Crazy Things Heard In Interviews

Everyone here in the Midwest is tired of talking about the weather, or our crooked politicians, or the unemployment/economy, so this post is to lighten things up a bit. We found some crazy things hiring managers have heard from applicants in interviews. Perhaps you will laugh out loud, drop your jaw, or just simply be amused. Perhaps they were nervous, thought the employer would appreciate their honesty, or maybe they just have no boundaries. We are not sure. If you have ever said something unfortunate at a job interview, hopefully these will ease your mind. If these are something you said in an interview, well….hopefully you will learn from your mistake. Enjoy!

Why did you leave your last job?
“I have a problem with authority.” – Carrie Rocha, COO of HousingLink

Tell us about a problem you had with a co-worker and how you resolved it
“The resolution was we were both fired.”- Jason Shindler, CEO, Curvine Web Solutions

Why should we hire you?
“I would be a great asset to the events team because I party all the time.” – Bill McGowan, founder, Clarity Media Group

Do you have any questions?
“What do you want me to do if I cannot walk to work if it’s raining? Can you pick me up?” – Christine Pechstein, career coach

“Can we wrap this up fairly quickly? I have someplace I have to go.” – Bruce Campbell, vice president of marketing, Clare Computer Solutions

“What is your company’s policy on Monday absences?” – Campbell

“How big do the bonuses really get once you make associate? I hear it’s some serious cash.” – Bolzan

“If I get an offer, how long do I have before I have to take the drug test?” – Bolzan

“When you do background checks on candidates, do things like public drunkenness arrests come up?” – Bolzan

“So, how much do they pay you for doing these interviews?” – Jodi R.R. Smith, Mannersmith Etiquette Consulting

Why are you leaving your current job?
“Because I (expletive) my pants every time I enter the building.” – Abbe Mortimore, Human Resources Manager, True Textiles, Inc.

“I was fired from my last job because they were forcing me to attend anger management classes.” – Smith

Why are you looking for a job?
“Cigarettes are getting more expensive, so I need another job.” – Pechstein

“My parents told me I need to get a job so that is why I’m here.” – McGowan

Why do you want to work for us?
“Just for the benefits.” – Jennifer Juergens, JJ Communications

“My old boss didn’t like me, so one day, I just left and never came back. And here I am!” – Matt Cowall, communications manager, Appia Communications

“I saw the job posted on Twitter and thought, why not?” – Rebecca Gertsmark Oren, Communications Director at The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity

What are your weaknesses?
“I get angry easily and I went to jail for domestic violence. But I won’t get mad at you.” – Pechstein

“I had a job candidate tell me that she often oversleeps and has trouble getting out of bed in the morning.” – Linda Yaffe, certified executive coach

“I’m really not a big learner. You know … some people love learning and are always picking up new things, but that’s just not me. I’d much rather work at a place where the job is pretty stagnant and doesn’t change a lot.” - Michaele Charles, Voice Communications

When have you demonstrated leadership skills?
“Well my best example would be in the world of online video gaming. I pretty much run the show; it takes a lot to do that.” – Rachel Croce

Is there anything else I should know about you?
“You should probably know I mud wrestle on the weekends.” – Venne

Use three adjectives to describe yourself.
“I hate questions like this.” – Katrina Meistering, manager of outreach, National Fatherhood Initiative

Tell of a time you made a mistake and how you dealt with it.
“I stole some equipment from my old job, and I had to pay for its replacement.” – Meistering

Have you submitted your two weeks’ notice to your current employer?
“What is two weeks’ notice? I’ve never quit a job before, I’ve always been fired.” – Meistering

Random responses:
“[A] guy said he did not have a mailing address, as he was living in a gypsy camp at the airport.” – Sandra L. Flippo, SPHR

“I went into the lobby to pick up a candidate. As he stood up, his trousers fell to the floor! [He said] ‘Oh, my gosh — they told me I needed a suit for the interview. I’ve got no money — so I borrowed this thing. It’s too big!’” - Beth Ross, executive and career coach

“Wow — I’m not used to wearing dress shoes! My feet are killing me. Can I show you these bloody blisters?” – Bolzan

“May I have a cup of coffee? I think I may still be a little drunk from last night.” – Smith

(During a telephone call to schedule the interview) “Can we meet next month? I am currently incarcerated.” – Smith

“[A candidate] was asked whether he could advocate impartially on behalf of the various universities he would be representing since he had attended one of them. He responded, ‘Well, I don’t like to poop where I eat, but I thought my education sucked, so I certainly wouldn’t put that school above the others.’” – Darby

Happy Tax Time

Let me begin by wishing everyone a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous New Year! It is the end of January and it has been a while since we have posted. It is also the time W2 forms are required to be prepared and sent out. This means it is tax time. Yikes! How time flies. Don’t panic. We have put together a few pointers to get through the dreaded 3 letter word.

First, remember to keep business and personal separate. It is not complicated, it’s simply following the tax code, and it is not worth getting into a dispute over these obvious issues. Speaking of obvious, the second point to mention is to keep good records. This applies all the time and is just as useful when preparing taxes, as it is if you find yourself in a tax controversy. An example of this is charitable donations. Next time you make a donation, write a check. The IRS requires a paper proof of every donation deducted. No kidding. Forms are the IRS’ life. Don’t ignore 1099’s. This information is submitted and matched to your return. These forms also have to be mailed by January 31, as do the W2’s. You can make sure they are correct and you have time to correct them if they are not. Again, keep good records and document all correspondence if this happens. The IRS is not your worst enemy. If you have trouble receiving forms or documents, ask for an extension. They are usually granted automatically. They are also available to assist you with questions or problems.

One of those problems could be finding a tax preparer. We have been lucky. The one referred to us over 5 years ago has proven to be invaluable to our company. We can call and trust him for anything, anytime. Referrals through friends, business associates, and social networking are great ways to obtain professional relationships. The IRS offers the following tips on choosing a tax preparer.  Hope this helps!   And Happy Tax Time!

• A paid preparer must sign the return as required by law.
• Avoid preparers who claim they can obtain larger refunds than other preparers. If your returns are prepared correctly, every preparer should derive substantially similar numbers.
• Beware of a preparer who guarantees results or who bases fees on a percentage of the amount of the refund. A practitioner may not charge a contingent fee (percentage of your refund) for preparing an original tax return.
• Understand that the most reputable preparers will request to see your receipts and will ask you multiple questions to determine your qualifications for expenses, deductions and other items. By doing so they have your best interest in mind and are trying to help you avoid penalties, interest or additional taxes that could result from an IRS examination.
• Choose a preparer you will be able to contact and one who will be responsive to your needs. Ask who will actually prepare the return before engaging services. Avoid firms where your work may be delegated down to someone with less training or some unknown worker. You should know exactly who works with your tax matters at all times and how to contact him or her; after all, you are paying for it. Determine if the preparer is exporting your return to a foreign country for preparation. Foreign countries do not have the same security and privacy laws as the United States nor is there any recourse should your information be compromised as a result of lax or nonexistent privacy procedures.
• Investigate whether the preparer has any questionable history with the Better Business Bureau, the state’s board of accountancy for CPAs, the state’s bar association for attorneys or the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) for enrolled agents or the oversight agency in states that license or register tax preparers.
• Determine if the preparer’s credentials meet your needs or if your state mandates licensing or registration requirements for paid preparers. As of 2008, California and Oregon are the only two states that regulate paid tax preparers. Is he or she an Enrolled Agent, Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or Tax Attorney? Only attorneys, CPAs and enrolled agents can represent taxpayers before the IRS in all matters including audits, collection actions and appeals. Other return preparers may represent taxpayers only in audits regarding a return that they signed as a preparer.
• Find out if the preparer is affiliated with a professional organization that provides or requires its members to pursue continuing education and holds them accountable to a code of ethics.

Remembering Names

As the holiday season approaches, we are faced with office parties, meeting new people, running into old acquaintances, and of course continuing our general networking, which brings us to our blog. Do you have trouble remembering names? It’s embarrassing, especially in our business, but it happens. More often than we care to admit. We thought a few suggestions on remembering names might be helpful.

1.  Inconspicuously ask the person to repeat their name so you hear it again. For instance, “Nice to meet you Cynthia, and your last name was….? Hearing it again gives you a better chance of entering it into your memory.

2.   Ask the person how he/she was named. Hearing a short story about the name will help you associate this with the person.

3.   After the introduction, tell the person what you have heard about him/her using their name. “I heard you were conducting a search for a Materials Manager, Cynthia.” Again, using the name out loud will help make it stick.

4.   If it is not too confusing for you, you can associate the name with a picture in your mind, however be careful. Make sure the picture doesn’t contain other names that could be mistakenly used.

5.   Try to use the person’s name again when closing the conversation.

6.   Remember, making small talk about a person’s name may take some time, but it could save you embarrassment later on.

7.    If in fact you just cannot remember the person’s name, bow out gracefully. No need to whine about how bad you are with names. A simple, “I remember interviewing you for a position in Illinois. I’m Gary. What was your name again?” If the person does not remember your name either, this will be helpful to them also.

Hopefully, some of these suggestions will help you when meeting, greeting, and remembering people during the holidays and in everyday networking. That’s all for now.

Here’s hoping you have a Very, Merry Christmas and Prosperous, Happy New Year, what’s your name!

Clean Tech Jobs

Where is the job growth right now??!! It is the field being dubbed “clean tech”. Energy efficiency, sustainable power, in other words… cleaning up the planet. You see, clean tech has received infusions of federal government stimulus money, state activity, and venture capital investment. This field is, and will continue, benefiting from corporations and utilities to improve efficiency, cut pollution, and support renewable energy.

These jobs will be found in green activity across the nation. Solar photovoltaic manufacturing in Ohio, and smart grid networking (everything from enhanced monitoring and control of existing electrical grids to improve consumer energy management) and devices in Washington have two of the top metro areas for clean tech job growth. Other top states with their metro areas booming with “cleaning” are California, New York/New Jersey, Massachusetts/New Hampshire, Washington DC, Colorado, Oregon, Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin), Texas, Arizona and Michigan.

Clean tech jobs pay median salaries as high as $106,000 for a mid-level renewable energy project developer, $75,000 for a mid-level solar system integration engineer and $72,000 for an entry-level geothermal power engineer. Employers range from companies dedicated to one specific technology, such as water treatment and process, or a smart grid provider to multinationals like Siemens and ABB which are adding clean tech jobs. Siemens employs over 5,000 people in its wind business.

Stimulus money has been flowing into energy efficiency, making this the hottest area of this clean tech field. With this stimulus, all businesses from grocery stores to multistate utilities have been investing in weatherization and retrofitting. Have you happened to notice all the replacement windows advertisements lately?

So, if earning a living making the world more livable is in your background and experience….. You are in the right profession. Please remember Team Yeiser for your recruiting needs!

Thanks.

Did You Know….

Yes, before there were televisions, telephones, evolving into portable phones, then bag phones and then into cell phones, and before there were computers with electronic mail, evolving into the ever now popular “email”, and before the internet, and before there were PDA’s, GPS’s, iPods, iPhones, and all the other initials that stand for something these days, and certainly before informational “blogs” were written…. People actually received news and other information, including employment needs, from a newspaper!

Did you know the first US newspaper; “Publick Occurrences: Both Foreign and Domestick” was first published on September 25, 1690? It lasted one day and was suppressed by British colonial authorities. However, historians consider the birth of America’s free-press to have begun with the 1734 trial of John Peter Zenger for seditious libel. After the Revolutionary War, this concept found a home in the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment states: “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech or of the press…” This made it possible for a free press to develop.

Yes, this is newsworthy, or as we call it today “blog worthy”. In the early 1800s, we (the US) entered a new modern age. If you are ready for this…. This age marked the beginning of the “modern media” as it was referred to back then. The inventions of the steamship, the railroad, and telegraph brought communications out of the age of wind power and horses. The high speed printing press was developed and Americans learned to read. (The old saying “what goes around comes around” pops into mind when you see “wind power”, but that’s another post.)

As for recruiting…. The newspaper has in the past, and still does, provide valuable information. Not to give away professional secrets, but we use this useful tool to find out who is hiring, who might be looking, and news articles regarding company acquisitions, promotions, layoffs, etc. The internet has definitely given us a new wealth of information to increase our professional expertise, however, the “old standbys” such as newspapers and networking will never disappear.

Now some interesting facts: Not to worry, there is no quiz later. By 1820 there were about 25 dailies and more than 400 weeklies being published the US. The NY Tribune in 1841, the NY Times, Baltimore Sun, and Chicago Tribune in the 1850s. In spite of the extreme competition from Television after World War II, two thirds of American adults read a daily newspaper on an average weekday. It will be interesting to see what studies will be conducted and what the results will be in another decade in spite of competition from the internet. The top 5 daily newspapers by circulation are: the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post.

Who knows…..? Maybe “Team Yeiser’s Blog” will be on the top 5 daily blogs read by millions of Americans??

One Step Further…

This posting is geared towards Human Resources. Although we are obviously heavily involved in the recruiting process with HR, we would like to take it one step further. Recruiting, interviewing, and hiring can be an exasperating ordeal. In order to avoid this task, there are other processes and procedures that could probably be improved so that your hard working, trusted employees are retained.

First… motivation. Does your organization motivate and keep employees excited about their jobs? Sounds corny… but it IS important. People like to know they are doing well and their job is important within the company, and they need to hear it. This, along with discussing goals and forecasts, make everyone feel “part of the team”. So often HR will call us and tell us what a great job the candidate is doing. We appreciate hearing it and so would they. Keeping regular performance reviews is a sure way to let your employees know “how they are doing”, even if they are not getting a pay increase. Praise but no raise isn’t always the best news, but it’s better than nothing at all.

Next… are your managers managing? Sounds funny, but don’t laugh…. this could be terrible if overlooked. Make sure the supervisors aren’t performing the managers’ duties. If they are, you could save money by promoting the supervisor and eliminating the manager. There is a fine line between managers micromanaging and managing, however, there is no mistake about under managing. It is very noticeable to potential employees that interview with a manager that is inadequate. We try to keep our HR clients informed of this with our feedback from submitted candidates.

Lastly… incentive. Everyone likes a little friendly competition and during these economic times, what could it hurt? There are numerous websites with suggestions for incentive programs for any type of organization. With a little creativity it wouldn’t have to cost a fortune either.

Thanks again for visiting. Remember, after you make that perfect hire…. take it one step further.

Social Networking Etiquette

5 Suggestions for Proper Social Networking

1. Do Not Mix Business and Personal
As interesting as your personal life might be… your “business world” does not need to know this information. If you are networking to find a job, which is what this blog refers to, your personal issues could limit you from being considered. Befriend professional contacts on this network, not your friends, your children, and their friends, and their parents, etc. Best to save personal issues and contacts for your “facebook”.

2. Remember: You Are Online
If it is online…. It is public knowledge. Be extremely careful. This is especially important if you are still employed while networking for a new position.

3. Check Frequently
Nothing is more frustrating for potential employers, or recruiters, than to leave a message for someone who does not check for activity and respond to their efforts. You get upset when there are no responses to your resume submittals right? Thank you.

4. Professionalism
It is important to maintain professionalism at all times when networking to find opportunities. Use proper language, you are not texting, and ALWAYS spell check. One of the most popular faux pas regarding professional conduct we can identify, is the selection of the email address. If you are (or think you are) a “golf pro”, please save golfprogenius@whatever.com for your friends and your personal email address. This does not look good at the top of a resume or on a professional networking site. To a potential employer, or recruiter, this could indicate your interest lies in something other than your career. Believe it or not….. We have questioned contacting candidates with emails such as these. Please, be professional and use your last name in your email address. This identifies you for quick accessing in order to make contact with you and assists in easy filing. Thank you, again.

5. Check Attachments and Links
This is probably obvious and self explanatory, but nevertheless, important. If you have attachments and/or links to your network site, make sure they work.

Downsizing Woes

Ok, you have been downsized. You can cry (go ahead you’re entitled) and you can burn your employee manual (you won’t be needing it anymore). But there are a few other things to consider. You cannot stop bad things from happening nor can you stop good things from happening.

Trust in yourself. No matter how frightening or sad it is to leave familiarity behind, look forward to what is next with excitement and positive anticipation. Understand that looking for a job IS a job and it requires discipline. Put your resumes out, make phone calls, talk to recruiters, and follow up on leads. You can do this no matter what your attitude for the day is (you will have good and bad). Do this happily, sadly, anxiously, positively, or negatively… but you HAVE to do this.

This space of transition is a gift of time to use wisely. Do you want to stay in the same career? Or is this the time in your life to branch out and change? It is the economy that is broke…. not you.

Cleaning House

This is an active time for the search consultant, namely G.C. Yeiser & Co., assisting organizations in “upgrading” their management staff. In a sense…. cleaning house. We have seen a tremendous upswing in our search business; however, we do not feel this is due to economic growth. We are seeing organizations taking advantage of the experience and talent available in the marketplace. Companies are examining their current managers and key staff members as they prepare for the end of this economic recession and the resurgence of the economy. They are foreseeing needs that they do not have in their current staff. Our assignments have been to locate and entice top talent from competitive companies into these organizations that are “cleaning house”. In so doing, we are assisting the clients in “upgrading” and “purging” their management staffs. It is an exciting and challenging time when a person is brought into an organization knowing they have the ability to change culture, processes, and people around them. As for us, this is what makes our business personally gratifying. In the past 6 months we have placed people in roles such as Presidential, Materials Management, New Business Development, and Financial positions. We monitor our candidates’ progress by actively communicating with them, along with the clients we have placed them with. Let us know your comments, agree or disagree. Is your organization taking this opportunity to “upgrade” or “clean house” and strengthen its workforce?

For the talent and experience available in the marketplace at this time, good luck with your job search and stay positive.

Title of this Post: Titles

During these economic times when there are more job seekers than positions available, we would like to focus on Titles, or rather not focus on Titles. The responsibilities listed on your resume are far more important than the titles. Employers hiring have been where you are and believe it or not, remember what it was like to seek and interview. They understand the “inflation titles”. For example, Secretary is now Administrative Assistant and Janitor is now Sanitation Engineer. The responsibilities on the resume are still typing, filing, answering phones, sweeping, cleaning toilets, picking up trash, etc.

Keep this in mind while considering positions. If you have the appropriate experience, the company culture suits you and the compensation is in line with your goals, does it really matter what you are titled?

Hope this helps, and as always…. Good Luck!