Why Being the Best at a Job Interview Doesn’t Always Mean Success

Have you ever been invited to a job interview and after that you went home confident that all was great and that the job was yours? Have you been so confident that you knew all the details they asked for and that you went with your friends to town to celebrate before the company even called you back for a feedback? Have you been so well prepared for all the questions and you did so well that you were sure you blew their mind with your knowledge? Have you been so sure you were the right candidate; the one and only, that you had the best skills, the best knowledge, the best attitude, and the best of the best?

Did they call you later to tell you that you were rejected, the whole world crushed around you and you simply didn’t understand why no matter how hard you tried to figure it out? Well, here are some possible reasons (I am talking only about professional reasons, not silly and unethical reasons like they hired someone’s friend or relative instead):

-          Sad as it may be, you simply weren’t the best as you expected – there was another candidate just a little better; what can you do – simply ask what you could have improved and do it; some recruiters will tell you;

-          You were the best, but the team manager didn’t see you as part of their team– being the best individual doesn’t always mean that the candidate is right for the team – each team manager investigates candidate’s skills to see if they would work well with the rest of the people in the team – no matter how great you are, not working well with the existing team can mean project failure;

-          They found out some information about you that they didn’t find suitableor that damaged your image – did you check all the profiles and comments that you have made public on LinkedIn or other similar networks? Did you check all the photos that you have available on Facebook? Did you do a simple Google search with your name as keywords to see what comes up? Did you ever think that your picture from the seaside 4 years ago that you placed online, picture where you were happy to show your friends how drunk you were after drinking 6 bottles might be available and might affect your credibility?

-          Have you been a good employee in all your previous jobs? Did you know that HR people know each other most of the times and can ask for unofficial information about your performance, behavior, attitude, team work, loyalty and so on? Sometimes labor law requires that the candidate is informed when background checks are done, but let’s be honest, if you had a friend in another company and wanted information about something happening there, wouldn’t you just ask unofficially? Just between friends? Well, HR people do that, just between friends and sometimes find out interesting information about candidates; so you must be really careful as the past can haunt you;

-          They have some hidden selection criteria that they are not allowed (by law most of the times as this is considered discrimination) to publish, but which unfortunately exist – what I mean, they need to hire a man instead of a woman or the other way around (for example you will be selling lip gloss, you are a great salesman, but they think a woman would make better connections with their target audience), they have a specific age range in mind, they don’t want a mother with children as she is not available to do overtime and they want someone willing to do that, they prefer someone single who can travel a lot (even if you say you are available, being married and traveling all the time may affect your relationship and at some point you may quit and they don’t need that after they have invested in you) and other similar ones;

-          You have some specific features that they would like to avoid due to some previous negative experiences they had with similar candidates – for example – we were searching at some point for our help desk team French speaking candidates; we found some great ones that had French teaching as previous professional background; we hired a few and after a short while most of them decided to leave as they considered the job too demanding and below their professional level. This was a mistake from our side as we didn’t check their motivation thoroughly enough and we offered them just because they were the best French speakers. We found out that teachers most of the times have a much less demanding job in school than French speakers in a help desk center dealing with angry customers all the time, that they have 3 months of vacation during summer which was not the case in our company, that they had the respect of their students while our clients would be always angry and treat them badly. All this made us think really well if we wanted to hire another teacher again, no matter how great their French was.  Do you understand my point?

I hope that my article will help you choose the positions you apply for wisely. Make sure that you really want the position and make sure that you are really well informed and ready for what is expecting you.

Take care,

Geo

What Is Headhunting? Beginner’s Guide…

Most of you have probably heard about this term. It’s actually not new in recruitment. Headhunting has been used for several years now and sometimes successfully. But did you know that headhunting is not accessible to all recruiters, that some hate doing it and that you need some special skills (similar to those used by sales people) to actually be successful? Did you also know that not all candidates are on the list of headhunters?

Well, in this article I will tell you about headhunting from scratch – my goal is for every potential candidate to be able to identify headhunting when they are facing it. In order to do that I have decided to reply to a few common questions about headhunting for you to get an idea:

1.       What is headhunting?

Headhunting is a form of recruitment and selection where the recruiter finds the contact details of a specific candidate that has some specific skills and contacts him/her in order to convince him/her to participate in the recruitment process. Headhunting doesn’t mean that the recruiter is calling you to make an offer. Just to convince you to participate in the process. They may have liked your CV, but they need to test you, so don’t be super excited. However, if they have called you without you applying for the job, your chances for the job (considering that you do have the skills you mention in your CV), are higher than those of some other regular candidates that applied directly. Headhunting means that the recruiter has done some research concerning you and that they are interested in your knowledge and experience. So, is them calling you a good thing? Of course… if they are interested, it means you are able to have higher demands.

2.       Why do recruiters do it and when?

Recruiters normally use headhunting when they have listed a certain position on the market and nobody interesting applied, when they are looking for certain skills and don’t want to waste their time placing ads that useless candidates would apply to, when a certain position is rather confidential and they don’t want to list it publicly on the market or simply when filling a position is critical and needs to be done fast and they don’t have the time to wait for candidates to apply.

3.       Who is usually on the list of headhunters?

Not everybody of course – just those candidates that have special skills, employees from the competition most of the times. If you are a fresh graduate, don’t wait for recruiters to call you because they won’t. Apply yourself and hope to be called later when you get those special skills they need.

4.       What skills does a headhunter need in order to be successful?

As I said earlier, not all HR people can be headhunters. You need to have some skills similar to those of sales people:

·         you must be tough and don’t take rejections personally (this time the candidate is rejecting you as a company not the other way around);

·         you must have a vivid imagination concerning how to get contact details (candidate’s email and phone number don’t just sit there waiting to be discovered – you must search the internet, call people you know that may know the candidate you are interested in, sometimes invent stories over the phone or email – believable and professional stories - to get to the ones you are interested in);

·        you must be persuasive (to convince the candidate to accept to come meet you or the hiring manager);

·         you must be shrewd sometimes – I told you earlier that sometimes you have no idea how to contact someone; that someone may be a key resource of a competitor, a manager or who knows what important person that won’t just give their contact details to just anyone; you must have believable stories for their secretary, their colleagues who may be answering the phone; sometimes you have to lie, to invent details and all just to get some contacts. If you feel you’re not up to it, just give up;

·         you must be fast – sometimes there may be other headhunters interested in the same candidate – you must be there first;

5.       How should a candidate behave if approached by a headhunter?

Nothing special. If they are interested in the position – ask questions and agree to come to the meeting; if not, simply thank the recruiter for the call or email and explain that they are not interested either at the moment or at all. If some specific project is not allowing you to change jobs right now, it’s fine to accept that the recruiter keeps your CV for later use. You don’t have to be suspicious and ask questions like “Where did you get my phone number?” or “Who gave you permission to call me?” This will only look bad. Just be polite as you may never know what great position they may be offering you in the future.

6.       Is headhunting illegal?

Well, it depends on what the recruiter does with your contact information which should be confidential and protected by law. If they don’t make it public and just use it to contact you while explaining how they got it and what they need from you, then it’s fine. Making headhunting illegal or not depends on how professional the headhunter is.

7.       Where do headhunters find your contact data? Are you allowed to ask how they did it?

First of all, yes, you are allowed to ask. Just be natural and open if you really care so much how they got it. In terms of where they get the data, there are several sources – they may be a connection you had not noticed on LinkedIn, Facebook or other social network, they may have your details from one of their contacts who knows you, they may have bought it from job portals who allow recruiters to unlock your CV after paying a certain amount of money, they may have found it online somewhere if you have a personal website or are a public person, you may have applied at some point in your career to the company they work for and have forgotten since, or you may have applied to some position in another company they worked for and they have saved your contact details just in case (this one is a bit on the edge of illegal, but it’s possible), they may have told someone that knows you a story and convinced them to give them your details, you may have exchanged business cards at some meeting you no longer remember – the possibilities are multiple and they only depend on the imagination of the headhunter;

8.       What are the risks of headhunting?

For the candidate there’s the risk of being heard by someone while answering the phone and accepting to meet a headhunter. So if someone calls you and they tell you they are interested in your CV, just ask them to call you back if you can’t speak and are really interested in finding out more. For the headhunter the main risk is that the candidate rejects the proposal and that the position doesn’t get filled in on time – this is just time wasted. There’s also someone else at risk – the company the headhunter works for – if the candidate is being part of a headhunting process, they may get the idea that they are highly desirable (which is true) and ask for more money than the company intended to pay or can afford.

All in all, is headhunting a misleading black practice? Well, not really. It may be perceived so because headhunters must sometimes turn to almost illegal ways to contact candidates. However, headhunting proves sometimes even more efficient for both the company and the candidates than regular recruitment and selection. Headhunting must be taken as it is and must be practiced in a professional manner.

Take care,

Geo

*** Video version of this article available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKel3cQ4INs&feature=youtu.be

  Enjoy!

Recruitment and Selection: 10 Things Recruiters (Me Included) Hate about Candidates

After working for several years in the recruitment field and after talking to fellow recruiters, here are 10 most annoying items that we hate about candidates. This list should be useful for candidates also as it will help them understand our point of view and will prevent any silly situations in their job seeking activities:

So here they are:

1. Inappropriate CVs - CVs too short, CVs too long (I've received one one that had 14!!! pages), CVs that have no connection to the job, CVs without contact details, CVs with stupid email addresses, CVs with silly names (candidates that don't offer their real name like "Poker DJ" - Guys, do you even hope that anyone will contact you for a serious job if you put such a name on your CV?, CVs in other languages than those requested, CVs that mention "gsgdyuue" for current company name, CVs that instead of responsibilities for a certain current position mention only the description of the company (I received a CV once of someone working in a hotel - they didn't mention their responsibilities there but considered suitable to tell me how many rooms the hotel had, what an amazing sauna, WI FI and similar crap - Guys, are you applying for a job or selling me a vacation?), ugly CVs that nobody bothers to format and put in a nice and readable template - I received CVs in .txt format, without any fonts or alignment, CVs that lie (fake studies, wrong level of languages, fake courses), the list can go on but I will stop here...

2. Not replying when contacted - this is a great waste of time for the recruiter, wasting time with useless phone calls or writing emails nobody answers. Imagine that nobody will ever call you again after 3-4 tries. If you are available only during certain hours or on certain days, please mention that in your CV, don't let us call like crazy. Thanks :)

3. Not showing up for interviews and not calling to reschedule or explain- this is driving us crazy because the recruiter's time is completely lost - you can't schedule someone else in just a few minutes, you have to sit there and wait for at least 15 minutes before you give up, you have to start making phone calls; not to mention the time you have already wasted reading the CV and going through previous stages of the selection. Guys, if you don't want a certain job, be brave enough to say so. "I am sorry, I am no longer interested." You can even give us a nice lie that you have already received a better offer. Just letting the recruiter wait will probably send your CV directly to trash. Chances to be called again are almost zero - you have attitude problems, even if you may be good for another position later in the future.

4. Showing up far too late for interviews - please don't unless you have called before to explain that you can't find the location or that something really serious has happened. Being late means most of the times a change in the entire schedule for the entire day and for the rest of the candidates too. Your risk is to go through a superficial interview or to lose the job to someone who was there on time.

5. Showing up uninvited for interview- don't do it, no recruiter will change their schedule to meet with you especially that not being invited can mean having a rejected CV. Your risk is to seem desperate and this is not seen as a good thing. Especially if you are a pushy type and insist on being seen. They may meet with you just to check what's so great about you, but remember that the exam will be extra strict and most probably it will take 10 superficial minutes. Recruiters have hundreds of CVs to read and tons of other activities on their mind - ads, promotion, job fares, reporting, other interviews - messing up their schedule will not be appreciated. You feel you are amazing and someone overlooked your CV, better send an email or call and politely ask for an interview. You have better chances that showing up uninvited.

 

6. Acting important - nothing is more annoying for a recruiter that a candidate that keeps bragging about how amazing they are, about how many people they know, sometimes I get candidates that feel the need to tell me that they know important people. So what? You are here to be tested and show us what You are worth. We don't care about your important connections. Remember, a really smart person is only that one that is modest too. They impress by their personality and their knowledge, not by their connections and political skills. Also, lying about your responsibilities drives us crazy too. I've had a candidate once that told me what an amazing manager he was and that he managed a team of 20 technicians in France bla bla bla. He was interested in management only - no team member position - he specified that several times. When we asked for references, he proved he was no such thing as a manager. He was just a simple team member and the 20 technicians were just his colleagues.

7. Inappropriate dress code for interviews - guys, always dress for the position you are being interviewed for - try to imagine what you would be asked to wear on the job on a daily basis and use that. If you simply can't imagine, ask the recruiter - it's not silly to do that. I had once a guy for interview and I even remember him now after a few years - he wanted a sales coordinator position (position that involved working with doctors and medical center managers) , but instead of a suit he came dressed in a T-shirt that wasn't even ironed, his hair was a big mess and at 10 am he looked like he had just woken up. Imagine what happened to him...Sorry, guys, but for certain positions appearance is key as you represent the image of a company.

8. Not being able to evaluate your market value correctly - this is what I personally hate the most - students or fresh graduates that have some general knowledge in a field, have never worked in their life, haven't done any volunteering, no internships, but apply for management positions and ask for a fortune. People, wake up and grow up! You have graduated college, good for you...So did hundreds of others. Now look around and compare your real value with that of others. Do you really offer what the company you are targeting wants? If not, lower your expectations and see where you really position yourself.

 

9. Accepting a salary offer, then rejecting it one day before start date - this is a great waste of time for HR - we waste time with the CV, we waste time with the interviews and tests, with all medical checks, with all the crazy paperwork, we stop the process because we have found the candidate and then, one day before we are told we have to start everything all over again. Guess what, we have deadlines and targets also and not filling a position on time is very bad. For people like you we need to come up with backups and we have to take risks. Dear candidates, please be so kind to tell us bravely when you are not interested. This will give you other opportunities with us in the future. Giving up one day before start date with no real reasons will probably delete you forever from the database, no matter your abilities.

10. Showing up for start date then telling the manager that you are no longer interested - this is a variation of no.9. I've had this recently and I can tell you it is not fun. Besides all the time wasted before, you have now wasted a day of Induction training also and you have tons of paperwork to prepare for the leaver. Not nice, candidates, not nice. I've recently had one guy who came for just one day then told us he had to leave to another country to prepare his master's degree as it was the requirement of the University. Really? And you have found this out Today?

I hope this sheds some light on the difficult life of the recruiter. So, dear candidates, please read this article carefully and try not to make our life a living hell :)

And for the other recruiters out there, I am waiting for you to share your thoughts or to add more items to the list.

Take care,

Geo  

Also read:

10 Things Candidates Hate about Recruiters 

https://human-resources-faq.blogspot.com/2013/02/10-things-candidates-hate-about.html

For Recruiters : How to Use LinkedIn for Free to Get Good Candidates

On my current position as HR Business Partner in a large multinational IT company I have been several times responsible with the recruitment of specialized candidates. Shortly after I was hired they asked me to find a few Linux guys that also spoke English plus French/Italian. Trust me this is not that easy to find.

After posting the ads several times on the best paid job portals and waiting for the candidates to apply I have realized that they weren't going to come to us that easily. I have realized that good IT guys are also a bit weird (please forgive me, guys, but like all geniuses, IT ones are out of the ordinary too) and are not actually open to new positions once they are engaged in a project unless you go to them and convince them that what you can offer is better.

I was desperate for CVs and at that moment I have discovered the magic of LinkedIn. I had very low knowledge of Linux, but I managed to find my good candidates. How can you do it and more than that - for free? LinkedIn offers great possibilities for job posting and searching, but as all large and famous portals, they cost a LOT. So, how can you do it for free?

First of all, register with LinkedIn. Fill in your profile as accurate as you can. A sloppy profile will always be rejected by groups and partners. Be professional and spend the necessary amount of time to fill in your information. It will be worth your time, trust me.

After you have created your profile (don't forget your picture to build your trust) search for groups. I have searched during my recruitment projects for keywords like "Linux", "SAP", "French speakers" or "Francais" for groups in French, or for various groups where IT recruiters met and posted ads. When you have a group you are interested in, apply to become member unless it is an open group where you can post ads and comments without joining. Don't give up if some groups don't accept you. Headhunters may be considered spammers sometimes and some groups focused on technical issues only may not want you.

When you get accepted - and I got accepted in most groups I applied for - post a job ad in the Jobs section or in the Discussions section if you ask for advice or are looking for connections or more than just CVs. All the jobs and discussions are sent periodically (daily or weekly) to all the members of the group on their email (unless they have unsubscribed from group news). The more groups you join, the better chances you have to reach a larger audience. Also select the most active groups or those with more members - LinkedIn offers you this information when you search for groups.

I am allowed to be member of maximum 50 groups, but that's OK as you can step out of a group and join another or rejoin the first one again anytime.

Good luck with the recruitment of difficult positions and please remember you can come back to me with questions anytime.

Kind Regards,
Geo

If they call me for an interview, how to sound interested, but not desperate?

Question suggested by my friend Gianina Froicu

First of all, if they call you, then they see potential in your CV and obviously want to investigate more.
If they call you just to schedule the interview, just keep the conversation short - obviously they have only 2-3 minutes to schedule you and that's it. They don't have time for the interview itself so it's not a good moment to shoot lots of questions at them. Not at all a good idea to start asking about the job responsibilities, company, team or salary. No way! Just write down the time and place or suggest another if their initial proposal doesn't work for you and that's it for now. Just make sure you know exactly where to go and you have understood the address correctly.

Then, how to sound interested but not desperate for the interview?
Just wait for them to address you questions first. It's really frustrating for a recruiter to start the interview, ask 1-2 questions and then get bombarded by the candidate with more questions than they have answered so far. Act normally, try to keep calm, answer their questions, ask a few yourself during the interview but don't turn the discussion into your questionnaire towards the recruiters.

If you have additional questions, ask them preferably at the end of the interview, better prepare a few from home that require short answers. Your questions show the recruiters that you are interested, but too many of them show that you are desperate. Make sure you ask them questions that really interest you and for which you can't find answers on their website.

Don't ask pompous questions like : what are your company's objectives for the next 5 years or what are your company's values just to look smart in front of the recruiters. I have been asked by a candidate these two questions and they annoyed me. The company's values were all over the walls and they could have read about them before or after the interview. About the objectives - the candidate asked this question just to look smart because she obviously didn't pay too much attention to my explanation and was eager to move on to another question. Also, she kept me at the interview for almost 30 minutes more because she just couldn't stop from asking questions. We were at the beginning and wanted to grow our image in the city so I didn't send her away, but this is an annoying practice and don't be surprised if the recruiter shuts you up and send you home nicely. They may have 8 more interviews for the day after you.

So, as a rule - answer briefly unless they ask for more details, ask questions during and at the end of the interview but keep them relevant and short.

Take care,
Geo