As a condition of being released from custody, the brilliant yet troubled title character in the movie Good Will Hunting must meet regularly with a counselor. Determined to sabotage the process he torments and is dismissed by a series of psychologists until he is sent to ‘Sean’ played by Robin Williams. Upon entering Sean’s office, young Will scans the clutter of diplomas, books and bric-a-brac before turning his attention to a small painting of a man in a row boat being tossed about by stormy waters. He ponders the painting and then, based solely on these few fragments of data offers up a scathing assessment of the psychologist’s life.
To many candidates, this is the all-too-typical interview process. A stranger sits across a table in a sterile setting examining your life on paper. He eyeballs you, asks a few simple questions and then draws conclusions about the essence of your work life, its relative value, and the likelihood that you will thrive in a given company and job. Candidates cannot help but feel that their complex, nuanced lives have been reduced to a caricature drawn from a drive-by glance.
As a headhunter I am frequently accused of such crimes. I see it in the faces of candidates who I have tried to evaluate and then squeeze into some sort of categorical box. I hear it in the comments of those want to be viewed as broader, more versatile, more complex than my take on them allows. To those people and to those of you who I will offend in the future let me explain why their frustration is more of a structural than personal problem.
First, it is important to note that in my business there are two types of interviews. The first are those on behalf of clients for searches I am conducting. The others are commonly called courtesy interviews. In the former, I am methodical and thorough and take few shortcuts in evaluating candidates’ fit with my clients needs. In the latter I am decidedly none of those things.
In the unenviable world of finding work, success often correlates with activity. Because of this, job seekers predictably go through a process of responding to ads, networking and reaching out to anyone and everyone who can help them. Headhunters are viewed as a levered channel to pools of jobs and thus they are an almost mandatory touch point for job hunters. In most instances, the strategy in meeting headhunters is try to impress while optimizing the number of roles for which they might receive consideration. This is most easily accomplished by presenting oneself as a versatile generalist able to address a range of roles in a range of companies facing a range of challenges.
But headhunters are in the business of finding specialists to tackle specific challenges in specific companies. In this instance, ‘specialist’ does not refer to function but rather the complement of attributes and experience to predict success in say a turnaround situation, or a small early staged companies, or in working with a difficult founder or family business. Headhunters are wary of ‘one-size-fits-all’ generalists and they probe to find specialist themes embedded in their narratives. They assume that each person has a range within which they excel and they try to map out that range.
In the end, the genteel setting of a greet and meet becomes a tug of war with one party pulling to expand the realm of possibilities while the other pulls in order to narrow it. A certain level of frustration is bound to ensue, and it does.
By design, ‘greet and meet’ interviews are drive-by encounters and cannot be expected to yield more. And while headhunters must always be wary of their biases and resist the urge to draw overly quick conclusions, candidates must be wary that the courtesy interview lends itself to misalignment of interests, errors and frustration.
Robert Hebert is Managing Partner of Toronto-based executive search firm StoneWood Group (www.stonewoodgroup.com). He can be reached @ rhebert@stonewoodgroup.com or at 416.365.9494x777
One Reason Interviewing Candidates is So Difficult
July 13, 2010
I was browsing in my local bookstore on the weekend when I came upon a small book titled ‘Toughest Interview Questions'. Always interested in this subject I quickly leafed through it and put it in the pile to buy.
Strategies for those wanting to make a career or sector change
June 23, 2010
Many transitional executives contemplate career changes. It may be a career auto or general manufacturing sector executive questioning its future, or a large-company type who covets the chance to work in a smaller organization. Often, it is simply individuals longing to shed unfulfilling careers for exotic destinations as yet unknown.
Executives in Transition- Why a rifle beats a shotgun in nabbing that perfect job
June 21, 2010
As a headhunter I am an obligatory stop on the networking circuit of many executive job seekers. I hold the promise of a barometer on the employment market, contacts, ideas, and even suitable ongoing searches. I am always happy to participate in courtesy interviews as I neither envy the job seekers' circumstances nor take lightly their courage in reaching out to me.
The Perils of the Successful Matchmaker
June 14, 2010
What is a successful matchmaker?
Last week, the Wall Street Journal published an interview with Patti Stanger who runs The Millionaire's Club, a Los Angeles-based "elite" matchmaking service and reality television program.
Interviewing: The Quest for Patterns and Themes
May 14, 2010
Last week, two seemingly unrelated articles caught my attention. The first was a magazine obituary on C.K. Prahalad, the management thinker best known for his work on core competencies. The article spoke extensively of his ‘big ideas' and noted his habit of traveling the world "prying useful information out of everyone he met…always looking for connections and patterns, hoping to predict change".
Checkers vs. Chess: Why Candidates Play The Wrong Interview Game…and Pay the Price !
May 4, 2010
I often join my clients when they conduct candidate interviews. I moderate, participate, listen and learn. They are fascinating glimpses into how candidates and companies alike play the complex game of talent acquisition.
The superhero hiring game and why everyone loses
April 5, 2010
When it comes to recruiting leaders, companies continue to search for those Steve Jobs-like characters that can single-handedly turn around a company's fortunes, blaze paths of innovation and market their wares like no other before them.
Why candidates should expand and prep their references
February 3, 2010
As headhunters scramble to match candidates with their shapeshifting clients, process and painstaking due diligence rule the day. To some candidates such rigor may feel intrusive or simply unnecessary. It shouldn't. In fact, rigor should be embraced and used to all candidates advantage. Consider the use of references as an illustration.
The Unwanted CEO Job …and the one individual who thought otherwise
January 8, 2010
Several recent articles have lauded the success of Ottawa-based Bridgewater Systems. With skyrocketing revenues, a growing market, and money in the bank, the firm's prospects have never been better and the street appears to love the story. It was a much more difficult story to sell in 2003, with one notable exception.
Hiring Executive Talent: The Sheepish Canadian Startup
December 26, 2009
Much is written about the state of the Canadian tech startup sector and why it lags the US, Israel and other countries in producing a richer community of world-class companies.
While I am not qualified to comment on many of the contributing factors I am witness to how Canadian startups hire and lever talent at key points in their growth. I would argue that for many of these firms the bar excellence is set so cautiously low that to expect anything but mediocrity is laughable. Let me provide a recent example.
To The Candidates I Will Offend Next Week
December 3, 2009