Signature Strengths

One of my favorite books is Now Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham & Donald Clifton. I agree with the authors' theme of focusing on your strengths and managing your weaknesses.  I was impressed with their online "Strengths Finder" test and found it quite accurate in identifying "Signature Themes".

My top five themes are:
1) Strategic
2) Competition
3) Individualization
4) Command
5) Focus

One of the most significant self-realizations in my life occurred to me after I began paying attention to my signature themes. I noticed when I executed my signature themes in various daily situations. After a while, I began to notice more. When I experienced a deep feeling of satisfaction about my work or in giving advice to a friend, I realized that I was exhibiting one or more of my signature themes.  To use a sports analogy, it felt like catching a long pass or throwing a hard strike; doing what you intended to do and being appreciated for it.

As my self awareness grew, I recognized that my most successful moments and my most successful roles within a company were a direct result of utilizing more than one of my signature themes on a regular basis. The combination of being in the right role, with appropriately matched responsibilities, plus being surrounded by an environment that provided challenging opportunities was ideal for me.

The purpose of this post is to encourage people to identify what they are good at and look for opportunities to execute their talents on a regular basis. If you have hit a dead end in your current job, perhaps you should talk to your manager about taking on a new role, a role that matches your strengths to the opportunity.

Executive Summary by Whom?

If you are a job seeker and you work with a recruiter, odds are your resume will include an executive summary. The executive summary will either be in the body of an email, which is sent to the hiring authority, or it may be added to the top of the resume. The purpose of the executive summary is to capture attention and draw the reader into the resume with interest. Typically recruiters write the executive summary after speaking with the job seeker. My recommendation is to have the job seeker write it. The job seeker knows their own experience better than anyone. This will save the recruiter some time and it will likely yield a stronger executive summary since the job seekers know themselves better than anyone. I also recommend the recruiter review and make any necessary edits.

Interviewing Recruiters: Part 3

My second round interviews focus on specific questions regarding the key components of recruiting; negotiating, handling objections, prioritizing, hunting and problem solving. Many of these topics are explored through role playing exercises.

Negotiating is primarily done with the candidates we work with. The goal in this role play is to see how the interviewee positions our company, the opportunity and any intangible benefits to prospective candidates.

Handling Objections is a daily occurrence in our industry. Typically we create a scenario where it is not possible for the interviewee to attain the objective/s given to the them. This no win situation reveals if the interviewee is innovative and has the ability to satisfy candidates or clients.

Prioritizing is an ongoing aspect of our business. The goal in this exercise is to find out if the interviewee has an understanding of our business and how new orders and/or requirement changes can impact daily efforts.

Hunting is not only finding candidates but finding the best in the market. During this exercise we put a scenario on the white board and observe the interviewee's ability to identify creative options to find talent.

Problem Solving is arguably the most important component of a successful recruiter. The goal in this role play is to observe the interviewee to see if they will work at the challenge until it is solved or simply give up.

Interviewing Recruiters: Part 2

After completing the first round of interviews, I typically summarize candidates as Yes, No or Maybe. "Yes" candidates are people that "WOW" me. They are passionate about what they do, have had success in their prior roles, understand client management and are driven to make a difference. These types of candidates are people you can see coming into your office the next day and fitting in. "No" candidates are people that generally know nothing about the position and the company I work for. They are likely in between interviews that day. They are taking the "go wide" approach with attending as many interviews as possible and will take the first job offered to them. "Maybe" candidates for me are usually close to "Yes" but perhaps struggled in one or two areas of the interview. If I see potential I want to bring them back for a second round.

I give a homework assignment to the candidates I want to interview a second time. The assignment is to research the recruiting industry as a whole and then show me where my company fits into the market based on our competition. I also request that they contact a recruiter directly that they know, or cold call one, to learn first hand what a typical day looks like. This assignment forces people to learn what will be expected of them if hired. It actually weeds out some candidates and better prepares those that want to move forward.

Interviewing Recruiters: Part 1

I worked for Volt Information Sciences, a Fortune 1000 recruiting agency, for nearly four years. While I worked for Volt I provided managed service programs to Fortune 500 companies and recruited for various Information Technology positions for my clients. Since I was in a management role, I also hired my own in-house employees which typically were recruiters. I am going to share a three part series on how I interviewed recruiters.

My approach to prepping for first round interviews is to initially reply to all the applicants via email as quickly as possible. The applicant's follow up to my response is of interest to me. 1) If someone is spamming online postings for multiple jobs you will get a reply that is similar to an auto response which tells me the applicant is likely window shopping. 2) If the applicant does not follow the directions I requested in my response that tells me they are not taking their time reading my reply and overlook details. 3) If the applicant takes the initiative to contact me directly from the information in my email signature (especially if they call my mobile phone) that tells me they are either truly interested in my position or they know how to track someone down which is critical in the recruitment business.