Career Coach Office Hours: November 4 2022 | JobSearchTV.com
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
I answered questions about job search, hiring staff, management, career transition, as well as workplace issues. Join me at 1 PM Eastern on Tuesdays and Fridays on LinkedIn or YouTube (JobSearchTV.com channel). You can also message me on Linkedin before the show and I will answer it, too.
05:21
As a hiring manager or HR, what do you think of candidates asking in a job interview, ‘What are the exit interviews of ex-employees of this company tell you about why people leave this company? What do you think made them leave? So I don’t like the question. And it’s not for the reason that you may think. The reason I don’t like the question because they would encourage a hiring manager to lie. Because they’re always gonna say, ‘Well, they left for a better opportunity.’ ‘What made it a better opportunity?’ And that’s where the lie shows up. As a result, I don’t like a question like that. I would rather encourage you to check references by contacting people who are in the organization, or who have left the organization and might know this hiring manager. You can discern that on LinkedIn, and just find people who are doing work similar to what you’re being interviewed for at that particular firm. And that should help you find people who work there. And you can call them, you can message them through LinkedIn and say, ‘Hey, I’m interviewing at this organization with so and so. Do you know them?’ Yeah. ‘Could I ask your opinion of them, take maybe 10 minutes of your time? Just ask a few questions. Keep it very simple, you’re always better to go outside of the chain of command for advice than to work it inside, and especially . . . do you think this manager would ever stop and say, ‘They left because of me.’ No, once you can’t get an answer like that, you’re not going to get the truth. As a result, it’s better to check a reference with people who are in the organization or who have left the organization. With those who have left, remember, these are people who chose to leave. You want to find out why. It doesn’t mean that they’re completely accurate. And as such, people who praise people who hate on a particular manager or particular company, like if we were talking to someone at Twitter today, and this is the first day that Elon Musk is doing layoffs, do you think they’d ever give you a good review, even though they may have had one, two, five great years? No, of course, not. As a result, you’re always in a position where you’re at risk of hearing a lie, and you never want to be in that position. So again, don’t ask a question about what they might hear at exit interviews. The manager may not conduct the exit interview. HR may do that. And as a result, you’re not going to hear anything good because HR is certainly going to give you something sanitized, rather than the manager’s a problem. Like I said, once you won’t hear that, you’ve got some issues about truthfulness that you’ll hear from any firm.
09:23
What are some ways to tell if your best employees will make good managers? Your best employees may not make good managers. But there are some ways you can try them out. And that starts the first thing– Try them out. Do you think need training? Do they need training about how to manage? How does your firm manage people? What are the expectations of someone in a manager role? Now I will tell you there’s a difference between managing at a five-person company, and a 50-person company, at a 150-person company, at a 500-person company and a 50,000-person company. Be clear about what your expectations are for new managers in whatever the culture is. Train them. Send them to formal training. Whatever it is, first of all, ask them if they want the opportunity because some don’t. But once they’ve gotten a baseline of training, give them something small to work on for a fixed period of time. Maybe it’s a budget thing that they have to work on. Maybe they have to do status reports or manage a small project of some sort. Maybe it involves mentoring a new hire and training them. Pick something small to test them out. And once they’ve done this, give them immediate feedback. In giving feedback, you want to praise them first. Thank you for stepping up to the plate, I want to be clear, I did not expect perfection, I wanted to see effort from you, and see how you responded.’ Notice, you’re not telling them that you wanted them to be perfect. You wanted them to propose something to do some work along those lines so you could see where they were. And once they have them, give them some feedback that’s constructive, and supports them in their continued growth, and then another project after that.
12:04
As a senior director, how can I connect with my employees without making them feel like I’m micromanaging them? This is not as easy a question as it sounds. Because number one is, there’s a difference between you and them. You’ve got power. You’ve got authority. You’re different. You’re probably older. You’re certainly more experienced than they are. And when you try to connect with employees, I think the simplest way to do that, if you’re in-person is just hanging out for a certain period of time, and participating as ‘one of the folks.’ If it’s online only, how have you been doing this up until this point because you got a couple of years of practice. That is this is purely about work and work-related issues. Think of yourself as a coach. What do coaches do? They ask questions and through the questions, a person learns. So for example, if you think they might have made a mistake, instead of saying, “I’m not so sure about that choice you made,’ you might just say, ‘I’m curious. Why did you decide to do it this way versus another way?’ And then shut up and listen. And when they give you the answer, then you can say, ‘Had you considered this or that?’ ‘Yes, I did.’ And thus ‘why did you choose your approach versus the this or that approach?’ And they’ll tell you. ‘Interesting. Let’s see how it turns out. And along the way, I may check with you to see whether we have to do a course correction or just go ahead.’ Because I’m sure you know, there’s more than one way to do a lot of stuff, right? You may think you have the best way but you may learn from your people that there are better ways than you were thinking about it. So that becomes the way you don’t micromanage. You ask questions. And you do this privately, by the way. You don’t do this out in the open in front of people. This is going to connect with another question I have later on about regular meetings with people privately to talk with them and check in with them so that, number one, you can hear the good stuff and share the good stuff with them. ‘I see you’re really putting in a lot of effort. Do you need any help? Do you need some support with that ?’ And thus be able to be in the position where you’re listening and learning from them about what they need, making recommendations to them that they can take or not take. If it’s critical, insist because you do have the responsibility ultimately, but your job is also to coach. And coaching, it involves teaching. Maybe you do a regular weekly huddle with everyone. And you do individual meetings with people on a schedule. Whatever it is, think in terms of building the relationship, and mentoring and guiding through the relationship, to help them learn and grow so that they get to know like, trust and respect you as a human being, and not just simply because you’ve got the job title.
15:40
I received the job offer? Do I need to state that I’m excited to work for them in my response or can I simply say, ‘I’ll get back to them by whatever reasonable amount of time with regard to it?’ I think there’s a better way to language that or to state that. Because, once you say, I’m excited to work for them, why don’t you just come to the work for us? It opens too many doors, too many Pandora’s boxes of issues there. So you might just simply say, ‘Thank you for the offer. I’ve really been impressed by everyone I’ve met with on the opportunity. I need a little bit more time. I want to be clear and certain about my decision, and not feel tempted about anyplace else. Could you bear with me for two days, three days, whatever it is. If I have any questions, I’ll circle back to you within that period of time. But I’m thinking favorably of the offer.’ Notice, that’s the Gimme that you give them. ‘I’m thinking favorably of the offer and I’ll be in touch with you no later than . . . and then you state what it is. They probably will not be happy to wait for a week. Certainly not two weeks, because they have to make decisions. And they don’t want to lose someone, someone else, their number two candidate because you’re indecisive. As a result, get to work on following through on other situations you’ve been interviewing at, and don’t put yourself in the position of losing something. Listen to what they say, and their facial expressions, and what they don’t say, in doing this. And if they say, ‘We’re not really sure, maybe we don’t really want you.’ And that can be a problem. So the long and the short of it is put yourself in their shoes. Be friendly. Give them the ‘I’m looking favorably about this. And I hope to be in touch with you and no later than three days from now with a firm decision that will be unchangeable.
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18:33
What’s the difference between management consulting and IT consulting? Management Consulting is like the overall category and IT consulting is a subset under it. It’s a category like strategy work would be a category or HR consulting or logistics or transportation consulting, or organizational development consulting. Any of these are categories that might exist under management consulting. And as a result, they are different. As I said, the overall area is management consulting, and those other areas are subsets underneath.
19:25
Why is everyone on LinkedIn and manager, director or CEO? Do you think most of these people are just trying to show off to the public? Look at me, I’m more accomplished than you. I’m sure there are some people who are doing that. But most aren’t. Remember, we’re talking about 855 million people worldwide. If you’re in the US where the preponderant portion of those are, it’s a lot of people. So whenever you’re doing searches, just remember there’s title inflation that’s going on. Firms give out higher titles to people who … let me give you an example. If you’re a five-person firm, and someone calls you a manager because they want to give you a title instead of money, that’s title inflation. If you’re a 50-person firm, and they give you the title director with three reports, that’s title inflation. If you’re a managing director, at a 50,000-person firm, that’s got clear responsibilities with budget and such. But you don’t see a lot of managing director titles on LinkedIn, do you? So remember, we’re dealing with lots of companies and firms that would rather give out a title than money. And even if it’s justified, and just remember, we’re talking about a huge population of individuals who are on LinkedIn, they would push for the title, because there’s an association between the title and more money, and titles and money are going up. So just remember that not everyone would fit a manager’s title, or a director’s or CEO’s title in your organization. Or you might not have a background that would fit what a firm is looking for out of someone at that level either. So don’t overthink this. A lot of this is title inflation that’s going on.
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22:16
What are some of the most common mistakes made by managers when dealing with employees? This goes back to the earlier question I had where someone, ADPGibso spoke about connecting with employees without making them feel like they’re micromanaging. So one thing is they buddy up too much. They forget that there’s a distinction between their level and the subordinate’s level and they just want to be one of the guys, one of the women and you’re not. You’re not. You have different responsibilities than they do. And thus, you’re in a situation where if they fail, they make you fail. Ultimately, you’ll have to pull rank. If you get too close and thus be in the position where they respond with ‘What’s with so and so? So the result winds up being they get too close to people. Another thing that people do is they don’t really do regular meetings with people. And I’m not talking about the stupid meetings. I’m talking about legitimate one-on-one with someone where each of us has been able to connect with one another, talk about what’s going on in the workplace, and be an asset to them because you know more. You don’t set clear goals with one another and a process for following through on those goals where you can measure their effectiveness during that period of time. There are no metrics that might exist. It doesn’t take a lot of time or effort. But you as a manager have responsibilities. You, as a leader have responsibilities, and getting too close or not meeting at all, which is too distant . . . you’re leaving them to their own devices without support. And that can come back and haunt you. So I’ll just simply say, remember, remember, in your job, you have things that need to be gotten done through other people. You have things that need to be gotten done through other people. Thus, although you want to be cordial and friendly, you don’t want to be so cordial and friendly that you lose the divide, that should exist between the two of you where they know you, like you, respect you, and trust you. And it reminds me of, as a coach, I follow Lance Secretan. He talks about what he calls The Castle Principles, which stands for courage, authenticity, service, truthfulness, love, and effectiveness. Without any one of those dimensions, things break down in the relationship between a leader and their staff. So what mistakes occur? Well, you’re inauthentic, at times. You don’t stand up for your people. That’s the lack of courage or bravery. You don’t serve others. Well, you’re not honest. You don’t show that you care, or that they matter. You just treat them like a commodity. And you’re not effective in what you do. So that’s how it breaks down for people.
26:34
I am challenged with leading a senior manager who is an expert in his field of S&OP, a 30-year veteran of the company, but does not develop his team to move to the next level. How do I get him to begin teaching and coaching his team versus keeping the knowledge to himself? Great question. And he’s been a lone wolf for a long time, I’m sure. No one has spoken to him about what his responsibilities really are. So what I’d say to you start off by saying, ‘How’s your health? How’s your health?’ ‘Good,’ and he’s gonna be puzzled. ‘Because, you know, one of my responsibilities is to ensure that there’s wisdom and knowledge here. And I keep noticing, you’re not passing on your experience to others. Frankly, that’s going to have a, that’s gonna be a problem because whether you have a heart attack or develop cancer. . . ‘ Notice, I’m going in for the heavy stuff here. ‘You know, this organization has to survive. And for me, leading this organization, I want to support you in moving up. So you can’t move up if you’re old dependable in this particular function without knowledge transfer? Who can you mentor? Who can you do knowledge transfer with, so we can start looking at a more senior role for you? Because right now, we can’t do it. If you’re Mr. S&OP for this organization, you’re stuck here forever. And it’s going to be complicated.’ Now, as we I’m going to speak to you, not to him right now. As we go into recessionary times, he may have job security, because he’s the one person who knows this. So I’m speaking to you here and he may have a strategy that’s right, given recessionary times, but not right under normal times. Regardless, let’s go back to coaching for him. ‘I want to support you with moving up, I want to support you with making more money and it’s hard to do that if you’re the only person who knows this. You become the guy who gets the minimum viable raise, who gets frustrated with money, and thus, we have to keep moving in a small increment, rather than a bigger one if we can get you promoted. But that requires that you put yourself in the position where you pass on the knowledge to others. So we’re gonna sit down every couple of weeks and I want to hear that you have a plan, you have a person selected, and what you’re doing along those lines because otherwise, it’s going to be a problem.’ And that may be the best way to do it with them. And they may get terrified but you’re also talking about giving them a raise and a promotion, which he’ll probably like. So I hope that’s helpful. Message me and let me know how the conversations go. 30 years with the firm, he’s been moving up in slow increments. He’s underpaid at this point, because he’s been getting those small incremental increases, rather than the big chunks. So that may get his attention. And good luck. And like I said, let me know how it goes.
[svp]https://youtu.be/bJJd7kUk5nE[/svp]
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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 2400 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.
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