The interview

One of the things I enjoy doing in my professional life is interviewing people.  A lot of my executive friends find this exercise tedious and boring.   But personally, I like it.  Call me strange, but interviewing people is a way for me to kind of pry into people’s lives — without being considered nosy, or being accused of violating someone’s privacy.

Of course, there are some things you’re not supposed to ask, like “Do you have a boyfriend,” or “What’s your deodorant?” or “What color of underwear are you wearing?”  Those questions are a little bit over the line, and you just might end up having a sexual harassment suit even before the interviewee is hired.  But in a way, you’ve got some degree of leeway when you interview. Whereas I would never dream of asking a girl I just met in a bar a question like “Tell me about yourself,” during an interview that is a legitimate and valid question.  And more often than not, a girl interviewee will oblige, sometimes even offering you information you never intended to get, like how her former boss made advances towards her, or how she could not understand her former colleagues criticizing the short skirts she wore to work. 

In a way, you can’t blame interviewees. We’ve all been in that seat before, right? Whenever we get interviewed, we kind of have to open ourselves up to the interviewer just to make sure that he/she understands us or appreciates our good qualities.  And, more often than not, in our desire to “impress” the interviewer, we tend to blab a little bit, i.e., we rattle on about the stories of our lives.  Before we know it, the interviewer knows more about us than our mother does.  And in that instant, the interviewer becomes your new best friend — because he has all your deepest secrets.

But one tricky thing about interviewing people is that you never really know if a person is telling the truth.  Remember, this is a person who wants a job.  He is selling himself.   So obviously, this person will tend to do a little “spinning” in order to ensure that you have a good impression of him.  So, apart from the 80 percent B.S. that’s listed in his CV, the applicant will also tell you what a hard worker he is, how dedicated he is at work, how he led his team in a multi-million-dollar project, and how he got promoted 27 times to reach his current position — Assistant Admin Officer — over the course of his one-year career in his previous company, when in fact, he was a lazy bum who got fired because he spilled some corporate secret to a competitor.  So you have to watch out when you interview people.

To me, however, this is the fun part of the process, i.e., evaluating personalities, and witnessing all the maneuverings and the “spin” moves of people.   Not that I hold it against them. I just know it’s part of the game.  And that’s why I like the whole process.  I like to see how creative people can get in trying to sell themselves.  And there have been times in the past when I hired people purely on the basis of their creativity in selling themselves.  I tell myself, “If he can only be half as creative in selling my product, he’ll be a good sales person.” 

But the one thing I have a hard time deciphering during the interviews is the reason why some person would like to leave their current employer.  Some people are very forthcoming and straightforward: “My company is downsizing in a few months so I have to look at other options,” or “My company got into a merger so I was let go because of redundancy.”  Some people might even be honest enough to say they don’t see eye-to-eye with their boss.

Most people, however, are elusive.  Some will dance around the question a bit. But in my experience, most of the people I’ve interviewed will often say, “I am looking for new challenges.”  Some of them will go to the extent of saying, “Honestly?  I’m a bit bored.  It’s become monotonous.  I want to try new things — and learn new things.”  In a way, I know exactly why they are saying that.  They want to impress on me that they have become so good at what they’re doing that their current job doesn’t excite them anymore.  And thus, they are applying to my company because my company excites them.  It’s a very nice spin, but you really have to read between the lines. 

It’s true that some people are indeed bored with their jobs and they truly want to explore new challenges.  Some of them, in fact, are just curious and want to know “what’s out there.”  But from my experience, I would say that out of the total number of people who say they are bored with their jobs, 40 percent are probably truly bored while 60 percent are burned out or want to escape their current situation. And you can tell from the fact that during the interview, they have a tendency to bash their current employer, often whining about how the system doesn’t work, or how the company is not taking care of its people, or how their boss doesn’t seem to have a vision for the company.  It’s with these types of people that I have to raise the red flag a bit.  Of course, some of them may have legitimate grievances about their companies.  But more often than not, it’s these types of people who are whiny and political in an organization and, in all likelihood, the resident troublemaker in their workplace.  Again, it’s very hard to generalize.  But when interviewees make these “employer-bashing” comments, you have to be really careful.

Here are some of the things you might want to look out for when you’re interviewing people.  It’s not a comprehensive list (I’m sure there are other books out there which offer a more detailed list), but it’s a nice guideline:

1. The more complicated the CV, the more complicated the person. I have seen CVs that read like the technical manual of the space shuttle.  If a person has a very complicated CV, watch out.  This person will try to impress you with all the gobbledygook techie lingo.  Of course, if the position you’re trying to fill is technical, you expect some technical stuff there. But more often than not, a person who fills his CV with a lot of technical jargon is, in all likelihood, full of hot air.  The best copy or slogans in the advertising world are simple, short, and crisp (e.g., “Just do it” or “We’ve got it all for you”).  CVs should be the same.  The best CVs should be simple, short and crisp.  If an experienced person can summarize the best points of his career in one page, in all likelihood, you’re dealing with a very organized and confident person who is worth considering.

2. Grooming. While shabby dressing or bad grooming may not necessarily determine a man’s capability and competence, it does tell you one thing:  if this person can’t even dress up when he’s trying to win you over, think of how he’ll act on a day-to-day basis.  Also, between two people who are equally competent, if one is well dressed, properly groomed and smells reasonably good, while the other looks like Jim Carey in Ace Ventura, who would you choose?

3. Cockiness does not equal confidence. There are four types of people:  shy, ordinary, confident, and cocky. Shy and ordinary people really have no place in the upper echelons of your organization.  At best, they will be good admin people.  But if you’re looking for leaders, you’re looking for the ones who exude confidence. Note, however, that confidence is different from cockiness.  There’s a big difference between someone saying, “I think I have made some valuable contributions to my present employer so I’d like to move on and take on new challenges,” and a guy who goes, “My present company can’t live without me — and neither can you.”

4. Texting or calling during an interview. If the person you’re interviewing takes a call or texts someone while being interviewed, forget him.  He’s not worth it.  Next, please.

5. Attitude over aptitude. While I have fired people because of incompetence, it’s very rare that I’ve done it.  Normally, when I hire people, I know that they have at least the minimum skills-set to take on the job.  And, in my experience, even if they are lacking a bit in the skills category, most people are capable of learning the job they are hired for.   They are only eventually fired because of their unwillingness to learn, or they are lazy.  Most of the time, when I let go of people, it’s because (1) they wreak havoc in the organization because of their politicking and whining; or (2) they are lazy bums.  The reason I let them go had nothing to do with their skills, it was about their attitude.  So when you interview a person, put a lot of weight on their attitude during interviews.  It may not be a surefire way of getting the right person.  But if you ignore it, in all likelihood, you won’t end up with the right guy.

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Thanks for your letters, folks! You may e-mail me at rodhnepo@yahoo.com.