Jay Wren

The Seven Decisions in Making a Great Hire: Experience

I once heard a person say that they do not know how a trip will turn out until they are on the way back. Experience is a powerful teacher. Reading about performing certain tasks, attending classes on those tasks, looking at pictures of a those tasks, and discussing those tasks all combined do not illustrate how a person will do those tasks. Knowing the experiences of a person who has actually performed specific tasks is a strong indicator of how well a person will do those same tasks in the future.

Additionally, becoming effective at some tasks can only be achieved through experience. Jockeys can learn to become better jockeys through many methods: coaching, reading, observing others. However, no great jockey became a great jockey without the experience of riding a horse.

I recently read Empire of the Summer Moon, a book by S. C. Gwynne. The purpose of the book is to illustrate how experience transformed tens of thousands of Comanches from the American High Plains into the most effective “light cavalry on the planet.” As successful nomadic warriors and hunters before the Spanish brought the horse to the America, the Comanches developed techniques of warring and hunting on foot. They gained advantage through deception, position, and mobility. Each day, the Comanches’ nomadic experience was one in which their existence depended on mobility, logistics, strategies, tactics, and weaponry. Although the tools in today’s warfare have advanced with technology, the experiences of the Comanches in moving warriors, supplies, and weaponry to exploit the enemy with surprise, deception in detection, and retreat to safety are similar to the strategies used today with attacks from air bases, which in some cases is thousands of miles from the enemy.

When the Spanish brought horses to America, the Comanches joined their experience as highly successful nomads into the experience of far more successful nomads with their daily use of horses.

For two hundred years, their experiences as nomads made the Comanches an indomitable nation far superior in military power than any other indigenous people who met European expansion. Thousands of Comanches accurately shooting arrows at full speed on horseback and then being able to move their force hundreds of miles in just a few days was impossible for the Europeans to comprehend at the time. If you are interested in learning more about successful nomadic people, I highly recommend Empire of the Summer Moon.

So along with talent, skill, knowledge, and personality, experience is essential part effectiveness performance. A hiring manager who is skilled at assessing how well experience indicates successful performance in future experience can add more insights to making great hires.

Does the applicant have the talent, skills, knowledge, personality, experience, potential for long-term success, and the personal goals to fit the job? In the next discussion, I will look at potential.

Best Job Interview Questions

1. Why are you leaving your current job?
2. What is your greatest achievement?
3. Who was the best supervisor you have ever had?
4. Who was the worst supervisor you ever had.
5. What makes you the best person for the job?
6. What is your greatest strength?
7. What is your greatest weakness?
8. What are your long-term goals?
9. What do you plan to do the first 90 days on the job?
10. What do you do to grow professionally?
11. What qualities to you seek in building a team?
12. What are your career passions?
13. What did you want to become when you were a kid?
14. What is your typical day?
15. What is your greatest failure and what did it teach you?
16. Have you ever told a lie?
17. Whom do you most admire?
18. What is the most difficult problem you ever had to handle and what did you do handle to the problem?

As the Millennial generation ages, will print media disappear?

I do not think that I have ever seen an article that did not have the word technology and the word millennial on the same page.

Millennials, generally thought to be the people born between 1976 and 1984, are the stereotypes with smartphones for an appendage, news source, road map, and entertainment.

I just came from a family reunion of baby boomers and their children (millenials) and grandchildren. I remember us baby boomers talking about the sports page, sometimes the op ed section, the news, what we got from the newspaper.

Every millennial (21 in total) at the reunion had a smartphone. One, who is in veterinary school, talked about his touchscreen laptop that allows him to write longhand on the screen and converts his notes to text that he saves as PowerPoint.

Most of the baby boomers at the reunion are newspaper subscribers, but the millennials subscribe to a magazine or two but not to a newspaper.

So I am just wondering if print may eventually disappear.

The Happiness Habit

I have heard that it is impossible to smile and be sad. I can never remember to test the idea when I am sad.

Motivational speakers often emphasize the importance of thinking positive thoughts. I have heard the expression “fake until you make it.” I take this to mean act successful and happy and you will be successful and happy.

When I was in high school, I had a multi-millionaire (owned banks, a ranch, a successful restaurant, and other businesses) tell me that if you laugh the world laughs with you. If you cry, you cry alone. I decided not to argue the point since my father worked for this millionaire.

So today, I am going to use happiness as a tool. I know me pretty well and I know that as the day goes along how I feel may shift as normal moods pass along, but even if I have to lie, I am going to tell everyone that I am happy. I am going to laugh. I am going to smile at everyone I meet. Even if I have to fake it till I make it, this is going to be a make me happy and make other people happy day. I am going to use happiness as my tool.

Lists: Putting the Focus on Success

Some people are great lists makers. Whether shopping, going to a business meeting, planning an event, tracking their expenses, setting priorities for the day, these people are intuitively organized about the way they live their lives through lists making.

Other people, myself included, are less likely to structure their lives around lists, but go along through the day as things come up. I want to be more of a list maker.

I believe that lists makers are more productive, experience less stress, have a more clear mind, and work shorter days than those of us who just take care of things as these things pop in front of us. At least, I seem to have a more productive, less stressful day, and can focus better on my work when I have a plan laid out for the things I need to do.

I remember reading a book called The Book of Lists. I really enjoyed the book and as it turns out, according to Wikipedia.org/The Books of Lists, authors Irving Wallace, David Wallechinsky, and Amy Wallace, collaborating and working separately, produced a series of books of lists on odd and curiously interesting topics: world’s greatest libel suits, worst places to hitchhike, people suspected of being Jack the Ripper, and so forth

So some of you may want to save your daily activity lists. You may find they produce a book someday.

I sometimes find that if I make a list, I am more likely to actually use it when it is a short list of things of genuine importance. I might have a list of the three most important people for me to call today. I might have a list that only has one thing on it, such as a long tedious task that will take several hours and may involve taking breaks and returning to for the entire day.

I also find that lists can become outlines with categories and subcategories. For example, I may have on my list three people to call and under each person’s name, I may have a list of things to cover with that person.

Common sense seems to be to limit your lists to things that you really need to get done. With this approach you are more likely to actually use your list and more likely to get to the things done that have genuine importance.

To me, the really important lists are those lists that involve things I want to discuss in meetings or on the phone. Putting these lists together may take a little preparation and review and can become really important in getting cooperation. In these cases, I write down what I want to cover. I may need to review or research my activities with the people who will be in this meeting so that I am be mentally fresh on the material to be covered.

I may try to anticipate questions that a person might have so that I can do some research in preparation for answering those questions. This preparation can create a list of material in itself.

Some people find it helpful to keep a private journal, often in long hand on something simple like a legal pad. Making a list right before you go to bed may help you sleep better and wake up with your plan for the day prepared and perhaps sitting on your night stand.

For some people, writing a list of the issues on their mind takes the power away from the thoughts they are carrying around in their head. They become more in control of planning their moves instead of ruminating on their anxieties.

The main thing about making lists is that you actually use them. I got into a routine of scheduling monthly activities. Over time, I had so many monthly activities that I could not possibly get to them all. What I have found in terms of recurring activities is only to list the really big activities that I know that I will do. These activities are only on a list so that I can keep track of when I last performed the activity and when the activity comes due again.

I want to be a list maker. I have started a new technique of using a reference sheet that I use to keep track of business activity. My list goes into the very first space on this reference sheet. I feel better about the likelihood of becoming an effective list maker and will let you know how it works for me.

The World’s Most Noble Headhunter

Should You Discuss Compensation on the First Interview? Yes!

Conventional practice and advice is that discussing compensation on the first interview is in bad form and can cost an applicant future interviews.

If you are a hiring manager and make it your practice not to discuss income at all on the first interview or if you are an applicant and plan not to bring up the subject of compensation on the first interview, my experience has been that you are making a mistake.

If a hiring manager makes an offer to a candidate, the hiring manager is now only halfway to making a hire. For the first time, the applicant has the 100% power over yes or no in the process. Also, from my experience, if an interview process goes to the point of that an offer is extended and the offer is rejected, it is intuitively obvious why the offer is turned down: compensation.
Think about it. The applicant is very likely sold on the company, the people, and the responsibilities. Why else would the applicant have invested so much time to prepare for the interviews and make the trips to interviews if everything is not positive, and then turn down the offer when it is extended? The answer is compensation.

Do you need to discuss the details of an offer on a first interview? I do not think so.

However, I think that both the hiring manager and the applicant need to get some framework around the subject of compensation (salary, bonus, benefits) from both what the hiring company pays and what the applicant is making to know that the two are at least in the same range of expectation. So save yourself some time.

If you are a hiring manager, save yourself some time and let the applicant know that if he or she is chosen for the role, the person can expect the position to pay approximately a certain amount.

Hey, Catch! Interview Preparation

Have you ever had someone toss a ball your way and let you know it was inbound after the person had thrown it?

If you have good reflections and a clear mind, a surprise ball toss can be easy to handle. Personally, I need to know the ball is coming and preferably have a bucket to catch it in.

I have found that thinking on my feet in business can be similar. In my basic training at Procter & Gamble, the instruction booklet on persuasive selling included the recommendation of anticipating objections and preparing for these objections before entering for my presentation.

The Sacramento Kings had a point guard named Jason Williams, who was a real gym rat, street ball, highly gifted athlete. He was a lot of fun to watch and so unorthodox that the other players on the team had to maintain total mental presence lest they catch one of Williams’ no-look passes on the nose. Obviously, the players on the Kings team had an advantage in knowing what was coming next from Williams. They spent hours practicing with him and playing on the same team.

Giving a persuasive presentation in any situation, whether it is a job interview, a sales call, a meeting with peers, I find that I am more comfortable if I take a minute, write a few notes, research material I think might come up even if I believe that I know the answer, and try to think of information that might add value to the presentation and offer solutions where needed.

Another thing that I have learned to do is position material so I show I am interested in the point of view of the other person or people in the meeting. For example, without even agreeing with another person’s position, I have found that it sometimes helps to say something such as if I were in your shoes I am sure that I would feel the same way. I also try to make sure that the other person or people in the meeting have an opportunity to speaking through to the conclusion of what they have on their mind.

Some people find it helpful to call other people before a meeting and in that call, present what they plan to share in meeting, especially when the stakes are high or on occasions where there might be a lot of resistance to his or her position.

In closing, I am reminded of the famous statement regarding directions: “How do you get to Carnegie Hall? The answer: practice, practice, practice. ”

The World’s Noblest Headhunter!

Counter Offers: The Reason That You Resigned Seldom Goes Away If You Stay.

The simple fact is that companies employ people at the convenience of the company. As soon as the company no reason to keep a person or finds a reason to let a person go, the person would be shown the door and people who are perceived as disloyal may find themselves at the head of the exit line.

In my first year of recruiting, I saw firsthand the problems people can encounter when accepting a counter offer. The candidate was working for a large consumer products company. In the counter offer he found himself in front of some very aggressive and persuasive sales managers. These managers were not going to let the salesperson leave the company.

The candidate was so stressed that he called me in tears at 2:00 AM during the counter offer process. He called me again the next day in tears. The sales managers had convinced him to stay.

Four or fives months later, the candidate called to say that the same company had fired him.

After accepting the counter offer, he continued to be unhappy at the company, and he continued to interview.
He had been at the airport interviewing and a fellow employee had seen him. However on his daily report, the candidate had indicated that he had been on a sales call.

The company was well within its’ right to fire the guy for cause. He lied on his daily report. At the same time, the company had other less punitive options: a letter of reprimand, probation, or increased management presence. However, they chose this time to fire the salesperson. .

The poor guy had just been unfortunate to accept an offer that was too good to accept.

Cocktail Napkins, Interview Questions, and Landing a Job

Cocktail Napkins, Interview Questions, and Landing a Job

I have a friend who has a way of making people aware of his interest in them as friends. He always greets people with questions that allow people to talk about themselves and their families. With me, for example, he asks how I have been. He asks about my wife and each of my children.

In a job interview, there are questions both sides should ask. Standard questions to establish rapport and build knowledge. Standard company questions about why you would want to work for this company, why the job is vacant, or the career path to which this job leads.

In a social setting, asking questions that you have typed on a written agenda would not seem appropriate. However, in a job interview, asking questions from a typed agenda is the best way to stay organized, on balance, or regain your balance.

I often find that the person who does the better job of preparing typed written material before an interview comes out way ahead of applicants who interview without a typed up agenda.

The Power of an Agenda

Comically, an applicant of mine actually went into an interview without any prepared material except for questions that he had written on a cocktail napkin. The company had two applicants and one job. This guy finished second.

If you are interview with several people in the same day, should you ask the same questions more than once? I would say that you should definitely ask the same question more than once. You may learn a lot about a company and its people by comparing their answers.

What do you do if you want a job but do not have any questions? You should ask questions that enable you to know that the reasons you want the job are in fact true. For example, you want a job because you see the company is in a safe convenient location or that the company has an excellent benefit program or wonderful work environment. Ask about the location, the benefit program, or the work environment. I have had hiring managers tell me that they already know if they are going to hire a person within five minutes of the person walking in the door and that they spend the next hour asking question to confirm what they believe to be true.

The Worlds Noblest Headhunter!

The Home Gym: Why Doing Things Yourself is Good for Your Self-Esteem, Your Confidence, and Your Health.

Going through a career change or any life change can bring feelings of uncertainty, inadequacy, and uselessness. You may also feel that you have less energy and less interest in life in general.

Home projects during these periods can be hard to start. All the feelings and loss of energy during challenging life changes can reduce your motivation and make you feel physically restrained from taking physical action on anything.

Yet finishing a home project provides immediate, visual results. You can see what you have accomplished. These visual results can create energy and rebuild your self-esteem,

Fitness training offers many benefits: cardiovascular conditioning, flexibility, strength building, and body shaping.

However, for an understanding of how exercising for fitness compares to plan old DIY, I did a comparison of calories burned for an hour of various activities. Here are the estimates.

Washing a car – 300 Calories
Painting/carpentry – 350 Calories
Yardwork – 500 Calories
Mopping floors – 330 Calories
Pool cleaning – 400 Calories
Playing with kids – 330
Walking – 330 Calories
Weight lifting – 400 Calories
Stationary Bike – 330 Calories
Spinning – 400 Calories

I enjoy being a do-it-yourself kind of guy. I had installed my own sprinkler systems in the front and backyard. I had built the wooden deck in my backyard. When my wife and I had a pool built in the backyard, I reinstalled the sprinklers in the backyard.

As my business grew and my kids got older, I felt challenged but not overwhelmed to continue the do-it-yourself projects.

Not because of affluence, but because of the type of development in the area where I live, there are gardeners in this area every week. The monthly costs are negligible, especially in light of the fact that employing a gardener eliminates the cost of gas to drive to a gas station to buy gas for my own equipment.

So for years, I had a gardener for my yard and eventually added pool attendant to service my pool. I took my car to the drive-thru car wash. I often ate meals purchased at the drive-thru restaurant and ate them in my car: Eyes on the road, left hand on the wheel, and hamburger in the righthand. Cup holders were designed for people who eat while driving, right?

The following figures are disappointing to realize. During this time, I drove to a health club, where I burned 300-400 calories per session for a total of 1500 to 2000 calories per week.

A few years ago, I reduced the number of services I used. My kids were grown. I was no longer involved in coaching their sports teams, participating in parent organizations, and hanging out with them in public or around the house.

I realized that in using the gardener I had lost sight of the condition of my yard. The shrubs had become trees and the once beautiful blue grass was full of crab grass. The deck I built had built had begun to crumble with aging.

One afternoon, I decided to wash the family SUV that my wife and I had used to for years to haul kids to college and family trips through the Sierra snow.

I had to find the sponges and solutions I had used years before. As I washed the car, I became aware that I was not as fit as I thought I was. In reeling out the hose, I discovered that the 100-foot rubber hose was not that easy to handle in the tight spaces along the walkway to the car. During the squatting and the standing, the bending and the reaching, and the physical aspects washing the car with the sponge, I began to realize that washing a car can take a bit of exertion.

I brought out a ladder and washed the top of the car. Once I had washed the car and toweled it dry, I realized that I had been through every bit of a good workout at the gym.

I looked at the car and I felt good. I had rediscovered what I had lost through the years of drive-thru service. There is a sense of pride, a sense of the accomplishment, in doing things yourself.

Somewhat sadly I released the gardener. He usually arrived early and had become a person I greeted for years. Less personally I released the pool service that simply dumped chemicals in my pool and left the cleaning to the pool sweep.

I rebuilt my deck. My fantastic wife and I garden again. I wash my own car, which in California is not necessary very often.

So if you are going through a career transition or any other stressful change in your life and have perhaps become a drive-thru addict, you might find that DIY can be terrific therapy and excellent source of physical conditioning.