Talent Tips - Talent Market

Talent Tip #34: “I’ll Call You”: Rejecting Candidates After the Interview

June 19, 2012

Picture this sad scenario: a sweet, impressionable girl waits by the phone for a boy to call. They went on a date the week before, and he ended their date with these prophetic words: I’ll call you.

Of course, the boy never intended to call. It’s just that saying “I’ll call you” is a cleaner finale than “You’re a nice girl, but I’m not looking to get serious. I’d rather the fleas of a thousand camels infest my armpits than to be tied down in a relationship.”

So, he never calls; but he hopes she’ll eventually get the picture.

Such is the way of nonprofits that are reluctant to formally pull the plug on candidates they have interviewed but have decided not to hire. In fact, if there’s one complaint I hear from candidates about hiring organizations, it’s that they don’t hear back after the interview, even though the organization pledged to be in touch.

My dear nonprofit clients, I can hardly blame you. We’ve all seen candidates react poorly to rejection. And in this litigious society, it seems risky to be honest with candidates. Alas, we hope the unselected candidate will just fade away like Al Gore.

In any case, the right thing to do is close the loop. This is especially true if you brought a candidate in for multiple in-person interviews and raised expectations. Rejecting someone isn’t pleasant; however, after getting over the initial disappointment, candidates are usually appreciative you took the time to let them know.

Now, my fearless candidates, remember that can be proactive in these scenarios. If you’ve interviewed for a role and now you’re hearing crickets, you can always reach out to the hiring manager and ask for a status update. Complaining about an organization’s lack of response means little if you haven’t at least attempted to get some answers on your end. Remember that hiring managers are busy people usually dealing with multiple openings and dozens of candidates – sometimes they just need a little nudge.

For the hopeless romantics who are still hung up on the aforementioned girl waiting by the phone, let me assure you the story concludes well. She ends up marrying an orthopedic surgeon and lives happily ever after. And, ironically, the boy who never called has an unfortunate run-in with some killer fleas….

Talent Tip #33: Lessons From My Parents’ Marriage: It Pays to Court Candidates

May 15, 2012

After 43 years of marriage, my father still opens the door for my mother and my mother still packs my father’s lunch before he heads to work. With all this time behind them, you’d think they might be tempted to knock off the niceties. After all, at 70+, is either really going to walk out? I mean, if I think dating’s bad at my age, can you imagine the dating market they would face?

Yeah, yeah, Claire. That’s nice about your parents. But what’s your point? And if those are really your parents, are you sure you aren’t the milkman’s kid?

Ok, back to the point.

With the exception of the current administration, everybody knows our economy is still in the dumps. Because of this, some hiring managers believe they don’t need to woo prospective hires as they once did. After all, candidates won’t walk away in such a weak market, right?

Wrong.

I recently had a leading candidate pull out of the interview process with a terrific nonprofit because she didn’t like the way she was being treated. She felt the organization had been unresponsive through the process, and she was frustrated with the fact it had dragged on for more than six weeks. To top it off, the nonprofit had made several requests of her, for all of which they insisted on a 24-hour turnaround. Her quick work was then met with days of radio silence on the organization’s end. The candidate finally had enough and walked away.

Even in a bad economy, the candidate valued being treated well by the nonprofit. She was willing to put herself back into the lackluster job hunt and take her chances at finding an organization that appreciates her.

So, back to my parents. After more than four decades of marriage, my parents are still together and happy as clams (clams who occasionally bicker like children and get under each other’s skin like deer ticks, but otherwise content clams). Part of the reason they stay together is that they both feel appreciated.

The lesson we can take from my parents’ marriage is this: don’t let your guard down. Treat candidates as though you might lose them and give them every reason to want to work for you. Appreciate them: be responsive, efficient, and reasonable. And it wouldn’t hurt to open the door, either. Just ask Dad.

Talent Tip #32: Friends Don’t Offer Friends Questionable Job-Seeking Advice

April 17, 2012

There’s a troubling phenomenon afoot in the job-hunting universe: friends are giving friends some really questionable advice. Trying to land a new job is hard enough, but it’s just plain rough if your friends are working against you!

Here’s a recent example of the shenanigans. A candidate I was working with refused to provide information that my client requested. The information was standard: five years of tax returns, her personal diary, the results of a Rorschach inkblot test, a urinalysis, and a bulleted list of the contents of her kitchen catch-all drawer. I’m kidding. All my client wanted was some basic information about salary.

(Now that I had you sweating about the urinalysis, you see how innocent the request for salary info is, right?)

I asked the candidate again for the information. She stonewalled.

I explained this was standard operating procedure for many of my clients. All I needed was an idea of current and desired salaries.

Finally, the candidate confessed, “Well, I’ve been advised by a friend not to discuss salary until after the first in-person interview.”

I wanted to cry. At this point I wasn’t even going to be able to score this gal a first interview, let alone a second! Perhaps the friend meant you shouldn’t bring up the topic of salary until later in the process – but that you should certainly provide it if asked? In any case, the person proffering the advice was putting her friend in danger of missing out on a good opportunity.

Here’s another one. A candidate recently asked for a 50% increase from her current salary. After I picked myself off the floor, I explained that the current market isn’t really providing such luxury. She persisted. I tried again, telling her my client might decide to look elsewhere if she insisted on such a steep increase in pay. I finally asked her where she came up with such a range. “My friend told me this was the increase I should expect if I change jobs.”

Oh, boy.

And here’s one more for the road. I recently had an applicant call me repeatedly to check in about an opening. We’re talking more calls than I got from my middle school boyfriend…despite the fact my client explicitly stated, “No phone calls.” I told the candidate I’d be in touch as soon as I had news. Almost like clockwork the candidate offered up this gem, “By the way, sorry about all the calls. A friend told me I should ignore the no phone calls request.”

Unless your friend is the head of HR for Google, take job-hunting advice with a grain of salt.

Talent Tip #31: Don’t Call Us – We’ll Call You (Or Maybe Not)

March 13, 2012

Are you wondering why there’s a photo of Spike Lee right here? No worries – I’ll get to that in a second.

Last month we covered the topic of nonprofits having difficulties with hiring due to reputational issues. Now we’re going to tackle the nonprofit’s point of view when considering a candidate with a questionable reputation.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sent a promising candidate to one of my clients, only to have my client say they wouldn’t be pursuing the candidate due to reputation issues. No matter what I think of the candidate, it’s over as soon as the client mentions the R word.

What are some of the things that can earn a candidate a bad reputation? Well, I’ll let you use your creativity, but here are a few:

Accepting a job and then backing out at the last minute or quitting shortly after starting – Yikes. There’s just no good way around this one. Nonprofits talk; and if you jumped ship right after the boat left port, the others will hear about it.
Trash-talking a former employer – This one happens a lot; and as you can imagine, prospective employers don’t care for it.
Dishonesty of any kind – Whether it’s a lie on a résumé or a fib about an accomplishment, you’re as good as done if a hiring manager can’t trust you.
Being wishy-washy or less than solidly committed to free-market principles – On more than one occasion I’ve had clients say they weren’t interested because a candidate worked for a member of Congress who wasn’t truly free-market oriented or because the candidate espoused ideas in a policy piece or blog that were antithetical to free-market thinking. Most of my clients have dedicated their careers to advancing liberty; they aren’t particularly interested in someone who can take it or leave it, depending on expedience.
Erratic behavior – Candidates who display unpredictable, histrionic, or irrational behavior in a work setting or during the interview process make quick work of scaring hiring managers away.

So, how will you know if you need a little reputation management? Unfortunately, you may not. Most organizations don’t see the upside in sharing the knowledge that a candidate’s reputation has preceded him. And after some of the histrionics I’ve seen from candidates, I can hardly blame them!

Having strong references who can attest to your character or work product may be one way to counteract reputational problems.

However, my best advice is just to do from the start what Spike Lee told us in the late 80’s: do the right thing. If you do, your reputation should be just fine.

Talent Tip #30: Dear Valentine, Your Reputation Stinks

February 14, 2012

So here you are on Valentine’s Day, sitting alone in tears watching The Notebook. Why? Because you’re a nonprofit manager who has had difficulty filling key positions in your organization.

Nonprofits regularly ask me why they are having problems hiring for a role. Often, it’s because the opening is a challenging one to fill (i.e. fundraising!); but sometimes it’s due to reputational issues. In this market, candidates are skittish about joining an organization with anything less than a solid character.

Candidates in the hunt for a job take into account several reputational factors when considering whether they want to work for an organization. Here are several dynamics candidates talk to me about regularly:

Financial Stability – Is the organization financially stable? Has it had layoffs in the recent past? What does the 990 look like? If it’s a small, Mom and Pop shop, can it weather these difficult economic times?
Turnover – What is the turnover rate? Is it abnormally high? Why are people leaving? Do they sense they are on the Titanic?
Culture – What type of culture does the organization have? Is it a healthy, positive culture that helps employees learn and grow? Is it a vibrant, entrepreneurial place to work? Or is it “churn and burn”? Are there people in high in high places who are notoriously difficult to work for? What is the word on the street about the organization’s inner-workings?
Impact – Is the organization really making a difference? Is there movement-wide excitement about what the organization is accomplishing? Or is the work stale, staid, and inconsequential?

heart hire me not 2 heart free market If you’re the president, executive director, or hiring manager for an organization that may have reputational problems, take heed, but don’t give up hope. Remember that repairing or changing a reputation takes time, but it can be done.

In fact, if you take action now, next year you won’t be sitting alone watching a sappy Rachel McAdams movie. Instead, you’ll have a repaired reputation and a happy staff with whom to hang out.

Next month we’ll tackle the nonprofit’s point of view when considering a candidate with a questionable reputation.

Talent Tip #29: I’m Gumby, Dammit

January 17, 2012

I’ve had a lot of candidates lately tell me they are interested in making a career transition or are open to considering new roles beyond their existing skill set. While I’m usually a fan of Gumby-like flexibility, it pains me to say now is not the time for plasticity.

Here’s why: the economy still stinks; therefore, organizations are taking very few risks when it comes to hiring. This means they are hiring people who have backgrounds that very closely match the openings on hand.

If you’re old enough to remember Gumby (and, ahem, I’m only old enough to remember Eddie Murphy’s rendition of him), you remember when the economy was good. Ok, maybe it hasn’t been that long. The point is that in the good ol’ days, organizations had the luxury of taking hiring risks. For instance, they might hire a private sector salesman for a fundraising role. Or, they might hire an individual with a lot of creativity, strong writing skills, and not a lick of specific communications experience for a communications manager role. They made calculated risks; and while many of those bets paid off, they could afford it when one crashed and burned.

But now organizations are more risk-averse. They are insisting on candidates who have already held similar positions. If they ask me for a major gifts officer, they want someone who has major gifts experience in a nonprofit setting. If they ask me for an executive, they want a nonprofit manager with proven leadership experience.

So, I hear you, my dear candidates, when you say, “I’m Gumby, Dammit!” But let’s save that pliability for a little later when the economy improves.