Author Archives: Laura Machan

I have heard a lot of chatter lately about interviewing and the length of the hiring process.  People tell me about going for six or seven interviews and then having the whole thing blow up.

That’s a big investment for a disappointing outcome.

As a recruiter, I live with this every day.  Here are some of the things I have learned that might give some context to the seemingly ridiculous process.

Recruiting is a “side of the desk” activity for everyone except me and job seekers.  For HR folks and hiring managers, it is only one of the 20 things they have to do every day.  This means that when they get to your file on their desk, it’s likely late and they are pressed for time.  It’s tough to be open minded and positive at that point.

Companies are very risk adverse when it comes to hiring.  They  understand how much it costs to make the wrong decision.  The way they are dealing with this is to get as many people involved as possible.  This is where four, five and six interviews come in. You typically meet the hiring manager, their manager, a senior leader and maybe some peers too.

The bad news is that scheduling this can take forever and keeping the process moving through different decision makers requires some serious skills on the part of the recruiter.

The good news is that when everyone agrees that you are the right person, you know you will have excellent support right from day one in your new job because they are all invested.  No one can sit there saying “Well, it was not MY decision to hire her.”

This is the reality of the situation.  You have to decide if you are going to commit pretty early on.   If you are not keen, then stop the process.  Send a gracious and thoughtful note saying that you are no longer interested in the opportunity.   If you like the company and the work, then gird your loins and open up your calendar.

It will all be worth it in the end.

It is pretty common for creative types to bring a portfolio of work samples to an interview. Little known fact: it can be very useful for any type of position.

All that stuff that you have been saving in a file folder in your desk or inbox now has a use. Organize it into a nice zippered binder with those neat plastic page protectors and some dividers. It does not have to be any fancier than that.

Things to include:
• Resume
• Degrees, certificates
• Awards, accolades, thank you cards
• Course curricula
• Presentations
• Community recognition
• Complimentary emails/letters
• Newsletters/articles that mention you/your product or service
• Performance reviews

Just the act of putting together a portfolio can be very constructive. Think about making a scrapbook of your career and how useful it would be, especially if you are in transition or think you would like to be in transition.

Your career portfolio will serve two purposes:
• when your work feels frustrating, it will remind you of your successes
• when you go to an interview and the hiring manager says “Tell me about yourself”, you can open it up and give a concrete illustration of your successes to date. You will also look very organized and confident.

There is one more added benefit. You now have a place to store future “career souvenirs” – your portfolio. When someone next invites you to come and explore a new opportunity, you just add the new material and you will be fresh and ready for a successful career conversation.

I have been talking with 20-somethings who are looking for summer jobs or “forever” post graduation jobs and what I hear about their interview experience is appalling.

You cannot use the same process for a 24 year old as you would for a 35 year old.  They are not equipped to answer questions about work challenges and dealing with difficult managers.

If you are going to go with behavioural questions like tell me about a time when you had to make a difficult decision, you had better be prepared for a description of what they went through when they were choosing which phone to buy.

And forget about asking why they want to work at your company.  You might get a canned recitation from your website but the real answer is that they need a job and your place seems like a good place to start.

Where do they see themselves in five years?  Nope, not that either.  Work today is nothing like it was five years ago – how we expect them to predict what it or they will be like in another five years?

One of my young friends was going for an entry sales job.  Do you know what they did? At the second interview, they dropped her and another candidate in the middle of an unfamiliar neighbourhood and instructed them to go door to door.  The company would pick them up in two hours to see how they did.

I’ll tell you how they did.  They used their phones to find a bus and went home.  On  they way, they jammed up their social feeds to tell all their friends about the lousy experience.

There are better ways to find out what these kids are about.  Talk to camp counsellors and co-op program co-ordinators about realistic measurement questions and activities.

If we don’t, we will turn them off forever.  And it’s tough enough out there with out that kind of crap.

It is summer and the market is hopping!

It seems that the summer job market slowdown is a total myth. I have been talking with candidates who have multiple opportunities on the go.  And it’s not just in one vertical – engineering, product development, organizational development and the whole gambit.

If you have been putting off looking for something new because everyone is on vacation, you can keep using it as an excuse, but be aware, it’s really just a way to procrastinate

If you really want to find a new position, do not start by looking at LinkedIn jobs.  That’s right.  Do not start there.

Start with your resume.  Get it up to date with your title, responsibilities, achievements, courses and volunteer stuff.

Then reach out to your references and tell them you might need them in the future.

(This gives you instant allies and a super positive network to draw on for support.

Once those things are done, then you can sit down with the LinkedIn Jobs app and see what’s going on.  Don’t use just LinkedIn.  Check out simplyhired, eluta, your professional association website and higher bracket if you are that way inclined.

Apply directly or network through a friend.  Many companies have referral programs that net $1000 or more for a referred employee who “sticks”.

Find your resume and get the ball rolling.  You could still have a new job for Labour Day.

Fair warning:  next week, I will be writing/ranting about entry level jobs and the interview/selection process they use.  I have two twenty somethings looking for work in my family and they have had atrocious experiences lately.  It makes me embarrassed for the whole world of recruiting.

Let me know if you have any positive or negative experiences to share.

I have always been the sort of person who took forever to get into the water.  Ocean, lake or pool – you could count on it taking me 15 minutes to inch my way in.  Ankles, knees, well, you get my drift.

I don’t know what happened but last week at a friend’s house, I walked up to the edge of the pool and jumped in.  And not the shallow end, the deep end.  Everyone gasped and came to check on me.  They thought I had tripped and fallen.  No way would I do that on purpose.

But I did. And everything was fine.  I tried it again later and it was still fine.  This week I ran into a situation that seemed unfair and I went to talk about it right away.  Not three days later which is my usual MO.  And do you know what?  It was fixed right away.  And I was fine.

I have talked with three candidates this week who started the conversation with “I don’t usually take these calls but……”  And we proceeded to have great conversations about their careers and what they might like to change.  They ended with “This has been great.  Thanks so much for calling”.  And it was fine.

Maybe it’s the moon or maybe we are all just ready to stop over thinking everything.  You don’t have to feel guilty about talking to a recruiter when you have a great job.  It’s not an affair. It’s just a conversation.

I don’t know what it is, but it bodes well for a very exciting September.  Who knows what cool things will happen then when we say yes now?

All I know is that it will be fine.

It used to be that hiring managers could ask about your significant accomplishments and if you had the right ones with the right numbers, you were in.

That is not always the case now.  You may have increased sales by 15% or reduced the employee headcount to record lows.  Be prepared for that fact that that might not be enough.

Companies are interested in how you did what you did, not just what you did.

How did you increase sales?  Did you offer deep discounts or develop new customers?  Did you add to the sales team or improve the existing sales force?  Maybe you singlehandedly increased sales.  I can’t tell you what the right answer is but your answer will either resonate with the company and their values or it won’t.

There are some companies that value “lone wolf” sales people and other companies want to make sure that everyone not only contributes but also benefits.

It’s the same with a head count reduction.  Just saving the long term costs of those workers is not enough. You need to be able to describe how you decided who would go, how they were treated and how you took care of the survivors.  That will be the big indicator of your character and style. That is what is really being assessed.

Accomplishments alone are a short term indicator of success.  Demonstrating that you approach situations and implement solutions is a manner consistent with the company’s values is likely to be an indicator of long term and sustained success.

One of my clients told me that they were very happy with their new hire except that he does not seem to be willing to talk and listen to the folks on the floor about his plans.  He views himself as the expert and indeed, that is one of the factors that got him hired.  Implementing change if everyone in production ignores it or, worse, sabotages it, will not lead to long term success.  Even though he is a clear expert, it is not what he needs to accomplish his goals.  It’s how he intends to make it so.

So when you are preparing for your next interview, think about how you have approached situations in the past.  Identify a few successes, some learning moments and even a few times when things did not go well.  Be prepared to talk about how you decided what to do, how people were impacted and how you dealt with that.

You will present a fuller picture of yourself and how you do what you do.  It’s pretty powerful stuff.  You might not get hired any faster but you’ll put on a great show.

I am in full Pan Am-demonium.  I spend my evenings watching highlights and my commute on the team websites.  I marvel at the strength and determination of the athletes.  They have spent years and years focused on the singular goal of shaving seconds of their time or perfecting a more difficult routine.

But what happens when they retire?  Sure, some will become coaches or open schools.  Some of the leaders might do some public speaking which might evolve to a broadcasting career.

But let’s face it.  Lots will end up selling cars or houses because we, as a hiring community, do not recognize what their focus and determination can bring to our companies.  Hiring managers often dismiss people who have not had a “real” job

What’s more real than having a whole country watching your every move on a 12 meter platform wearing a tiny Speedo?  Or having to do the second round of your vault after falling the first time?

Do we really feel like the pressure to perform in our work environments is that different?

Athletes are highly coachable, able to sustain their performance for long periods of time and used to carrying on when only their Moms are watching. And let’s not forget, that they have to secure funding for equipment, coaching and travelling to competitions too.

I can’t think of a better group of folks to add to a company.  So, when you see the words “Team Canada” on someone’s resume, take a second look.  You might be surprised at what you get.

Social media can be pretty intimidating.  It is a platform built on sound bites and thought capsules. If you can’t say it in 140 characters, no one will hear you.

If your career or management style has always involved story telling, you might want to think about evolving a little.

It can be tricky in an interview situation. Ten or twenty years of experience is going to give you an awful lot of material. The key is to find enough to answer but not so much that you lose the listener.

I am not suggesting that you should answer a question with a shrug. Although it is highly efficient and therefore tempting, it is not the answer.  But you would do well to practice talking in short paragraphs and making sure that you are not repeating yourself.

If you want the brutal truth about this, check with a teenager – your kids, a niece or nephew. Ask them if you have a tendency to go on and on.

If the answer is yes (or worse, a shrug), then you know what you have to do.

Write down five typical interview questions and open the timer app on your phone.

Practice answering the questions in one minute.   When you feel good about this, get a friend and have them ask you different job related questions. Don’t forget the timer. That’s the only way to know if it’s working.

As you get better, your brain will adapt and your language will become more succinct. You will be able to get more examples into a short answer. That’s how you cram twenty years of experience into one answer. #Bazinga!

Everyone knows that Christmas is one of the best times to network.  All those parties and mixers.  You never who you will be passing the nuts to or line dancing with

Let me tell you that summer is just as good.  There are so many different activities that mix people up and get them off schedule, it’s bound to present some pretty good opportunities to talk with people you don’t know and find out what’s really going on either in your current organization or your future organization

• Golf
• Charity Rides/Runs
• Picnics and other social outings
• Long weekend potlucks
• Resort Vacations
• Long lunches outside

If you see an email about joining in on one of these activities, go for it.  Dust off the clubs, bake a cake, whatever is required. The key to uncovering new and cool things is to be with different people. That’s where the real learning happens.

When you go to the event, try to put your shy self away. Listen and observe but make sure you throw in a few points here and there.  It’s like going to a meeting.  You want to be mentioned at least once in the minutes.

If you meet someone or stumble across new information that you want to learn more about, don’t fawn all over the source or dominate the conversation.  You can follow up after with a note or a call.

Lastly, make sure you thank whoever invited you.  Let them know you found it beneficial and that you appreciated them thinking about you. Things like that ensure you will be included and invited into more circles.

So dust off your grin and get out there!