We’re expanding the business, with new areas being brought on and leaflet delivery franchises being made available and as such, I’ve decided to take on a full time operations assistant to free up my time to work more on the business.
Yesterday, I conducted a number of interviews, and one of them, I’m sorry to say must lay claim to a record of the shortest job interview ever. Here’s what happened.
The young lady attended the interview, on time, smartly dressed as you’d expect someone to be at a job interview. We got the pleasentries and introductions out of the way and I opened the interview in my usual manner by asking what she knew about us. I like to see that a candidate has done a bit of research and preperation.
I was astounded at what came out of her mouth. Here’s what she said.
“Nothing really, I don’t really know what job I’ve applied for – I’m just after any job I can get.”
There followed 30 long seconds of silence, during which I decided that I was not going to offer her the job, I ended the interview by politely telling her that perhaps she should have done a bit more preparation and that there were other people that I had already seen that had researched us as a company, found out a bit more about the role and put some effort into their preparation.
I wished her well and asked her to leave.
I could have spent the next half an hour or so going through the motions, but to be honest, rightly or wrongly, in those opening moments of the interview, I’d lost interest in her, I’d already made my decision that I wasn’t going to employ her, so why prolong it – I value my time highly, so I spent that the next 30 minutes doing something far more productive.
This young lady may have been the best worker ever, I may regret ending the interview so soon without finding more about here, but the impression that I got from the initial encounter removed any desire I had to see if she had the required attributes to work with me.
I’m all for personal development, training and mentoring an employee, but at the interview stage, it is the candidates job to convince me that they understand what I need in a member of staff and that they either have the required skills, or that they possess the aptitude to learn and develop new skills to meet my requirements.
This then started me thinking. An prospective employee attending an interview is effectively doing a sales pitch, for them to offer me their services in exchange for me giving them money. Whilst I’ve entered the market place by putting out an advertisement saying that I’m looking for a new employee I’m effectively their prospective customer.
Two lessons jumped out at me here.
1. First impressions count… Alot. Think about your first dealings with a prospective client. You know that you’re good at what you do. You know that your clients are happy in the service you provide. But unless you make a great first impression, you may never get the chance to demonstrate that you are the right person to help them.
So, how are you answering the phone? What does the greeting area in your building look like? If a client turns up unannounced, what state is the office in? How are you/your staff dressed? Think about all of the things that are valuable in creating a first impression.
2. The more you know your prospect and their needs, the easier it is to match your service to those needs. Are you finding out about your customer either pre-interview or during the interview before you try to sell them your service or are you blindly pitching what you do in the hope that it’s what they need.
Do you know about their company, their industry, who their competitors are? What problem is it that their trying to solve by speaking with you? What are they looking to acheive? What have they tried before? What did they like/not like about their previous solution? What’s worked for them in the past?
Once you know all this information, it becomes alot easier to offer your goods/services showing that you understand them, you understand what they need and you can propose your solution in a way that fits their needs.
