With 20+ years of experience as an Humanix head-hunter, recruiter, and trusted-advisor to both client companies and candidates, I’ve seen it all in the way people respond to the outcome of an interview process. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
Because people don’t interview all the time like recruiters do, I’ll share 2 interview stories to keep in mind when you’re ready to take your next career step.
Job Interview - The Good
Before I became a recruiter I managed the mortgage division of a big bank. I was responsible for hiring loan originators and knew what I looked for in the way of talent. I always enjoyed talking to anyone that stopped in to see if we were hiring. Even if we weren’t, I wanted to have a feel for a prospect for future positions.
Keith came in our door one day. Not much in the way of experience that I normally look for, but he was personable and enthusiastic and sincere in his desire to start a career in finance. I let him know I didn’t have any openings but thanked him for coming in. He was polite and thanked me for taking the time to meet him. He ended by saying he knew this was where he wanted to work and he would be coming back often to check on his status as a candidate. I remember thinking, that’s pretty ballsy!
Sure enough the end of the next week Keith stopped in to see if we had any openings yet. I don’t remember what he said specifically but he gave me a reason why I should hire him. He did this every week for over a month! Guess what I finally did? Yep, I hired him. I figured if he showed half that much initiative learning our world and taking care of our clients, I had a winner. I was right, Keith has had a long successful career in finance.
Interview: The Bad and Ugly
Now here’s another take on interviewing. My hubz works at a City golf course. He told me a story about a guy that everyone knows at the course who applied for a position there a few months ago. He made it to the final interviews but was not picked for the position. When Human Resources called him to let him know they chose another candidate, she was kind enough to let him know that he was their number 2 choice and encouraged him to keep applying for positions. In his anger for not getting the position, he told her to F* off…..
Now as we all do when interviewing, she documented the conversation in his file. Fast forward to this month. New position comes open. Said guy applies. His file is brought to the hiring manager who reads past interview notes. He sees the final comments from the last round of interviews and he promptly closes the candidate’s file. A career opportunity ends before it even begins because of a poor interview choice.
There are a lot of ways you can make yourself stand out from the crowd in your job search. Choose wisely between the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!
