Author Archives: Laura Machan

By now, we have all gotten used to using video calls to meet with colleagues and friends. Things are a little less formal with those folks and you can get away with poor lighting or a cat traipsing through the background.

But what about in a job interview?  There is a lot riding on those calls and you want to make sure you do everything you can to appear as confident and comfortable as you would in person.

Check you set up – do a test run the day before with a friend.  Wear what you are going to wear, brush your teeth and hair and answer a few questions.  Take the feedback seriously.  Adjust your light, sound volume and background if necessary.

Set up a note pad and a glass of water – not a mug with a logo or a giant Slurpee sized bottle.  That looks super awkward on video.  No one wants to see your wattle when you take a drink.

Put sticky notes on the side of your monitor with the important points and questions you want to ask. That way you won’t have to look down and to the side when you are referring to them.

Open the app and start getting ready ten minutes before your appointment.  Most of the video apps have waiting rooms now. You can hang out just like you would in a reception area in the old days.  Breathe, check your notes, open the chat window and try to relax.

When you start the conversation, smile broadly with teeth.  Not a grimace but a smile that goes up to your eyes.  This will help to make the connection even though you are not in the room with your interviewers.

When you are talking, look at the camera.  That’s how we make eye contact in the virtual world. On my laptop, a green light goes on and I try to focus on at it while I answer questions.  My Zoom window is set so that I can still see the faces on my call when I am looking at the light.

Use as strong a voice as you can.  You don’t necessarily have to be louder than usual but try to project a little more.  Sit up straight and pull in your abs.  That will make you feel stronger and it will impact how your voice comes across.

In these times, when we are meeting from the waist up, it’s your face and voice that have to carry the day.  Amp it up a little to get the best results.

It may seem trite to keep writing about finding better work with all the shit that’s going on but I am going to do it anyway.  Work is the key to economic freedom, no matter what you look like.  It also can provide social connection and, let’s face it,  a lot of satisfaction.

In a Town Hall last week, our President, Ranjt de Sousa, said that “there is a new emphasis for leaders to practice conscious empathy as opposed to awareness informed by physical proximity.”  This is a big change for many leaders and not one that was planned.  There was no time to ease into managing teams who are working from home.   No time for workshops or coaching.  It has been a trial by fire experience.

It means that leaders cannot see you in their office door frame, look you up and down, decide you are fine and launch into business.  Now, they need to ask how you are and not just wait for a response but actually listen to the words, tone and inflection.

This does not apply just to leaders.  As colleagues, we need to practice this as well.  Checking in with teammates and other people in your work Venn diagram is really important to your relationships and, ultimately, your career.

I think it has been this sudden shift that has caused organizations to put hiring on hold.  Sure, there are financial reasons and other uncertainties, but really it is that people don’t have confidence in their ability to conduct interviews without physical proximity.

This has to change.  Hiring cannot stand still with so much changing in the world.  We need to keep up with what the business is doing and that requires hiring and sometimes, firing people.  No one wants to let people go virtually, but that has happened too.

Just like an in-person interview, the right questions will bring informative responses.  You can evaluate what the candidate knows, hear about past decisions, listen for their enthusiasm for the company and entertain their questions.

A virtual interview also helps to eliminate some of our bias points.  We cannot pass judgement on their height, weight, physical mobility or shoes.  (don’t laugh….this has come up in the past)

Let’s start to let go of the past traditions and move forward in a more progressive way.  It will be better for all of us.

This is not the time to pause hiring.  I know it’s tempting to put the brakes on bringing on new people but it’s a really short term decision with negative long term consequences.

When this thing started, we did not know what was going to happen.  This is uncharted territory.  But we have proven that we can adapt and though it is not easy, we have figured out how to carry on doing business and staying connected.

We have all the tools to recruit, interview and reference check.  Video interviews are efficient and effective.  You can even do a panel interview and have candidates do presentations using Zoom or Teams.

The interview is meant to be a simulation of how a candidate would fit into a team, a company and the culture.  Seeing as how we will be continuing to do almost all of our activities using voice and video, it seems perfectly appropriate to interview that way too.

It does not take much organization to send an orientation box to a new hire at their home.  A laptop loaded with Outlook, sign up forms, orientation materials and some company swag is all it takes.

Not to brag, but my boss Rob Hosking did a very good webinar on virtual hiring and onboarding. You can see it here.

So, we have the process and the technology.  Who needs to be hired?

Some of the roles that were open in March may not be necessary anymore but it’s likely that those roles have been replaced by others.  Let’s face it. Not all leaders have been shining stars through these last nine weeks.  Some will need to be replaced.  Also, doing business in a different way means that there is probably a need for skills that you did not need before.  Don’t ignore these needs or the decisions that need to be made.

The average recruitment process takes 6-10 weeks.  If you see a gap now, what will it look like in July?  Can you really afford to wait?  Who will be impacted? It may have gone from a gap to a really big hole.

If there are long term concerns about the need for the role, you can always look at a 12 month contract.  In these times, the candidate community would not shy away from that.

We have the technology to interview and onboard without being face to face.  Don’t let that hold you back from making the right hiring decisions for the business.

Our company has had 30,000 zoom meetings globally over the last eight weeks and we have learned a thing or two about how to be successful in this new virtual world.

Floss more – we are up close and personal all the time.  Where I used to advise people to check their fly before a meeting, now my advice is to check your teeth for errant kale or bagel seeds.

Pants less – we all joke about not wearing pants anymore – but a word of caution.  When you jump up to close your door, we will all know that you are not wearing pants.

Check your mug – I was talking to my straight-laced colleague, Stephen, yesterday and he kept staring at something and moving closer to the camera.  Finally, he asked me what my mug said.  I realized I was using a gift from my sister-in-law with some colourful language that seemed appropriate for women our age but not really for a Zoom call.  We both turned all kinds of red but had a good laugh about it.

Find a phone stand – do not hold your phone in your hand.  Get a phone holder or lean it against something.  A moving phone is nausea inducing for your audience.  Trust me.

Watch the angle – people don’t want to be looking up your nose or at the side of your face.  Pay attention to what your audience with see.

Check your background.  Sure, it’s fun to check out each other’s home office set up, you don’t have to share that if you don’t want to.  Here’s how you can change your Zoom background (link) and blur the background in MS Teams (link)

Video calls on one of the best tools we have to keep ourselves together and connected.  Use them well and often.

Picture this: you are on a video interview with two hiring managers.  One of them is looking at you, making notes and nodding often.   The other is looking at you and has asked a couple of questions. Then it happens.  That second person yawns.

You are a bit taken aback but you keep rolling along.  You spend a bit more time looking at the interviewer who seems more engaged.  Then it happens again.  The yawn.  By the third yawn, you are questioning why you are even there.

On the way home, you are battling in your mind.  Was it a big deal or a small deal?  Tiny red flag or monumental deal killer?

Probably the latter.

According to Carol Blades, Master Facilitator at LHH Knightsbridge, this is a form of micro-aggression and it is definitely  a sign that things will not work out.

Even if one half of the hiring team loves you, the other half is just not that into you.

You can come to the same conclusion if that person cannot seem to remember your name or turns a shoulder to you instead of facing you.

Even if all the stars align and the company makes you an offer, you will have a long and uphill battle to win that yawner over.

The bottom line is that you need to take interviewing seriously.  You need to do your research on what the company is looking for and be clear about what YOU are looking for.  Be able to articulate with confidence on both.

In your post-interview assessment, pay attention to the little red flags and the big ones.  Decide carefully on if and how you want to proceed with the process.

Don’t ignore your gut on this – it’s too important.

As my good friend Bob Dylan said “Times, they are a changing.”  I am not sure he imagined this, even when he was at his most high. But he was right.  We are living in constant change and we find ourselves just as busy as ever.

We don’t know what our work lives will look like in three months or six months.  There will be new patterns of work and ways of getting things done.  There will be more work from home and different ways to collaborate.  There will be changes in corporate leadership as new types of leaders step up or take over or shine differently.

So how do you prepare for this?  Two things:  pay attention and be ready to look at new opportunities.

Paying attention means listening in to the seemingly endless Town Halls and meetings. Watch who is talking, who is leading and listen for any subtle, between-the-lines type information.  Also, make sure to stay connected to people outside your work group.  Rekindle your relationships with customer service of finance.  Check in with HR or Communications.

Getting ready for new opportunities does not mean you need to look for a job.  It means being open to conversations about your future and different ways to use your skills and passions. And it means having a resume ready to follow up on those conversations.

Refreshing your resume is something you can do over the next couple of weeks.  It’s not as daunting as you think.  Break it into six steps.  If this time has taught me anything, it’s that is it actually okay to do one thing at a time.

How to update your resume in six easy steps.

1. Find it.
2. Read it and make a few notes.
3. Refresh it.
4. Edit it.
5. Share it with two trusted advisors.
6. Save it somewhere that’s easy to access anywhere.

There you have it.  Your toolkit for the future. This and $10 will get you a cup of coffee on Skip the Dishes. Keep you chin up and find humour where you can.  We will get through this together.

A lot of people are suddenly unemployed.  Good people.  Smart people.  High performing people.  People who are not used to this sort of thing. They may be putting on a brave face but you know that inside, they are worried as hell.

Here are some ways you can help without leaving your house.

1. Reach out – send a note or better yet, call them.  Sometimes, we don’t make that call because we are not sure what to say.  Just start with “hello” and the rest will look after itself.
2. Accept LinkedIn connection requests from people you may not know.
3. Offer to connect/refer/introduce people to each other.
4. Start a weekly coffee zoom chat and invite people to join in. It can be neighbours, former colleagues or a mix of everyone.
5. When someone asks if you will look at their resume, say yes. And make it a priority.
6. Send flowers or chocolate or wine or dinner. Lots of options here.  What ever you think might boost their spirits.
7. Make sure they have a library card. This may sound trivial but libraries have providing a ton of free digital resources for years and they amped up even more now. You can apply on line and take advantage of helpful stuff or just get books to help you escape for a few hours.

You’d want this kind of support if it were you, right?  Put on your shoes of empathy and make that call.  You will feel better for it.

In and amongst the town hall invitations and Zoom meetings yesterday, was an email announcing that one of our senior IT leaders was leaving “to pursue an opportunity outside the organization”.  That is almost always code for going to another gig at another company.

This had to be something that was in the works for quite a while.  At his level, you don’t make a move in a just a few weeks.  It takes time to interview, negotiate, reference check and give notice.

The announcement confirmed what I had been thinking.  People outgrow companies and companies outgrow people and a pandemic does not change this fact.

I have had several candidates tell me that they could not possible explore a new role right now.  It would not feel right.  I respect that. Really, I do.

But, in the end, we are the masters of our careers. No one else will do it for us or better than us.

Other people have been very open to conversations.  They had been disappointed at how their leaders were showing up.  They were not feeling cared for before all this started, and it has not gotten any better.

There are also candidates who are looking down the road at what will have to change in their industry/company and whether they still see a fit for themselves and their ambition.

My crystal ball is in the shop so I cannot predict what the world of work will look like in six months.  I do know that lots will change and it is only by staying in touch and reviewing opportunities as they present, can you make sure that the best things don’t pass you by.