Career Coach Office Hours May 20 2022 | JobSearchTV.com
I answered questions about #jobsearch #hiringstaff #management #leadership #workplace issues. Join me at 1 PM Eastern on Tuesdays and Fridays and put your question into chat. You can also message me on Linkedin before the show and I will answer it, too.
Why are sales jobs always linked with performance? Which I thought was a fascinating question, because to me, every job is linked to performance. If you’re incompetent, that’s a performance issue, right? And the notion that a sales job is different than any other job, but that’s okay. And I’m going to pause hearing. And
Paul says, I don’t need a career coach, apparently, some companies do, because they don’t know how to retain employees who want to work in person. You’re absolutely right Paul. They don’t know how to retain employees, whether it’s about in person or offline stuff. So I’ll just simply say, Yes, staff retention is a problem. Yes. I’m going to digress here a little bit from the original question. Actually, let me finish the original question, then Paul, I’ll come to you. Yes, performance is a factor in sales jobs. After all, what are you there to do? You are there to sell stuff, sell a product, sell a service, sell something, and thus justify the fact that they are paying you. If you are an accountant, you have to perform, you have to do things by particular dates. It’s no different for sales. You’d have deliverables just like other people have. So the long and the short of it is there’s always a performance criteria. You’re just not aware of it for these other roles. Or you think sales has some extraordinary determinants for performance. You know, it’s just the way it is. People want to earn more than what they’re spending to hire someone otherwise, they could just keep the money in the bank, right? They at least get a couple of points of interest. So the reason why performance is a factor is performance is always a factor.
Now coming back to Paul, they don’t know how to retain employees, in general. And it starts off with the premise that people change jobs, well, 30% of people change jobs within six months of joining a firm. That’s just the current data. As a result, you know, firms mishire, they misrepresent. And let’s see now, he adds on at my last company, we used to evaluate the salespersons person’s performance weekly, and we their ballpark average score of just the phone calls that they made in order to measure performance. That’s really a basic thing. Because after all, a person could call mom a few times in the course of a day and up their numbers. I worked in an environment where there was a call accounting system that tracked every phone call that she made and its duration. And in theory, someone could track back to who that call was made to. But the long the short of it is there’s always a performance criteria.
And back to the the notion of staff retention. Firms don’t retain when people misrepresent jobs to people. Now, job hunters also misrepresent their capabilities to firms. But that’s a different part of the conversation. Managers become sufficiently desperate, that they hire people in the belief that they can make it work. And the result winds up being that firms lose people pretty quickly. And I also know that managers don’t know how to interview and hire. And I know that with certainty because within 18 months of a person joining almost 60% of hiring managers have buyer’s remorse about a person that they hire. As a result, whose fault is that? Whose fault is that? Is it the employees for exaggerating their capabilities. Partially, but it’s also the fault of the hiring manager who doesn’t know how to evaluate and assess people. So there’s just lots of damage in the professional relationships that exist and firms have people learn through trial and error as to how to interview and hire. And that doesn’t take into account managing people once they’re on board. So it’s an awful set of circumstances. And it is what it is currently, I hope firms get better in interviewing and assessing people.
I had a software engineering technical interview, where the interviewer would double down on areas I admitted to not knowing well. Is that a constructive way to interview? In most cases, it isn’t. That’s a given. It isn’t a constructive way of interviewing, but I’m going to ascribe possibly good intentions, based upon a survey that I’ve seen that women tend to undervalue their abilities and underestimate their abilities, by comparison to men who overestimate their abilities. As a result, it could be that what they’re trying to do is, is the same. ‘Let me just take another shot and see how you do. Because after all, you’ve already self rejected. Maybe you’re not as bad as you think you are in these areas,’ and they’re giving you a chance. But is it a terrible thing? No. I know you feel badly that you may be dug your own grave on this one. That’s certainly possible. But I’ll just say, consider the positive side of this– that people undervalue what they’re capable of. And as a result, they gave you one more chance with the pressure off because you already said ‘I’m not qualified in this area.’
I really can’t believe the state of the workplace these days and how they cater to slackers. I blame the local government for pushing lock downs. And the result is companies catered to slackers. Now, I don’t know if I agree with you on this one. But I think the workplace has become more complicated, with people returning to the workplace and, I’m going to put it bluntly, forgetting how to behave in human interactions with people. When we were online, it felt different. And now I just see it within culture in the US so regularly. So many people don’t know how to behave. So maybe it’s what you think it is. Maybe it’s what I think it is. It doesn’t matter. Right now, what we have is a culture that people don’t want to go back to the office and you interpret that as being a slacker, that’s your prerogative. I view it as, I kind of like working from home. And if you don’t want me around, that’s okay. But I’m gonna work from home. And firms can fire them, replace them. That’s certainly possible. But right now, firms aren’t finding it’s so easy to find talent. The result winds up being that there are 11 million jobs currently open. 11 million and nowhere near that amount of people available. And that assumes that they’re qualified to do the jobs right, which they aren’t. So, firms are finding it hard to find people to fill jobs right now. And thus, they’re being more accommodating.
Is it okay if I asked HR air for one week from my second interview about the outcome? Should I say in my, I’m going to assume, email that I’m open for other opportunities at the company as well? I think at the end of your previous interview, at the end of the second interview, I would have asked, ‘so give me an idea of what next steps in the process are.’ And they might say, ‘well, we’ll be in touch with the early part of next week.’ That’s fine. Or they might have said, ‘We’ll be in touch with the early part of next week, we have a few more people to talk with.’ But that’s another level. A third level is, you know, we’ll be in touch with you the early part of next week to schedule an appointment to meet with so and so. So the more detail that they provide, the more interest that they’re demonstrating. So specificity is the indicator. Now, you didn’t ask them a question. And thus, after a week, I would simply say, ‘I haven’t heard about the position I interviewed for. Could you bring me up to date on what’s going on,’ to not instantly volunteer you’re available for other opportunities. Just clear this one out so that it comes to a successful conclusion.
7 Things to Do When Your Job Search Calendar is Empty
Paul writes, I work about five hours a night now driving, Jeff, honestly, I’m paid in cash, the salaries are much different. I do want to return to the office. So you have to mail me your broken computer. If I return to corporate, I traded a 40 plus hour a week for a 25 hour one. We get the same pay. So I make out just like every slacker. Okay, you’re happy. That’s all that matters. Everything else is BS. So don’t sweat it. You keep driving, and enjoy yourself. You like the work, I assume. You like the hours. You have time for other things. Good for you.
How does social media marketing benefit businesses? Okay, if you’re asking this question, you’re either extremely old and obscure, or a complete beginner. Because everyone understands that social media marketing benefits business. At a minimum, it’s free or cheap publicity and firms like publicity these days a heck of a lot as long as it’s good publicity. So, they can construct their own publicity that causes put them in a good light. And it’s cheap. Like really cheap to do this, the biggest cost may be software and time. So why they do it? They see an ROI. And if they don’t see an ROI, they wouldn’t be doing it, right. So you may not understand it. But they do. As a result, put yourself in their shoes. It’s inexpensive publicity. They made money from it. Why wouldn’t they do it? If you still don’t understand do a Google search. Do a Google search for cost benefit analysis for social media marketing? And you’ll get your answer. But I don’t understand why you don’t understand what its benefit is.
What regard do hiring managers have for similar degrees? It depends on the nature of the job. There’s no way I can answer that simply. In some professions, like they say, a degree in computer science. How about a degree in Information Sciences, or, for a person who’s in cyber, and they don’t have an information systems or a computer science degree, how about one and in cyber or data security? Yeah, those degrees work for them. As a result, it depends on the nature of the job, and the similarity of the training. I have a master’s in social work. I was thinking of being a therapist in private practice and I decided Social Work was a less timely and less costly way of learning the basics I thought I need to do. Now I never went into social work. I never became a therapist. I did therapy on the side with people in private practice, but I never made it a full time career. I met my wife in grad school and thus made a different decision. The result is similar degrees in some fields translate well. And other fields, they don’t talk to people in those fields to see whether or not they translate. And that’s going to be the best answer I can give you.
When You’ve Been Made Redundunt, Fired, Laid Off, RIF’d
What do I need to do before hiring staff? I get similar questions to this with regularity. Simplest thing I can tell you to do is identify the experience that’s necessary for someone to have to be qualified and then, from there, what you need to do to determine is that they know what they claim to know. So that’s it in a nutshell,. Everything else is extraneous. Do they fit in? You don’t know how to assess for fit. After all, he statistics bear it out. There’s just so much that a person can do when they evaluate and assess because job hunters are on good behavior wnd so are employers. The result winds up being that if you’re interviewing people, you’re not getting the real picture of the person, and they’re not getting the real picture of you or your organization. As a result, what you can do is get clear about what you need someone to know, and how you are going to evaluate for that knowledge. And that’s the simplest thing that you can do.
Do recruiters care about extracurricular activities on your resume. Well, sometimes those extracurricular activities relate to the work that you’ll be doing. Most of the time, they don’t. As a result, yeah, it really depends. And sometimes you’re able to foster the connection through the extracurricular activities different than you might with your content knowledge. As a result, do they care? Sometimes, And sometimes they don’t. You might look at a LinkedIn profile to see if they reference something that you can connect with, that you can bring up, that you do that relates to what they’ve done. So do they care? Not always? Sometimes? I know I did from time to time, but most of the time, they don’t
What should I do after a final interview confirmation with that company? Great question. I think what you ought to do is practice and rehearse. You know by now you’ve gotten through a couple of interviews with a firm and you’re coming back for a final, the first thing you do is start reviewing where the rough edges have shown up from previous interviews, so that in this way, you are ready for them. And you can address some of those things that might be concerning to an employer during the course of the interview and not wait for them to bring it up. Be proactive as you answer questions. Then from there, research the background of the person or people you’ll be talking with. Connect with them. See if you know someone who knows them. And good luck, folks.
At the scheduled time, the recruiters call and I say, “great, I have been expecting the call”, and they still ask “So is this a good time to talk?” Are they just following a script? This comes off as insulting as it looks like a scripted action because it looks like a script. I think you’re being particularly, well, I think what’s happening is you’re expecting perfection from them and sometimes what happens is, they wind up in a situation where they’re multitasking up until the time of the call. So, this particular call at the time you said to them, great, I’ve been expecting the call. And they may have been preoccupied and spoken out of turn and said ‘So this is a good time to speak freely,’ because every once in a while I have someone who said, ‘I can’t really talk right now. Someone’s just come into my office.’ And as a result, I think you’re being particularly hard nosed with folks, about their circumstances. I think they’re just being courteous or they may have been distracted prior to you answering, right before you were answering or during your answer, and they didn’t hear it clearly. So give it up. It’s not important.
7 Things to Do When Your Job Search Calendar is Empty
How should I answer a “Why would you be a great candidate?” on the job application question? Well, simplest way to answer this question is to say to the firm, I’ve looked at the job description. My background fits the role. There’s obviously a lot I don’t know about the job, but my background fits the role. I think that would turn me into a qualified person for this job. There’s no magic to that question. Remember, they’re not going to give you a lot of space to write it. You have to do this in the fewest possible words in order to fit that box. So I’ll simply say keep it succinct, and move on.
People regularly exaggerate their experience while applying for jobs? Do recruiters anticipate this up to a certain extent? Let’s deal with the first part of this. Do people regularly exaggerate their experience while applying for jobs? Yes, and they exaggerate while they’re interviewing, too. You know, when I worked in search, I would tell the three jokes of the recruiting business. The first job joke was how can you tell an applicant is lying? And the answer is their lips are moving. Second joke was how can you tell one of your institutional clients is lying to you? Answer, their lips are moving. And the third one was how can you tell a third party recruiter is lying to you? Answer, their lips are moving. Now, the good recruiters are not adding their own lies to the situation. The bad recruiters are adding their own lies in. The good ones are only the messenger of the lies between the two parties. So given the fact that everyone’s trying to look good on an interview, the result winds up being that you’re exaggerating. You’re BSing them. So the long the short of it is, yes, people do exaggerate their experience when applying for jobs. And do recruiters anticipate this? Up to a certain extent. I think corporate and third party recruiters hope against hope that what they’re told is true. Because they’re not paid to say no. You’re paid to say yes and moving the process forward. After a while and not that long for that matter, they figure out that the person isn’t qualified and rejects them. Do they take that in to account. Going back to the sales example, I used to talk about the 1/3 principle. Anytime a salesman told me how much they sold, I would take 1/3 off, and thus get closer to the real number than if I didn’t. So, yes, salespeople exaggerate. Accountants, developers, everyone exaggerates to some degree. That’s it in a nutshell. So do they take it into account? Some do. I did for certain types of roles. And, you know, it served me very well in my work.
When You’ve Been Made Redundunt, Fired, Laid Off, RIF’d
What are some of the best and toughest interview questions to ask that can determine if a candidate is right for your company? As I’ve alluded to before, the only questions that matter are ones that determine whether or not someone is qualified. That’s it. Not qualified, not hired. That’s it. Figure out what you can ask. Come up with tough questions in your estimation, that’s going to allow you to know whether or not someone’s qualified. That’s it. Simple. And you get right to the nuts and bolts of this thing as to whether someone claims to know what they say they know.
Does a scheduled phone call after an interview mean rejection or offer? So when they schedule a call, it could be number one, they’re courteously rejecting you. Number two is they may be calling to get your feedback from the interview. To see whether or not you thought it went well. So they know whether or not you’re actually qualified to do the job. Another thing it can mean is they are going to reject you. They’re giving you the courtesy of letting you know. Another thing is that making an offer. No way of telling. So I would just simply say call them back. You’ll figure it out pretty soon.
How do leaders persuade people to do things they would rather not do? Well, using authority can do it. You boss people into doing it. Another way is you improve your hiring process, so that people understand what your expectations of them are. You apparently want people who will do what you tell them to do, or do what you persuade people to do. Now, you’re not being persuasive to get people to do what they need to do to support you. As a result, what’s going on is you’re getting frustrated, and they don’t want to do more. What you need to do is evaluate and assess people better. And this approach, I know Lance Secretan says, you want to hire people who have a fire within. You don’t want to have to light a fire underneath people. The result is when you have to do that, it’s more work than it really needs to be. So hire better. That’s the starting point. And then with regard to doing things they prefer not doing, I would look them square in the eye and said and say, ‘This is not a choice. This is what I expect you to do. And I expect that to be done right the first time. So don’t give me any crap. Get it done, get it done in a world class way. Because that’s what I expect of you. And I’ll forget that you questioned my authority to get you to do something. So that’s how I would handle it. Very simply.
I Was Hired for Hybrid/Remote Work. Now They Want Me in the Office. Am I Screwed?
[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vna9H7SXlt4[/svp]
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. His work involves career coaching, as well as executive job search coaching, job coaching, and interview coaching. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2300 episodes.
Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
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