August 6, 2007
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“I love it when a plan comes together.” A quote made famous by Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith, a character played by George Peppard on the 1980s TV series The A-Team. Any time I hear that phrase or something even remotely close to it, I can’t help but think back to the show and what made them a highly functioning team. And earlier this week, when one of my coworkers said the phrase after finishing a project, that sent me down memory lane. It also sent me to YouTube where I watched a few clips of the show. Isn’t technology great?
If you’re not familiar with the A-Team, the premise was built around a small group of ex-Army Special Forces soldiers who were on the run from the military after being charged for a crime they didn’t commit. And, as any group of fugitives would do on TV in the 80s, they decided to help those in need by working as guns for hire. Now that we’ve set the stage, let’s take a look at the actors.
The Leader-John “Hannibal” Smith. He had the vision for where they were headed and dolled out responsibilities to other members of the A-Team. During every episode, he made the tough decisions and celebrated the group’s success by taking a puff of his cigar before saying his trademark quote. He was calm under pressure and instilled confidence in those around him.
The Glue-Templeton “Face” Peck. What always amazed me about his character was how resourceful he was. They could be in a jungle and need a commercial jet. Within 10 minutes, Face would find and secure said plane. He pulled everything together. He was the team member who was always able to find creative ways to address their challenges. If you don’t have enough information or the right resources to make a decision, you need someone like him who will find a way to get it done.
The Muscle-Bosco “B.A.” Baracus. Who can forget the character played by Mr. T? B.A. was short for bad attitude and Mr. T didn’t disappoint. He was the muscle, the strong athlete. He was good at a lot of things. Whether it be welding armored plates onto an old sedan so they could make an escape, or designing a gun that would shoot cabbage at the bad guys, they could always count on B.A. Sometimes your best hire is the person with the raw horsepower to get the job done even if they don’t have the requisite experience. B.A. was that guy. Having muscle on your team also ensures everybody pulls their own weight.
The Specialist- “Howlin’ Mad” Murdock. The specialist of the group. He was good at one thing-- flying planes. And unfortunately, that didn’t bode well for B.A. as he had a serious fear of flying. Depending on the scope of the project, every team needs someone who can excel in a specific area or who possess a certain skill set—the analytical person in the group or the creative genius who can blue-sky ideas like there’s no tomorrow.
The A-Team also exhibited other characteristics of a highly functioning team. They shared a sense of common purpose, under Hannibal’s leadership they knew what needed to get done, they knew their roles, and they were all able to contribute to the decision making process. Having cool nicknames didn’t hurt either.
If you don’t have a chance to chose your team, work with your staff to make sure they’re in the roles that allow them to flourish. If you have the chance to hire new team members, think about the roles mentioned above and how they might fit with your current needs.
On your next team project, which A-Team member will you be?
Shawn Graham is an Associate Director with the MBA Career Management Center at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and author of Courting Your Career: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job (courtingyourcareer.wordpress.com).
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July 30, 2007
08:54 am | 0 recommendations | 2 comments
Talk to me, you never talk to me.
Ooh, it seems that I can speak.
But I can hear my voice shouting out.
But there’s no reply at all.
-Lyrics from the song “No Reply at All” by Genesis
There’s nothing like a little inspiration from Phil Collins and Genesis for this week’s entry. But as you’ll soon see, for this topic, I need no inspiration. Anyone who has been around me for more than four seconds will tell you that I’m passionate about follow up. In an earlier entry, I talked about the importance of following up with candidates but I think it’s actually bigger than that.
It’s not just how we treat applicants; everything we do affects our personal brand. The way we treat our boss, our colleagues, or even the random person we bump into for five minutes at a conference goes a long way in how we are perceived. Yet, day in day out I’m amazed at how many people don’t respond to emails and phone calls for days, weeks or sometimes ever. It’s almost like there are a group of people out there with only a hard drive, monitor and mouse but with no keyboard. They’re able to open your email, but since they don’t have the keyboard they can’t respond. Or better yet, maybe their phone is missing the numbers two and nine and that’s why they aren’t able to give you a call back. Am I the only one that thinks follow up is a big deal? Say it ain’t so.
The reasons why people under-communicate are no doubt vast. But the reasons they give are often similar. Let’s take a look at some of my favorites.
“I’m swamped” (also known as “I have more important things to do than to follow up with you.”) I think we’d all agree that even when we’re absolutely swamped, somehow we’re still able to make time to fit in the things that are really important to us. Make following up a personal commitment. Take 15 seconds to shoot a quick email saying “Thanks for the message. I’m under a tight deadline. I’ll give you a call early next week.” Simple as that.
“Out of the office” Not just “out of the office” but habitually being out of the office without setting an out of office greeting. You know who you are. The person trying to contact you looks like a pest because they’ve sent you three emails over a two-week period. You’re frustrated because your inbox is filled with a bunch of follow up to follow up emails. Last time I checked, it only takes a few seconds (3 minutes tops) to set an out of office greeting.
“Waiting to hear” The best of the excuses for not following up because it actually means the person you are waiting to hear from is actually doing something to help you. Unfortunately, they dropped the ball by failing to let you know. So you end up thinking they’re blowing you off. If you’re waiting to hear back from someone or for information before you can respond, say so.
And then there’s the no-excuse behavior…
“Avoidance” I’ll use this as a catch all for the no-excuse excuse. If “waiting to hear” is the best excuse, this has to be the worst. If tables were turned and you needed information from someone and he or she never followed up or never gave a good reason as to why it’s been three phone calls and four emails and six months and you haven’t heard a peep, how would you feel? I’m guessing you’d be pretty frustrated. It’s almost like running into someone you went out on a date with once but instead of saying hello, he or she diverts eye contact and makes a b-line for the door.
I realize that there are times when it’s impossible to juggle everything we have on our plate; we’ve all been there. But that doesn’t necessarily mean we have to ignore emails and phone calls for days, weeks, and months on end. When people contact us, there is a good chance they’re contacting us for a reason. Take a few minutes each day to follow up with people. When you think you’re too busy, ask yourself if you would be too busy to follow up with your boss the day before your annual performance review.
Have other excuses for not following up or other work-place pet peeves? Post a comment.
Shawn Graham is an Associate Director with the MBA Career Management Center at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and author of Courting Your Career: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job (courtingyourcareer.wordpress.com).
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July 23, 2007
05:13 pm | 0 recommendations | 5 comments
Traditional job interviews are flawed. Instead of evaluating interviewees on the skills and abilities they need to succeed in the job, they focus on softball questions the responses to which interviewees often memorize. As a result, you get canned answers; responses that have been rehearsed over and over again. If you’re looking for actors who can memorize lines, that’s great. But if you want to know if he or she can do the job, you’re going to have to look beyond traditional interviews. In response, corporate recruiters increasingly tell me they prefer to use more of an organic approach that allows the interview to ebb and flow more like a conversation instead of an interrogation.
The first method is what I like to call the “deep dive.” With this technique, your entire interview could revolve around only one or two questions. But, unlike traditional interviews where the candidate will walk you through his or her resume, with the deep dive you ask about key projects, accomplishments, and other information on the resume that might normally get glossed over. For example, you can ask probing questions along each step of the way such as “What was your role?”, “What was the outcome?”, and “What would you do differently?”
The benefits are twofold. First, it requires the candidate to be quick on his or her feet. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a definite must for almost any position out there from the storeroom to the boardroom. Second, it allows you to drill down on things you might otherwise pass over. More than 70% of the resume walks I’ve seen in my more than 10 years working with clients have involved nothing more than hitting the high points almost word for word from the resume. Why take 2-5 minutes of an interview covering something you could read from the resume yourself?
You can also use this technique on other common interview questions. Instead of asking for a biggest strength or weakness which most interviewees will be expecting and prepared to answer, ask them to list their next biggest strength or weakness, and their next biggest, and their next biggest. That way, you’ll get spontaneous and genuine responses, not scripted sound bites like “My biggest weakness is that sometimes I’m a perfectionist.” Give me a break.
For inspiration for the next technique, I look to a quote from a character named Patches O’Houlihan from one of my favorite movies, Dodgeball who said “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.” As I mentioned above, if you’re trying to evaluate whether someone can do the job, the best predictor of that is to have them do the job. I know that can be difficult during a 30-60 interview, but simulations can still be very effective.
Similar to case studies used by marketing and consulting firms, simulations ask candidates to address actual challenges they’d face on the job. For example, if you are looking for people to evaluate stocks, ask them to evaluate stocks. If you’re looking for someone to deliver presentations and that’s a significant part of the job, block off some time for a presentation. It can be stressful for the candidate, but there’s no better way to see how they’d do in the job then trial by fire. If an interviewee can succeed with a simulation, chances are they will succeed in the job. I know there are no guarantees, especially when it comes to interviews, but in my option this interview format is a much better predictor of success then traditional behavioral interviews.
If you’re not using one of these techniques, ask yourself whether you could benefit from using one or both of these interview formats. As I know you’ll agree, it’s much better to spend your energy identifying and hiring the right people then it is trying to figure out what to do with the bad hires already onboard.
Shawn Graham is an Associate Director with the MBA Career Management Center at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and author of Courting Your Career: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job (courtingyourcareer.wordpress.com).
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July 16, 2007
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Glenn M. made a great point in response to my recent post about hiring rock star candidates. Being a rock star doesn’t mean you haven’t, or won’t, fail. In fact, as he pointed out, many of the most successful leaders in corporate America have failed, and sometimes failed big time before rising to the C-suite and beyond. Even the great Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple, was unceremoniously let go after lackluster results in the 80s. There are an infinite number of reasons why people fail on the job, but for this week’s entry and because it’s impossible to cover them all, I thought I’d focus on two common career killers for new employees with a little help and inspiration from Stanley Bing.
I know most of you are familiar with Bing and the Bing Blog. If you’re not, I encourage you to check him out. His site contains some great stuff (my favorite of which is the section on crazy bosses). He is also the author of the bestselling book Throwing the Elephant in which he calls upon ancient Zen philosophy to address the topic of managing up. But let’s not worry about throwing the elephant yet, instead, let’s focus on managing in; regulating your inner-elephant. Because, after all, when we start a new job, we’re going to make an impact on the organization in one way or another; that’s what makes us elephants. Which ones should you avoid behaving like if you want to start off on the right foot?
Mammoth Destructus. Many of you have either been, worked next to, or under, this species. This elephant is by far the most dangerous and typically leaves a path of devastation in its wake. You know the scenario. New employee joins a team and wants to make a name for his or herself but, instead of hanging back for a minute to get a feel for the politics of the organization, he or she just comes in with both barrels blazing. And once the damage is done, it can take years to reverse the damage.
I know we’re all anxious to make a great first impression and to climb the ranks, but the way you handle yourself the first week, first month, and first year on the job will often make or break you. People often have strong emotional attachments to projects they once owned, loyalty to the colleague you’re replacing, or can be just resistant to change. Before making sweeping changes, get to know your colleagues, the history of how and why things are done the way they are.
Elephantus Comparitus. Although never seen in the wild, this species constantly reminds fellow employees of the way things were done at a previous organization.
“When I was at (insert company here)”
“and that reminds me, when I was at…”
“You know, at…, we had all of the answers.”
Well guess what? You aren’t there anymore. And if you keep it up, you won’t be at your current job for long.
It’s great to come in as a new employee and share lessons learned from a previous job or company, but if you take things too far, people will shut down. If there’s one thing a herd of elephants doesn’t want to hear, it’s how great your old watering hole was. I’ve been guilty of this on more than one occasion. And in the interest of full disclosure, I should also mention that I went through a period as a Mammoth Destructus. Luckily, my colleagues were very patient with me and I found my way before I became extinct. Always be aware of your blind spots--the things others know about you that you don’t know about yourself. If you notice colleagues cringing following your hour-long litany of “helpful” recommendations or rolling their eyes when you bring up a previous employer, take their not-so-subtle hint.
Elephants, by their very nature, have an impact on their team and on their organization; some positive, some negative. Do you want to be an Elephantus Effectivus, someone who successfully navigates office politics, assimilates into the culture, gains the trust of colleagues, and, as a result, is able to secure buy-in for projects and ideas? OR are you going to risk career extinction by behaving like the elephants above?
Shawn Graham is an Associate Director with the MBA Career Management Center at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and author of Courting Your Career: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job (courtingyourcareer.wordpress.com).
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July 9, 2007
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I recently returned from a conference of MBA career services practitioners and corporate representatives where I sat in on a session on onboarding delivered by a representative from Whirlpool. The session got me thinking about my own experiences as a new employee.
When a new employee accepts an offer, most companies will have a plan for his or her pre-arrival, first day, first week, etc. Other companies don’t have a plan at all. And speaking from personal experience, not having a plan is not good.
I remember my first job out of college. I showed up for work in a new suit ready to take the world by storm. Nobody knew who I was or that I was starting that day. Hard to believe the company folded about two and a half years later.
I’ve also been lucky enough to work at an office that had onboarding pretty much down cold. They had everything in place when I arrived and better yet, they weren’t surprised when I showed up (or if they were, I couldn’t tell). During the first week, I met with my new boss to talk about my role, and my performance objectives and expectations. I met with each member of the team to get an understanding of their roles and key processes. They had a structured training program in place and a detailed orientation manual; both of which helped me get up to speed in a hurry. I was also assigned a mentor. My only regret was that I wasn’t able to skip the three hour mandatory OSHA training session.
Whirlpool took onboarding a few steps further. They arrange a “new employee welcome” conference call and provide access to a roommate website and comprehensive information on relocation logistics. Does all that extra work really matter? According to them, it does. They sited research in their presentation that suggests new employees are 69% more likely to be with a company after three years if they experience a structured orientation program.
They also look at every interaction with potential candidates and employees as an opportunity to build their brand. They put a lot of time and effort into ensuring each applicant has a great experience throughout the entire process. During the session, Intel, Target, American Airlines, and Campbell’s Soup also shared similar best practices. How many of us can say we share the same strong commitment? In an earlier entry, I talked about the importance of something as basic as following up with candidates to let them know their status.
Don’t take onboarding for granted. Developing a structured process for new hires will help them hit the ground running when they join your organization. And based on the research mentioned earlier, it will also significantly increase the chance of them sticking around for years to come. If you see someone roaming your halls in a new suit with a confused look on his or her face, introduce yourself and make that person feel welcome. It also doesn’t hurt if you point out the coffee maker.
Shawn Graham is an Associate Director with the MBA Career Management Center at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and author of Courting Your Career: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job (courtingyourcareer.wordpress.com).
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June 25, 2007
10:28 am | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
Leadership can be stressful. Being pulled in a million different directions, always having to bring your “A game,” having 100% of the accountability without 100% of the responsibility. The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) recently conducted a study on the stress of leadership. In it, they were able to identify what and who causes stress. At the top of the “what” list was a lack of resources and time. At the top of the “who” list were the bossy boss, competitive peers, poor-performing direct reports, and unreasonable customers.
Unfortunately, stress doesn’t occur in a vacuum. In the workplace, all eyes are on you. Your boss, direct reports, peers, the guy who comes in to water the plants in your office…everyone looks to people in leadership roles to see how they are going to react to stressful situations. As my boss once told me, sometimes people base their reaction to a situation on how they see you react. If you fly off the handle, they might do so as well. So what’s a leader to do? Lead like Fonzie.
If you’re not familiar with Arthur Fonzarelli, or “the Fonz,” he was a character played by Henry Winkler on the 70s sitcom Happy Days and he was known for two things—1) being a ladies man and 2) being the very definition of cool. For the purpose of our discussion, we’ll focus on only his coolness and how it allowed him to become an effective leader. Leader, you might ask? “Correctamundo.” To the degree that he had willing followers named Richie Cunningham, Ralph Malph, and Warren “Potsie” Weber.
In almost every episode, Richie, Ralph, and Potsie were faced with a stressful situation. And they always looked to the Fonz for guidance on how to react to, and handle, tough situations. Because he was able to keep his cool, he was able to help them navigate those stressful situations. Things would have turned out much differently if he had been overly emotional. Even when things seemed bleak, his unflappable response was to flash the “thumbs up” to let everyone know that all would turn out well.
As a leader, how should you behave in a stressful situation that affects your whole team?
Communicate. Share as much as you can about the situation at hand. People don’t like to be left in the dark when it comes to important issues. Make sure you maintain clear channels of communication.
Reassure. Don’t assume your team doesn’t need to hear that everything is going to be okay. They might not have access to the same information as you do and they might cling to assumptions and rumors without your reassurance.
Remain calm. Remember, all eyes are on you. What you say is important, but how you react can have even greater impact. Take a few seconds to take the emotion out of the situation and gather your thoughts before you respond verbally or nonverbally. Then maintain your calm throughout. It’s amazing how comforting this behavior will be on your team.
But if things remain tense, and the team needs another sign, you’ve got one: Flashing the old “thumbs up” will work every time.
Shawn Graham is an Associate Director with the MBA Career Management Center at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and author of Courting Your Career: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job (courtingyourcareer.wordpress.com).
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June 18, 2007
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I was speaking with some corporate recruiters at a career conference last week and the topic of “helicopter parents” came up. On the off chance you haven’t heard the phrase before, it refers to overbearing parents that hover over their children in all phases (and I mean all) of life. “Parents with extreme personal boundary deficiency” isn’t as catchy, but in my opinion it’s a lot more accurate description of the phenomena. Even though I’ve listened to presentations and read articles by academics that attribute this growing trend to generational differences, I still hope this is just a bad dream or a passing fad.
At the conference, one recruiter told of a parent who contacted him to negotiate his child’s salary. I’m glad I was sitting down at the time because when I heard that I almost passed out. Upon reflection, I’m not sure if I was more outraged at the parent for making the call or the child for allowing it to happen.
But it doesn’t end there; I’ve also heard stories of (and seen) parents and even spouses accompanying their children or significant others at career fairs. What’s next? Parents and spouses in high-level meetings with clients and corporate executives? Sitting in on performance reviews? I cringe at the thought.
There are few guarantees when it comes to identifying and hiring top talent. But if there’s one, heavy involvement by parents or spouses spells trouble. As a hiring company, don’t be afraid to take a stand. If you’re contacted by a parent or spouse about salary negotiation, politely let them know that you’d be more than happy to speak with the candidate directly. The same holds true when approached by a parent or spouse at a career fair.
Employers, if you hear what sounds like a helicopter off in the distance, run away from that candidate as fast as you can. Career offices, encourage parents to empower their children to take ownership of their (not your) job search. Job candidates, look to loved ones for moral support but learn to interface with companies of interest on your own without using them as a safety net. Parents and spouses, stay in the background; recruiters shouldn’t know you on a first-name basis. If we take a stand now, maybe we can head this craziness off before it reaches critical mass.
Shawn Graham is an Associate Director with the MBA Career Management Center at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and author of Courting Your Career: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job (courtingyourcareer.wordpress.com).
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June 11, 2007
09:05 am | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
In a previous entry, I talked about my rock star neighbor who, at the ripe old age of nine, has already started his own business specializing in lawn maintenance, pet sitting, auto detailing, and beverages/snacks. If you’re interested in learning about other young rock stars in the making, check out CNN Pipeline Anchor Nicole Lapin’s blog. Each week, she profiles people under the age of 30 from CEOs to community and political leaders. I don’t know about you, but I don’t need to look any further for motivation. And based on their accomplishments, I have a lot of catching up to do.
Being from western Pennsylvania, I must say I jumped on the Cleveland Cavalier’s bandwagon with both feet as soon as they drafted LeBron James. I’ve been rooting for them throughout the NBA playoffs but, now that they’ve reached the finals, it looks as though the wheels are about to fall off on their Cinderella story. After I got over that realization, the Cavs-Spurs series got me thinking about what makes a great team and how that transfers to a highly functioning team in the workplace. We’ve all heard the cliché about a team being only as strong as its weakest link, but is that really the case? As a case study, I had to look no farther then the great Chicago Bulls teams led by Michael Jordan.
I think we’d all agree that Michael Jordan wasn’t surrounded by great players. Yet he still won six titles. If the “no I in team” adage is accurate, how did he win? I’d like to think part of his success was based on his greatness, but I’d also like to think part of his success was based on the fact that everyone on the team knew, embraced, and refined their roles.
When the Bulls were winning title after title, you didn’t see Steve Kerr and John Paxson (both three-point specialists) trying to control the offensive boards and you didn’t see Charles Oakley and Dennis Rodman camped out at the three-point line. The championship Bulls teams weren’t filled with stars, but the team was filled with people who bought into the system and into their roles--a critical requirement of any highly functioning team. If you have someone on your team that isn’t an effective writer, in the short term don’t ask that person to draft all of your emails and letters. Likewise, if you have people on your team who struggle with delivering presentations, don’t ask them to present to the CEO until you’ve had a chance to work with them to develop their presentation skills and build their confidence. As a leader and manager, you must put your employees in situations that will allow them succeed whenever possible.
Great teams don’t happen by accident. Having the greatest players doesn’t mean you’re going to win the title. As a leader, you need to set up a work environment that suits the talent you have on your team. If some members need structure, give them structure. If others desire autonomy, you need to make sure you give it to them. Of equal importance is role clarity. Team members must know what they’re responsible for or they’re going to become frustrated and nine times out of 10, they’ll fail. Oh, and if you’re lucky enough, it doesn’t hurt to have Michael Jordan or LeBron James in your starting lineup.
Shawn Graham is an Associate Director with the MBA Career Management Center at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and author of Courting Your Career: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job (courtingyourcareer.wordpress.com).
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June 4, 2007
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Is an applicant’s professional pedigree a predictor of his or her success with your company? Yes AND no. Some things, such as educational background and related work experience, can obviously be very important to a candidate’s success. However, companies can also get more caught up with the pedigree than they do with the actual candidate and that can lead to a bad hire.
A lack of related experience is often seen as a negative, but if the candidate is a natural athlete (figuratively) and he or she has a consistent pattern of success at previous positions, there’s a good chance that person will be able to hit the ground running. Of course that doesn’t mean someone with no prior analytical skills can jump in to a job as a number cruncher without missing a beat. But just because someone hasn’t had a chance to manage people, resources, or processes, doesn’t mean that he or she couldn’t do a great job if given the right opportunity. And who are we kidding? Is there really that much difference between a minimum of five years of experience and seven years of experience?
On the flip side, a great background doesn’t always equal a great hire. During the interview process, it’s critically important that you make sure candidates are 1) who they said they were on paper and 2) a great fit with your organization. It’s easy to overlook red flags during the interview process when you’ve already sold yourself on the candidate based on his or her background.
Screening hundreds, if not thousands, of applicants sometimes forces us to rely too heavily on pre-defined profile as a way to narrow our list of possible candidates. As a result, we miss out on great talent. Instead of worrying about who fits into a neat little box, companies should spend more time worrying about who brings the most to their organizations, regardless of pedigree.
Shawn Graham is an Associate Director with the MBA Career Management Center at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and author of Courting Your Career: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job (courtingyourcareer.wordpress.com).
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May 30, 2007
03:05 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
It always surprises me when companies spend a ton of time and money developing slick marketing materials and a great website but then overlook the importance of putting the right people in front of potential employees. At the end of the day, it’s usually those personal interactions with human resources and line managers that determine whether a candidate accepts or rejects an offer.
In my opinion, when recruiting MBAs or other experienced hires, your “public face” must include the following:
• Seniority. Candidates often equate access to mid- to senior-level employees to the perceived level of interest the company has in them as candidates. They also want to hear about the strategic direction of the company. However, those with limited work experience sometimes place more of a premium on interactions with junior-level employees as that’s who they will most closely relate to. If you’re presenting to both populations, cover all of your bases by sending both.
• Passion. People who believe in what they’re selling, not canned sound bytes and company propaganda. They want to hear from people who are truly passionate about the company, the business, and their jobs. They’re believable, energetic, and engaging.
• Likeability. People they’d like to hang out with. People who are approachable and easy to talk to. Just because they’re a successful executive doesn’t mean that they present the best face for their organization. Candidates will often write off the entire company after having one bad experience with a member of the recruiting team.
• Preparation. A firm grasp of presentation content (if applicable) and the ability to field a wide range of questions from candidates. Hopefully it’s not the first time the presenter has seen the PowerPoint deck, but if it is it’s critical that the audience can’t tell. Many companies also include a human resources representative at company presentations to field logistical questions about the hiring process.
Companies wanting to attract the best and brightest candidates must spend as much time making sure their public face goes beyond a fancy brochure or video. They select the right people to represent their organization during the recruiting process and think strategically about the messages they want to communicate to candidates.
Shawn Graham is an Associate Director with the MBA Career Management Center at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and author of Courting Your Career: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job (courtingyourcareer.wordpress.com).
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