employees? So I’m back to the notion of why do you need to motivate them. I think I answered something similar to this a week or two ago and people just don’t pay attention. So often, the reason you have to motivate someone is you hired the wrong person. They may have the right skills, but you hired the wrong person. Sometimes you hire the right person but institutionally, you’ve got so much friction that keeps them from getting the job done and they get frustrated pretty quickly. You demoralize them. You withheld vital information from them in order to fill a job, but didn’t outline what they were stepping into. So the way you do this is, number one, you start to interview better. And in interviewing better, one of the things you do is talk with them about some of the problems you have. After all, how many times have you ever told a new hire, why it is that the last three people who sat at the same desk, this person is going to be asked to sit in, why it was that they left and moved on. So the long and the short of it is you need to motivate because you know you withheld vital information from them that caused them to now feel demoralized because they expected to be joining one type of environment and you’re giving them something completely different. Wouldn’t that frustrate you? So in motivating, try eliminating some of the friction. Tell them what you’re doing bBecause that will make them think you have their back, that it matters to you that they do well. And you can say, ‘hey, look, I’m sorry, you know, something shifted right before you joined. And I’m trying to get it resolved. So I’m speaking with management. They seem to be on board with this. I’m not sure where when policy is going to shift. And that’s going to get them juiced a little bit, that they matter to you. Because if you just treat them like a slob, then they’re going to feel it, and you’re not going to get best effort from them. And that’s what you pick up on as the need to motivate. A coach named Lance Secretan says so well, motivation is lighting a fire underneath someone. Inspiration, by contrast, is lighting a fire within someone. You always want to be inspiring people, not having to motivate because you hired the wrong person and you have an environment that keeps the right people from being able to do great work.
I’m going to pause for a second before I started addressing this question and say if you’ve got a question for me about job search, hiring, managing and leading better career transitions, or wanting advice about a particular workplace issue, put your question in the chat. I’d be very happy to answer. Okay.
Why do HR and recruiters ask job candidates if they are looking elsewhere for a job? Why will they get upset if they discover candidates are seeking positions elsewhere, too? I’m going to deal with this in two parts. The first part is why do they ask? They want to know if there’s competition and where they rank. They want to get a sense of how much time they have to interview you, whether you’re close to something else, what kind of positions you’re looking at, and how that compares with what they’re proposing to you. That’s the basic reason. So for example, a person who’s interviewing for a manager job elsewhere, and a staff level position with them, they know you’re going to go for the manager job, it’s going to pay more, it’s going to be more interesting work, right? And if they start thinking themselves, why would she take this job with us? Why would he take this job with us? It’s a lower level position is going to pay less? Of course, they’re going to prefer that other job. We need to get more people in. That’s the fact of it. Now why will they get upset if they discover candidates are seeking positions elsewhere too? Well, I would say to you is if you pick up on that, you respond by saying, ‘Aren’t you interviewing other people too? Why am I supposed to hold out for you to make a decision and not look out for my interests?’ You say it in a respectful way. And the way you might consider saying it is ‘I’m confused here. Aren’t you interviewing other people? Like, am I supposed to be upset that you’re doing that?’ ‘Oh, no, you shouldn’t be upset. We have to find the right person for us too?’ ‘ Well, I have to do what’s right for me to win. You’re not committed to me yet. As a result, I’m still interviewing until such time as I’ve got a marriage proposal. I want to know the dowry.’ And it’s kind of like the old fashioned wedding discussions inthe days of the dowry and how many goats and sheep and cattle are being offered. You want to know what whe offer is, what the work is. So don’t worry about their crap. And if they confront you with it, because they’re upset, just very simply say, “I’m confused here. Aren’t you interviewing other people?” ‘Yeah.’ So why are you upset that I’m looking at other jobs? You’re not committed to me yet. I’m not committed to you yet. We’re still dating. So I’m dating other people. It’s not an exclusive relationship yet. Once we join and get married, then it’s an exclusive relationship. But for now, we’re still dating.’ And they’ll chuckle a little bit. You will have to disarm them with the perfect metaphor to shut them up and show them how foolish they are to do this.
My Manager/Boss Found Out I’m Looking!
Why would I be rejected after three interviews? Which is almost a perfect question to follow up the previous one. They are still interviewing other people. Now, I’m gonna go back to the dating metaphor. Have you ever ghosted or not asked out someone who you’ve been on three dates with? Because you’re gonna say, you enjoyed their company but they weren’t quite right for you. Well, the same thing with interviewing. You’ve had three interviews. Great. But they’re not committed to you. They’re not in love yet. And you may be in love with them. But they’re not in love with you yet. So the long and the short of it is, why would you be rejected? Because you didn’t make them believe you had sufficient competence, self-confidence, character, chemistry, charisma, that you cared enough by their thinking, that they connected with you, that they trusted you to be the right person upon joining. They turned you down. So firms will date until they’re ready to marry in much the same way as you will date until you get a good marriage proposal. So that’s why it happens.
References and networking are crucial for landing a job. What can a person without a social circle do to get past that? Social circle is the interesting term here. Social circles, not your social circle that’s at issue here. It’s what your professional references are, what kind of network you have. This isn’t what’s your social circle. It’s about the relationships with people who you’ve worked with previously and what they’ll say about you in the form of a reference. And with regard to networking, the idea is to extend your network to what are called weak ties–people you’re not closely connected with. So as you talk to people with whom you have a relationship, you might just simply ask them, ‘Is there anyone else you know, who’s doing such and such who I could be speaking with? Anyone at your firm? Anyone with a previous firm that you work with? I need some help in finding opportunities. I’m hoping you’ll see your way clear to introduce me to someone or to tell me who to contact. I can either mention your name, if that’s okay with you, or not as the case might be. I will respect that. But, you know, the idea is to put your network to work. Connect with your weak ties. See if they might help you in finding something else. Just keep plugging. Seriously, just keep plugging.
What are the best things to write on your LinkedIn profile? Use keywords that people are looking for when they’re trying to find someone like you. You want to have information there that will draw people to you when they’re searching LinkedIn. And what are those sorts of things? Look at the job descriptions you’re applying to, the things in those job descriptions that relate to requirements, and the work that you’d be doing that will cause someone to want to reach out to you. So what do you include? Anything that makes people contact you. Forget about using terms like team player. Nauseous, nauseating to me, but think in terms of things that will cause someone to be attracted to you. That’s really what they care about.
I Keep Sending Out Resumes, Following Up and Getting No Results
I have a job interview, and this will be my first one ever. (Whoo Hoo! Wow) Anxiety is telling me to cancel but I want the job so I can save money. What are some tips on how to make myself do to better do well in the interview? So there are interview questions that you can practice that will help you dramatically. Practicing your answers to these will help a lot. Now, you can order my book called The Right Answers to Tough Interview Questions. It’s inexpensively available on Amazon. And you can order that book. Kindle can be an immediate download, and start practice saying the answers to tough interview questions. based upon the questions in the book. So, practice will help you get better. Another thing you can do– I’ve got video courses that are available. Again, practice is important. If you visit TheBigGameHunter.us/courses download The Ultimate Job Interview Framework. It will help you a lot with interviewing. So what they want to do, as I mentioned earlier, is look for competence, self-confidence, character, chemistry, maybe a little bit of charisma, because charismatic people always do better than noncharismatics, that you appear to care, that you can connect with them, because they want to trust you, the better you deliver your lines, the more you will engender trust on their part and that’s important.
Should I withdraw my job application if the interviewer wants to reschedule for the third time, despite previously saying that times were available? When they call for reschedule, just simply say, ‘you know, I made time that I don’t have a lot of to me with you. I understand the need to reschedule. I want to interview with your firm. Please make yourself available at the time that we agreed to.’ “Oh, yeah, I can do that.” Please make yourself available at the time that we agreed. And now talking to you as the person who asked this question, employers sometimes do this. They’re handling a million different things. They deprioritize hiring someone, and we never know what the truth is. So simply get it rescheduled and move on.
Can a job interview question be biased? If so, can you provide an example? Bias takes lots of different forms. And the question is intrinsically not the issue. It’s the person who created the question who’s at issue that reflects the bias of the person who’s asking the question. ‘So gee, Iyou’re married? Are you planning on having kids? Well, really, that’s wonderful.’ And that may cause you to be rejected. That’s a bias question only a woman would be asked, because, you know, they’re thinking of her as being of “mom age,” and they hire you and then you leave on maternity. Not good, is it. In addition, there are questions around the age they get asked, race is different, because people can take one look, and determine that this individual who has a name that could be either black or white, doesn’t matter, you know, and they need to see you because you’re perfectly spoken. Racism is insidious, quite obviously. But sexual orientation– If you are more ‘out there,’ a question that talks about that makes the assumption that you have a marriage to someone of the opposite sex is one of those questions that reveals a bias on the part of the interviewer. Thus, the bias comes across as, as you’re looking at a woman and assuming she has a husband. I interviewed someone for my podcast and YouTube channelv a year or so ago– a married woman, married to a woman with two young kids. And it took a while for her organization to adapt to that fact and make them feel welcome at company functions. They felt like an outsider until a manager spent time with them and played with the kids. So, yes, a question can reveal a bias that the interviewer has. I’m not sure if that qualifies as the interview question being biased, or the person asking the question being biased, or both. No matter. Bias comes across or can come across in interview questions, no doubt about it.
Career Coach Office Hours: September 13 2022
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. He is hired to provide No BS Career Advice globally. That can involve job search, hiring staff, management, leadership, career transition and advice about resolving workplace issues. Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2500 episodes.
I do a livestream on LinkedIn, and YouTube (on the JobSearchTV.com account) Tuesdays and Fridays at 1 PM Eastern. You can send your questions about job search, hiring better, management, leadership or to get advice about a workplace issue to me via messaging on LinkedIn or in chat during the approximately 30-minute show.
Website: www.TheBigGameHunter.us
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