Advice

[Kimi A. Adams]

Well said.  I haven't been following all replies to this posting because of 
a busy schedule, but I know this to be true.  I worked temporary jobs on 
and off for over ten years.  When you work with this kind of hostile 
atmosphere as well as having to sometimes interview for even a short term 
position, you learn quickly that if you don't ask the right questions, you 
will be stuck in a short term job that is stressing you out.  Then you have 
to jump right into the next one because there may not be another for a week 
or even several.

When interviewing with someone, I always ask why the position is being 
filled.  What happened to the previous person.  If that person is pregnant 
or very seriously ill, then I know it's not for internal issues or 
something that would complicate my life.  If they dance around the 
question, then I point blank tell them that if they had a problem, such as 
personality conflicts, that I would have to consider whether it was with a 
current employee or the person leaving.  That's leaves you open for more 
details, possibly more than you want, but at least you would know.

It's rare to find other people that teach interviewing skills that includes 
you, the prospective employee, asking very pertinent questions to them, the 
employer.  If you try to save your butt in any other situation, then why is 
it that you don't when you interview?  I mean, it's the place that you will 
spend most of your weekday hours, all week at and if you don't like it or 
it makes your life off from work too stressful, then why bother.

But on the other hand, if I don't receive 100% commitment from the people 
that I hire, they are going to be relieved from duty.  Compensate the hard 
working employees, give them lunch everyday, give them a flexible schedule, 
give them enough time off and flexibility to do their work and deal with 
personal issues.  That's what I do with my people.  It's their choice to 
work or not, but mine to relieve them of duty if they don't cut 
it.  Dedication is imperative for any company so treating them as if they 
are robots, trained to only do instead of think is the mentality of 
Corporate America.  Small businesses rein in that area because I cannot use 
a robot, I need an Einstein or something at least with the brains to figure 
out that creativity will get you everywhere you want to go.

Kimi



At 3/22/01 08:57 AM, you wrote:

>----- Original Message -----
>From: George Toft <george@georgetoft.com>
>To: <plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us>
>Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2001 10:15 PM
>Subject: Re: Advice
>
>
> > That's what I did at my last job.  My 30 seconds were focused on:
> > How long at each job.
> > Did he/she put the skills I asked for on the resume.
> > Education.
> >
> > I had one resume that actually said Linux as a skill, as this was a
> > Linux position (98% of the resumes had MS all over it).  I asked
> > him if he knew anything about Linux.  He said "What do you mean?"
> > I replied: "Do you know more than just how to spell it?"  He responded
> > by pressing one of the buttons on the phone keypad, and hung up on
> > me.  My reaction: Filing the resume in the "No Way" pile.
> >
> > We each have our ways of filtering candidates (or employers).
> >
> > George
> >
>
>
>George please don't take this as a personal attack.  I think we can all
>learn a lot from each other.  You think interviewing as a hiring manager is
>tough, so is interviewing for a prospective position.  There are the sweat
>shops, the cheapies, the no benefits, full-time or part-time jobs
>masquerading as an internship........ ETC.
>
>Phone interviews are tough.  No body language.  Maybe he thought you were
>being rude or making fun of him. Without actually being there, and not
>knowing you, my assessment of your question "Do you know more than just how
>to spell it?"  would turn me off and I would probably end the interview soon
>after.
>
>I recently got a call from a company that wanted to know if I was interested
>in working for them.  After I said yes they asked how much I wanted.  I
>asked for a mid-range salary given my skill set and experience. The guy
>wanted to pay $7,000 less (entry level) and quit talking with me.  He said
>he was using a headhunter and needed to continue along that path.  This
>makes no since to me because I know he will pay about $12,000 to find
>someone who will stay no more than 2 years once they find out how much they
>can really make.  The math works out that I only wanted about $1000 more a
>year by not going through a headhunter.  Entry level and save $1000 a year
>VS. years of experience with the exact tools - Go Figure!
>
>One of the things I find interesting is the "What do you want?" question.
>When I interviewed with a small mom and pop software company several years
>ago this is how I responded: "More money is not all that important to me, I
>would like more vacation time."  I went on to tell them I would like 4 or
>more weeks of vacation in stead of a pay raise.  I actually told them I
>would be willing to take less money if I received more time off than I was
>getting from my employer at the time.  They treated me like I was some sort
>of freak!
>
>Several years ago I received a call from a Phoenix company (I live in
>Tucson) and was told they wanted to interview me.  I asked for a phone
>interview to determine if driving to Phoenix would be a good use of my time.
>I explained that during most interviews within 5 minutes I know I do not
>want to work for them or they know they do not want me, and I would hate to
>drive 2 hours to Phoenix and 2 hours back to spend 5 minutes finding out it
>would not be worth while to continue the process.  I never receive a follow
>up call.  This tells me this company does not care about their employees of
>which I will never be.
>
>I have a ton of personal stories.  I've accepted offers which ended up being
>something different than what was presented and I ended up quitting soon
>after. It was my intent to stay a while, maybe even a little longer, when I
>accepted the position.  One of things to ponder when hiring someone is they
>may be processing with several companies.  If you hire them under false
>pretence they will know. They may be getting offers within weeks or months
>of accepting a position with your company.  After several weeks they know if
>they were sold a bill of goods.  This happened with my wife.  She applied at
>several places, having her hopes on one company.  She received an offer
>within days and took the job.  The place had top notch pay and benefits
>however the work environment was very hostile.  Several month later after
>having her fill of harassment and hostility she was offered a position with
>the original company she wanted to work for.  It meant several dollars an
>hour pay reduction and a lesser benefit package.  She looked that this
>prospect long and hard to make sure she was not jumping from the frying pan
>into the fire.  She took the job with less pay and benefits and likes it
>much more.
>
>So hiring managers beware, we are sizing you up too.
>
>Interviewing is tough and no fun.  I've become very aggressive in
>interviewing my prospective employer.  I'm tired of finding out that what
>the job and work place are really like is nothing like what they presented.
>I'm sure candidates lie and embellish.  I know managers do.
>
>With 401k and portable health insurance moving from one job to the next is
>very easy.  I think most people change jobs every 2 or 3 years.
>
>I find most leads and managers think they need to beat their subordinates
>with a stick to get results.  Employees are like dogs.  Beat them with a
>stick and they bite you!  Show them a little love, compassion,
>understanding, through them a treat, buy them lunch, give them a day off,
>and they will follow you all over the place - loyalty will be second to
>none.  They will even follow you to your next company.  You will hear rumors
>of wars and later find your loyal servant had fought the battle protecting
>you without ever involving you.  Shall I go on?  Be an average employer and
>see how fast people avoid responsibility and how poorly your group will
>perform.  You will train a new employee to loose them...... People tend to
>rise to your expectation of them.  Employees are like dogs!
>
>This was not meant as a personal attack.
>
>With love, peace, and respect,
>Keith Smith
>
>
><SNIP>
>
>
>
>________________________________________________
>See http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/navigator-mail.shtml if your mail doesn't 
>post to the list quickly and you use Netscape to write mail.
>
>Plug-discuss mailing list  -  Plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
>http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss