Since I accepted the new position, we had to fill the position I was leaving behind. This meant interviews! I'd never done interviews before and would finally be on the Other Side. I would be watching people sweat and try to impress while I'd sit coolly evaluating. At least, that's how I thought it would go.
Last week began with the accumulation of resumes. Janet - the new residency manager - and I found out we were in charge of finding the new person, so we had to review 49 applications over the weekend! 49! On Saturday, I complained to Mike about this sucking up so much of my time and told him how I just sort of breezed through the first 15. I admitted that I separated them into yes, maybe, and no piles for superficial reasons just so I could get through them all. He noted this was interesting and gently reminded me about how I painstakingly worked on my own resume and cover letter, and wouldn't I want someone to look at it carefully instead of pushing it aside for superficial reasons? I grumbled, but the next day devoted a few hours to going through each one more diligently. I found myself interested in the people who applied, even those who I knew wouldn't make the cut. I was surprised that a few men applied and two were veterans. I redid my piles and noticed that many in my "no" and "maybe" groups seemed capable of doing the work just fine. The ones in my "yes" pile, however, were undoubtedly qualified and those were the ones I had to let through. In this process, I realized I had people's livelihoods, careers, and futures in my hands. I've never had that kind of power before. It made me uneasy at first, because I wanted to help everyone. But then I had to put my "boss" hat on and say, "We have a job that needs to be filled," and I let the uneasiness go.
What I learned from reading applications:
1. Since a lot people had skills that could be easily transferred to the skills of our position, I tried to gain a sense of the person through the cover letter. Poor cover letters got the "no" pile. You'd be surprised at how bad some of the ones I saw were.
2. I appreciated resumes that were clear, organized, and easy to read. They had headers, understandable phrases (the more concise the better!), and aligned to the left side of the paper.
3. For the section about stating why the applicant left/is leaving a job, I didn't judge people harshly for saying they wanted better pay or to get into the university. It made sense. When people didn't give any reason though - someone said "N/A" for everything - that sent up a red flag. We gave her an interview because she was very qualified, but we could tell the situation wouldn't work out.
Interviews on Day 1 were good. We found three people we liked (out of four), and two who we thought could do the job. The one we really liked had such great energy. She lit up the room as soon as she entered. However, as we found out in the interview, she worked at a bank that was high-speed and chaotic. Her job was to calm the customers and work with them to straighten out situations - crisis management, essentially. We realized that as much as we liked her, she would be bored in our office and probably try to move on within six months. She was also pursuing an accounting degree and I wanted to help her get a break on schooling (employees go to UA for cheap!), but again...the kind of work she would be doing with us would bore her. It wouldn't be complex enough. I was sad to see her go.
Interviews on Day 2 were something else. This was a day of candidates with strong personalities. One woman had been working in a legal office and was used to running the ship, so to speak. We weren't looking for someone to run the ship, we just wanted someone to steer. Another woman was over-the-top energetic. She just wouldn't stop talking...about her all of her volunteer experiences that she LOVED at her church, and her boys being eagle scouts and her being the eagle mom on camping trips, and how she rides a bike everywhere and lives like a college student, which she also loves, since her divorce...etc. She even gave us a chart with a timeline of her work and volunteer experience since high school (1980s), even though we already had her resume and cover letter. Janet responded, "We can see you're organized!" That was nice of her. A couple times during the interview I kept asking myself, is this for real? It seemed like a scene right out of a sitcom. I felt overwhelmed by her enthusiasm and needed the break before the next candidate. Our last interview was a phone interview (she lived in Phoenix). While she seemed like a very strong candidate, not being able to meet her in her person proved to be difficult for gauging her personality. By this time, though, we were confident in the candidate we wanted so it wasn't worth it to us to ask her for a second interview.
What I learned from interviewing:
1. The purpose for us was to assess personality and demeanor. Like I said earlier, many of these candidates had the qualifications on paper. The interview allowed us to assess if we felt we could get along with a candidate and how well she would fit into our office environment. That being said...
2. Having prepared answers with examples of one's work is important. We appreciated intelligent answers.
3. Giving the employer more paperwork about your qualifications isn't the best idea, either in the initial rounds or the later ones. We don't want to read more if we don't have to.
4. The details matter in resumes, but if it's not a good fit personality-wise, it's not a good fit. You can send a thank you card, which can help, but that doesn't mean you will get more points. We hired someone who didn't send a thank you card.
5. Asking for feedback on ways to improve if you don't get the job is ok, but chances are you didn't do anything wrong. The employer just found someone they liked more or had more qualifications. Don't be surprised if you don't get a response after asking this question. We only had one person do this and her email was answered, but it was a little awkward for us.
6. Having connections pays. The person we hired already knew three of our doctors and the husband of another. They all raved about her...so we didn't have to call for references. It made our confidence in the decision much easier.
That was my experience with the hiring process. I hope this provided some insight and help for any job-seekers out there and a good story for the rest.
No comments:
Post a Comment