On Recruiting, Interviewing, and Dangerous Roads

To hiring managers and hiring committees: your beliefs around such topics as whether a candidate should receive the interview questions in advance or have a heads up on the structure of their interviews with you is in direct correlation with your current employees' job satisfaction, the working environment you've created, and your turnover.

When you begin your relationship with someone with a lack of empathy, unnecessary power plays, and "gotcha" tactics to "keep people on their toes," you set the stage for the experience that person is about to have with your company. These aren't one-off tactics or passing beliefs but the fabric of who you are as a leader, supervisor, and curator of workplace culture.

The recruiting and interview process is a two-way street, but if your side of the road is full of potholes and spike strips, people will stay the course and drive right by you.

And those who already took a pit stop with you will be prepping themselves to return to the road for a new place to lay their head.

This Week's Opening Thought: November 28, 2022

This week's opening thought: If candidates, hiring managers, and staff members in your organization give you feedback on your interview process, and you hear your organization's interviews feel like:

• Interrogations;

• High-pressure situations where candidates feel like they have to show how much they love your company to possibly work for you (without knowing anything about your workplace culture other than what you've told them) instead of being evaluated for what they'd bring to your company;

• You're making candidates run a gauntlet of sorts with seemingly endless interviews in a lengthy months-long process;

• or "gotcha" situations where candidates feel they have to give the "right" answers to be considered for the job?

Your company needs to re-evaluate its anti-racism statement, equity and inclusion statement, and the company values that they like to trot out and wave like a flag of honor because y'all aren't living up to any of that.

Just sayin'.

On Clout, Copy-and-Paste, and "Taking a Chance on Him"

"I hired someone with zero experience. He had never worked in this specific role. I thought he would be a great fit with our culture, so we took a chance on him. He ended up being my top performer. Sometimes all people need is a chance. Agree?"

To the 8,500+ "recruiters" and "hiring managers" out there on LinkedIn who think it's a good idea to copy and paste that above paragraph for visibility? Two things:

1. We don't believe you. You don't think we believe you, do you? Do you honestly think posting this paragraph for clout looks good when 82 other people post it on the same day at the same time? Don't you think people scroll through their feed and see at least eight of these posts a week? You have no credibility. Stop it.

2. I've legitimately pushed for and hired people with little to no experience in a position because I could see their transferable and intangible skills and had faith they could find success in their way on their terms. I've been doing this for years. I was doing this well before my career in Human Resources and recruiting. And I've never felt the need to brag about it. Why? Because I don't do what I do for clout, likes, follows, or reshares. If you were advocating for folx the way your copy-and-paste post says you do, you'd know that it's not about clout or pats on the back. It's about doing work you can be proud of and impacting lives without expecting gold stars and cookies.

   Real G's move in silence like lasagna.

Some of y'all ain't G's, but y'all sure as hell need to be quiet. These posts are literally becoming a meme. You're a meme now.

I guess you're getting the visibility you were looking for! Bully for you!

[Image description: nine screenshots of various LinkedIn influencers posting the exact same words: "I hired someone with zero experience. He had never worked in this specific role. I thought he would be a great fit with our culture, so we took a chance on him. He ended up being my top performer. Sometimes all people need is a chance. Agree?"]

Image description: nine screenshots of various LinkedIn influencers posting the exact same words: "I hired someone with zero experience. He had never worked in this specific role. I thought he would be a great fit with our culture, so we took a chance on him. He ended up being my top performer. Sometimes all people need is a chance. Agree?"

On Interview Questions, Nicholas Sparks, and Unrealistic Love

Image description: A scene from the film adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel "The Notebook." Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, the film's two white co-stars, are kissing in the rain, both of them heavily drenched. Ryan Gosling is lifting Rachel McAdams up. Rachel's legs are wrapped around Ryan Gosling's waist.

I think it's time for us to collectively agree to stop asking candidates interviewing for positions the question, "Why do you want to work here?" (especially if you're asking that question because you seek candidates ready to enter into a "love affair" with your employer). Why should we all agree to stop asking this question?

1. You're looking for someone who's in love with your company. You're looking for someone to gush over how awesome your company is, not a candidate that could do a great job. Real talk? It's weird to expect someone to love your workplace without working for you for at least six months, which is usually when people know if they even like working for you (note: for marginalized folx, that timeframe is generally shorter). Just because a candidate loves the PR work your company did to put a positive image out on the internet and the DEIA blurbs and proclamations on your company website don't mean the reality of working for your company won't leave them wanting more.

2. You realize that many candidates who apply for positions with your company are applying because they have the skills and experience you claim you're seeking and are just looking for steady employment, right? Sometimes a job is just an end to a means. Sometimes it's doing what you need to do to survive and live a life with less stress and anxiety around job security and financial security. And that's OK. We need to normalize this. You and the candidate both have needs that you want to be met, and it's OK to hire folx who will do great work for your company but aren't in love with your company or go to your company game nights every week. You're hiring to fill a role, not to find a new buddy or "family member." By default, the "right fit" mentality is filled with bias and questions like this. By asking this question, you're making filling a position a popularity contest or an episode of The Bachelor.

You want a better question to ask candidates than "Why do you want to work here?" How about "When you saw this job posting, what was it about this position that made you want to apply?" This question de-centers your needs and hopefully allows the space for a candidate to share why the job interests them.

Stop looking for "love affairs." Your workplace is most definitely not a Nicholas Sparks novel.

Image description: A scene from the film adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel "The Notebook." Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, the film's two white co-stars, are kissing in the rain, both of them heavily drenched. Ryan Gosling is lifting Rachel McAdams up. Rachel's legs are wrapped around Ryan Gosling's waist.

Monday's Opening Thought: February 8, 2021

This week’s opening thought, for HR folx, recruiters, and hiring managers: If you’re interviewing candidates for any position in any organization, at some point in your interview process your interview questions must ask the candidate to share their personal understanding of anti-racism. You also need to ask questions to get an understanding of their personal work around dismantling their connections to white supremacy, as well as their views on being a part of an equitable and inclusive workplace that is a safer and braver space for more than just white cishet staff. And if your white applicants or non-white applicants with privilege give answers to these questions that are toxic or show an unwillingness to unpack their white supremacy?

They do not deserve to move on to the next round of your recruitment, qualifications be damned.

There’s enough racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic, ableist white people and non-white people with privilege who harm others daily in our workplaces. We don’t need to hire any more. None of us do. We all need to normalize making being a hateful uncaring person an automatic exclusion from being in the running for a job. Qualified or not, skills do not trump hate, intolerance, and a lack of interest in being a better person. Recruit and hire like you actually want decent people to work for you.

Oh - and while I have your attention, take some time real soon to address the fact that those who can do something about it haven’t done anything about the racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic, ableist white people and non-white people with privilege who harm others daily in our workplaces. Get on that.