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Can I ask you all an honest question? No sugar coating or sweeteners, just the honest truth. What really gets you to notice someone in terms of hiring and promoting. Is it really their certifications, their education, their looks or age or their fancy suit? Or is it really just dependent on individual? More importantly is it their underlying CHARACTER and ATTITUDE? Now granted, there are somethings you just wont hire for without the proper training and so forth (Doctor, Nurse, Nuclear Engineer). However, do you truly look at the character of an individual and say, "Hey may not have the all the education and certs we require, but I know for damn sure he can learn and get the job done!!!" or "We know that no matter what obstacle is thrown at him, he will get back up and overcome." and give that person a chance at the job? As a recent college graduate, all I hear about is the doom and gloom from my peers. Shoot, even people with "usable degrees" such as nursing, engineering and computer sciences are having difficulties finding jobs. Now part of me realizes that today's economy is a crap shot compared to a few years ago. But to all you hiring managers out there, is part of the problem due to our attitude and individual character that is causing us to have trouble finding jobs? What truly gets you to notice us? I just want a straight forward answer so many of us college grads can hear from the horses mouth. Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to read this post and I hope that what ever discussion ensues that it will be informative and educational.
In many years of hiring both as a small business owner and as a manager responsible for hiring in other people's businesses, I always paid special attention to applicants who knew what the business was, knew something about its history and knew the product. Someone who has taken the time to research the company stands out from all the applicants who file a generic "one size fits all" fluff piece.
Can I ask you all an honest question? No sugar coating or sweeteners, just the honest truth. What really gets you to notice someone in terms of hiring and promoting. Is it really their certifications, their education, their looks or age or their fancy suit? Or is it really just dependent on individual? More importantly is it their underlying CHARACTER and ATTITUDE? Now granted, there are somethings you just wont hire for without the proper training and so forth (Doctor, Nurse, Nuclear Engineer). However, do you truly look at the character of an individual and say, "Hey may not have the all the education and certs we require, but I know for damn sure he can learn and get the job done!!!" or "We know that no matter what obstacle is thrown at him, he will get back up and overcome." and give that person a chance at the job? As a recent college graduate, all I hear about is the doom and gloom from my peers. Shoot, even people with "usable degrees" such as nursing, engineering and computer sciences are having difficulties finding jobs. Now part of me realizes that today's economy is a crap shot compared to a few years ago. But to all you hiring managers out there, is part of the problem due to our attitude and individual character that is causing us to have trouble finding jobs? What truly gets you to notice us? I just want a straight forward answer so many of us college grads can hear from the horses mouth. Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to read this post and I hope that what ever discussion ensues that it will be informative and educational.
IMO
People hire people who....
1. Want to have a beer with
2. Sleep with
3. Can screw with/abuse
4. Make them alot of money/benefit them and/or won't quit really fast.
5. Forced to hire(nepotism, cronyism, best of the bunch who don't fit perfectly into 1-4)
The scary ones prefer to combine 1&3 or 2&3
Ironically, HR managers are probably the most fair since they only have a stake in making sure your not a screw up/job hopper. I wish more industries in my field had HR offices...if I meet one more manager who says something along the lines of "your not the type we usually hire but you have the most experience" I'm going to scream.
I wish more women were in hiring roles(I'm a guy)....my interviews with them always went well and lead to jobs.
Quote:
In many years of hiring both as a small business owner and as a manager responsible for hiring in other people's businesses, I always paid special attention to applicants who knew what the business was, knew something about its history and knew the product. Someone who has taken the time to research the company stands out from all the applicants who file a generic "one size fits all" fluff piece.
Can I work for you....I stopped researching for interviews because they rarely ask hardball questions or knowledge of my industry.....
I switched to the strategy of reading the award plaques & brochures in the waiting room and reciting them back to the interviewer.
1. Want to have a beer with
2. Sleep with
3. Can screw with/abuse
4. Make them alot of money/benefit them and/or won't quit really fast.
5. Forced to hire(nepotism, cronyism, best of the bunch who don't fit perfectly into 1-4)
The scary ones prefer to combine 1&3 or 2&3
Ironically, HR managers are probably the most fair since they only have a stake in making sure your not a screw up/job hopper. I wish more industries in my field had HR offices...if I meet one more manager who says something along the lines of "your not the type we usually hire but you have the most experience" I'm going to scream.
How very unfortunate that you've had these sorts of experiences to reach such conclusions.
Bear in mind that you will receive some very odd feedback (like the above EDIT: above the above, posted too slow) from people who have never hired anyone. So take that with a grain of salt - couple that with the fact that this is the internet... maybe take a couple grains of salt.
That said,
It will vary depending on the job. However, character and presentation are extremely important. As is what I call "apparent trainability" - or the applicant's perceived learning ability and adaptability. Attitude is extremely important in all of this as well. I've routinely hired and promoted candidates who didn't look as good on paper, but knocked the interviews out of the park.
How very unfortunate that you've had these sorts of experiences to reach such conclusions.
I interview at alot of smaller, regional offices not staffed by HR professionals.
I do very well with HR types....it all goes **** to pot once I meet the boss who has final say.
To put it in perspective....how many jobs do you know were filled because a applicant showed excellent knowledge during an interview.....OR they just chatted about hobbies, sports, flirted with the interviewer who said "man he's a great guy".
I've heard the latter more than the former.
Quote:
Attitude is extremely important in all of this as well. I've routinely hired and promoted candidates who didn't look as good on paper, but knocked the interviews out of the park.
I've had this...what happens is I get "promoted" to apply another higher position...If I don't like it; too bad. Alternatively the position doesn't exist yet so they have me listed as their future guy. When they department fails to open I get neither the first job(overqualified) or the second(doesn't exist yet).
Knocking interviews out the park has bitten me in the arse twice.
I interview at alot of smaller, regional offices not staffed by HR professionals.
I do very well with HR types....it all goes **** to pot once I meet the boss who has final say.
I'd really kill to get interviews at big offices with 50-100 people. I prefer fair HR departments over some random dude.
To put it in perspective....how many jobs do you know were filled becuase a applicant showed excellent knowledge during an interview.....OR they just chatted about hobbies, sports, flirted with the interviewer.
I've heard the latter more than the former.
that "random" dude will be your boss. Why would you want to work for someone who uses the criteria you described above? Seems like you saved yourself some time and energy.
...how many jobs do you know were filled because a applicant showed excellent knowledge during an interview.....OR they just chatted about hobbies, sports, flirted with the interviewer who said "man he's a great guy".
I've heard the latter more than the former.
Again, I'm sorry your experiences have left you so disdainful of the whole hiring process. I responded to the best of my ability and in accordance with my own experiences over many years working in corporate, retail and in my own businesses plus my ongoing relationships with current business owners in diverse fields as well as HR personnel.
I have been involved in hiring about a half-dozen times covering maybe 30 interviews.
I have my mind mostly made up based on the resume/application by the time I walk into the interview. For me, the interview is my chance to find out where my judgement is wrong and/or if you made up the things on your resume.
If your resume looks underqualified, I am going to ask questions that make you think and show your abilities. I place a lot of emphasis on you relating your workplace experiences to the job expectations. Even if you have only volunteered part time during school, you should be able to answer the workplace experience questions that I pose (in fact, it is pretty impressive if you can demonstrate your abilities using only limited experience).
But I really want to see initiative and ability to learn in your resume. This should be relevant or recent work experience (preferably both). I think I am a little out of the ordinary though in the latitude I gave underqualified people. I get outvoted a lot on underqualified people that I think have the ability to do the job anyway. At the same time, if I run into someone like this and they do not get hired, I will go out of my way to refer them to other positions (and generally have been able to succeed in doing this). The couple of times I have succeeded in getting underqualified people hired, they have turned out to be fantastic high-ability workers, so I think this is a good process.
If your resume looks qualified, I will hand you some softball questions that I expect you to breeze through. If you cannot breeze through them, I am going to hammer you with technical questions; that is your last chance at that point. A lot of people fail this step. Some fail this spectacularly. There is pretty much universal agreement to reject these people.
So, first step is to have a resume that shows your qualifications; but if you exaggerate you will get caught. When you get to the interview process, handle the questions you get competently and you are probably good.
If you are underqualified, demonstrate in your resume that you have excelled at the work/volunteer positions that you have held. I want to see initiative to go beyond your job duties and a demonstrated ability to learn on the job. When you get to the interview, you have to be creative in answer questions about your experience and abilities. Demonstrate your transferable skills and never, ever, say that you have no related experience even if you do not have the exact skill.
that "random" dude will be your boss. Why would you want to work for someone who uses the criteria you described above? Seems like you saved yourself some time and energy.
Your 100% right
The jobs I took because of #3 were just weird....
Jobs where the person choosing applicants but the boss didn't like me; high turn over rate...dodged the bullet I guess.
Jobs were I was considered overqualified tended to actually genuinely help me and give me career advice or attempt to find me a position higher up.
IMO, HR and the hiring decision maker have totally different opinions on who they want.
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