Planning Ahead for Interviews

My kids took my wife out for Mother’s Day for supper. They traditionally do the Mother’s Day brunch but due to an out of state basketball tournament my daughter competed in, we broke tradition and went out for supper instead. Naturally I tagged along to play chauffeur and pay the bill. My daughter orders spaghetti and my son gets pizza. In the middle of eating a roaming magician stops by our table (on Sunday night this particular restaurant has a magician). So here is my daughter and son trying to eat and interact with the magician. It wasn't before too long that my daughter was wearing spaghetti sauce on her sweatshirt and my son was wearing pizza sauce on his face & shirt.

This reminded me of a conversation I would typically have with candidates that were scheduled to participate in a lunch interview or a dinner the night before a day of interviews with a company representative. This is what I’d tell them, and please keep the visual in your head of my kids.  If you are scheduled for a dinner or a lunch interview be certain to order a food item off the menu that can be eaten in small bites so that you may comfortably converse. Also, order a food item that has no sauce. And without a doubt, absolutely never ever order spaghetti.

So let’s say you do have a dinner scheduled with a company representative prior to your actual day of interviews. Let’s say you accidently get a food stain on your nice, white shirt. Now what? Do you go to the interviews the next day with a stained shirt? Of course not, you plan ahead. You bring an extra shirt because it is always best to be prepared for the unexpected. Nothing kills an interview like a food stain on your shirt or tie from dinner meeting the night before. 

Tell Us Everything! Everything!

Remember Chunk from the movie The Goonies?  Here’s the scene... The Fratellis are interrogating Chunk. They say, “Tell us everything! Everything!"

Chunk responds, "Everything. OK! I'll talk! In third grade, I cheated on my history exam. In fourth grade, I stole my uncle Max's toupee and I glued it on my face when I was Moses in my Hebrew School play. In fifth grade, I knocked my sister Edie down the stairs and I blamed it on the dog... When my mom sent me to the summer camp for fat kids and they served lunch I got nuts and I pigged out and they kicked me out... But the worst thing I ever done - I mixed a pot of fake puke at home and then I went to this movie theater, hid the puke in my jacket, climbed up to the balcony and then, t-t-then, I made a noise like this: hua-hua-hua-huaaaaaaa - and then I dumped it over the side, all over the people in the audience. And then, this was horrible, all the people started getting sick and throwing up all over each other."

This is funny stuff, and for me, the most memorable part of the movie. And it reminds me of how an interview can go. The interviewer is one of the Fratellis. Chunk is the person interviewing for the job. The interviewer asks the question, “Tell me about yourself.” The person being interviewed, Chunk, responds, “In third grade, I cheated on my history exam. In fourth grade, I stole my uncle Max's toupee….”

Where do you start? What is the best way to handle a question such as this during an interview to avoid being like Chunk??

Here is what I suggest. When asked an open ended question such as, “Tell me about yourself”, respond in such a way as to draw from the interviewer what it is they really want to know. So you can hone in on what is relevant and important. Surely they really don’t want to know about how you cheated on your history exam in third grade. So respond to the interviewer by saying, "I’d be happy to tell you about myself. What is it that you would like to know?" 

50 Ways to Leave Your Employer…

Just slip out the back, Jack. Make a new plan, Stan. You don't need to be coy, Roy. Hop on the bus, Gus. You don't need to discuss much. Just drop off the key, Lee

And get yourself free.

Paul Simon could have easily been talking about the resignation process with these song lyrics. When you’ve accepted an offer of employment and are preparing for your resignation with your current employer you experience all sorts of emotions. While it should be an exciting time often it creates a bit of anxiety.

What will the reaction be of your boss? Well, typically you can expect three different potential responses.

The quilt trip: “How could you do this to me?”

The angry boss: “Get your things and get out of here.”

The good boss reaction: “Hey congratulations. I’m very happy for you. I wish you the very best.”

Just like anything if you know what could be coming you can best prepare yourself. So just knowing these are the likely possible reactions you can be prepared on how to handle. But experience has shown over these years that  there is a certain way to approach the resignation that will help the process go smoothly for you.

First, prepare a resignation letter. For example, I suggest this wording:

“Mr. or Ms. (Name):

I respectfully submit my resignation to be effective (Day and Date).

The reason for my resignation has nothing to do with you as my supervisor or with (ABC Company) as an organization, but rather it is due to an exceptional opportunity, which I have accepted, that is more in keeping with both my personal and professional goals.

I have enjoyed my association with (ABC Company) and wish all those employed by the organization much future success.”

You hand the letter to your boss. They may ask, “What is this?” You simply say, “please read the letter.” The letter diffuses the situation by not making it personal regardless of whether it is. The reason for my resignation has nothing to do with you…. These are powerful words. Telling your boss that they nor the company have anything to do with your decision. Instead, it is all about… an exceptional opportunity.  In addition, an exceptional opportunity that “I have accepted”. You've committed to this new opportunity. That often helps defuse the opportunity for your boss to propose a counter offer. Not always but it can give them the message that you are committed to this new opportunity.

So remember, you called the meeting. You don't need to discuss much. Just drop off the key, Lee and get yourself free. It will feel as though a heavy weight has been lifted off your shoulders once you’ve resigned.

Do People Plan Their Vacations Better Than Their Careers?

Well spring is in the air here in Iowa. Temperatures in the low 60s. Nice gentle rain has turned the grass green overnight. When I arrived to the office this morning the parking lot was covered with earth worms. Wait….is that spring I smell? Or the literally hundreds of earth worms! Well, here in Iowa I guess it is one in the same. I don’t mean to dwell on these earth worms, but it was a like a scene from an Alfred Hitchcock movie, except worms instead of birds. Should we be fearful?  Will they attack?  Our parking lot was a fisherman’s dream come true. Or some entrepreneurial kid with a dream of setting up a bait stand.

Spring is also a time when I’m printing off local community summer recreational program offerings to fill in my two teenagers’ days with activities to keep them busy during their summer break. I create a calendar for each child with their respective activities clearly documented for each day of the week. Coordinating & planning.

Someone once said that people plan their vacations better than their careers. While not true of everyone, naturally there is certainly truth to that. In fact I was just speaking with a candidate the other day and we were discussing why they were exploring the market. They had recognized that previously they had not put a lot of thought into their career. And now they wanted to do a better job with that going forward.

So as you make your plans for your summer, whether it be what your kids will be doing or your family vacation, take some time to do some planning for yourself. Set short and long range goals. Make them realistic but goals that will keep you on track. Some of what happens to us in our careers is no doubt about timing and circumstances. However, there is something to be said about having an active involvement in how you plan things out as well. Maybe it’s about positioning yourself. Perhaps take a course or two that would be relevant to where you want your career to head. But the key is to carving out the time to make the plan. And then follow through with it.

Great Opportunity?

Great opportunity in……

Why? Why is this a great opportunity?

Every morning I start my day by going through email. Within these emails are LinkedIn Group notifications. I scan the notifications for interesting discussions, and pause and chuckle to myself every time I see a job posted as “Great Opportunity”. Seems like a very subjective word, “great”.

Michael Jordan was a great basketball player. Joe Montana was a great football player. Mohammad Ali was a great boxer. Describing these sports legends as great seems very legit. Each of these individuals was assigned the prestigious title of “great” based on a defined set of criteria generally agreed upon by sports analysts, other sports legends, and fans alike.

To the best of my knowledge the insurance industry has not created a defined set of criteria to establish what is a great opportunity. Therefore, the term is subjective and simply becomes an overused and meaningless word.

Truth is that this will be a great opportunity for someone. But that’s not why the recruiter posts as such. They are attempting to draw attention. But can every job opportunity be a great opportunity? Can you honestly tell me you have a great opportunity for me without knowing what my interests & expectations are? Perhaps a better way to tell the story is by briefly describing what makes this a desirable opportunity. Maybe it is with an A+ AM Best rated carrier. Maybe the company is experience significant growth. Maybe it is a newly created position. These are no guarantees that the opportunity is great, but at least the term “great” is not being overused.

Recruiters are using marketing 101 when they use terms such as “great” by trying to catch attention. But if you answer one of these, ask them what makes this a great opportunity. Because the reality is, if they don’t know about your interests and what’s important to you, then “great” is just an overused word. 

Is Your Relationship with your Recruiter/Recruiting Firm a True Business Partnership?

Interesting experience the other day... There is a company I've done business with for years. This has been the true definition of a business partnership. When they had a key hiring need they’d call me and invite me to come out on site, and then meet with those involved in the hiring decision. I would sit down at a table and we’d go over the particulars of the search. We’d discuss target companies, we’d even discuss specific people they would be interested in. Again, this is how I define a true partnership in a recruiting assignment. I was successful in helping identify and secure their hires for each of those searches.


When I work with a company I really work with them. I will continue all necessary activities, including assisting in coordinating interviews, follow-ups, whatever it takes even when I’m on vacation with my family, etc. I enjoy what I do and I figure that is just part of the job. I have no problem in dedicating whatever it takes to help a client fill their critical needs. I will stay with a search until it is filled as well. I am quite persistent when it comes to that. In one search with this same client I stayed on the search for well over a year, dedicating an enormous amount of time and effort seeing it to successful conclusion. All in a contingency arrangement. Most recruiters would have lost interest a few months into the search.

A couple years or so ago I was informed that this client’s parent company was going to use a different process. I won’t get into specifics, but basically they had a vendor company become somewhat of a go-between, if you could call it that. The local HR staff that I had once so very closely partnered with dove into the new initiative breaking ties with me. These are folks I had worked with so closely before. Meeting face to face on each search. Devoting family time to see that each search kept moving forward. Yes, it was very disappointing.

With the new system/process/procedure several recruiters are put on one search. This company operates in a small niche segment of the industry. So you have nine recruiters, for example, contacting a very small pool of potential candidates. Everyone stumbling over each other. Though the real concern to me is what message is being sent into the industry about this company’s recruiting strategy? I believe it sends the wrong message, personally. And how do you control the message being delivered to the market? Many of the recruiters have no experience even recruiting within this company’s niche, let alone insurance. Again, I ask what is the message being delivered to the community? If your recruiting partners don’t know your business, don’t understand your business, don’t know your product, how can they represent you?

If this system really works for this company and others like them, great. I personally see a lot of holes in it. But I’m not criticizing, only illustrating a point. If you are really wanting a sincere business relationship with a recruiter who is only trying to assist you, let them help you by you helping them. A recruiter should be viewed as a business partner. An extension of your own recruiting department. Their success means your success in making a hire. Withholding information or being non-communicative does not aid towards the successful conclusion of a search.

Super Bowl XLVII - A Little Something for Everyone In It

I have to say that I was actually looking forward to this year’s Super Bowl, and I can’t say that about many of the bowl match-ups. Typically I’ll watch but can easily be distracted by other things. So I arranged my day so I could watch the game. I can say I was mostly neutral about the outcome, but if pressed I’d admit that I favored the 49ers. I think largely because I grew up during their dynasty days. And I always felt as though Joe & Steve did a nice job of presenting themselves as role models.

After the first half and the opening of the second I was less than hopeful for a 49ers win. The power outage provided an opportunity to help my daughter with studying for a test, and then when I returned to the game much to my surprise the 49ers were right back in the game!  They almost pulled out the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history, but instead it is being called by some as a controversial ending and a win by the Ravens.

This Super Bowl definitely provided an “on the edge of your seat” comeback bid. Record setting performances.  A half-time performance largely free of controversy. Some pretty entertaining commercials. This bowl match-up also brought us an opportunity to extract real world lessons that can be applied to everyday work life. These lessons are nicely outlined in the article below.  A good read as there is a little something for everyone in it.

Monday Morning Leadership Lessons from Super Bowl XLVII
By Stephen Miles