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Dr. Grier blogs about Narcissism and other current topics.>
Interviewing for Success -- Part One
October 29, 2009
The statistics are in: millions lost their jobs in the recent recession.
When the economy turns around and you start hiring people for your organization, you will find yourself inundated with applications. I know because I saw it after the last recession ended. A colleague of mine hiring a lawyer had over 200 applicants for a single position. Ten Rhodes Scholars were among the 300 applicants applying for a faculty position in an English department at a local college.
Finding qualified people will not be the problem. Your dilemma will be hiring the right person. Someone who fits your organization’s style. Someone who wants to jump in and make a contribution from the moment he lands in his chair. Someone who will make the office more fun and in turn improve the morale of his coworkers — and maybe even the morale of his boss.
How do you intend to find this kind of person?
In a market flooded with candidates sporting impressive résumés, weeding out the wrong people may prove to be even more important than identifying the ones who can fill the position. Destructive people who might wreak havoc on your organization. Destructive people who might drive others from the workplace or emotionally injure their coworkers. Destructive people who in the end weaken the organizations they work for.
How do you intend to avoid this kind of person?
How do you intend to avoid hiring the Narcissist?
It will take more than just good luck or having Fate on your side to find the right person and avoid hiring the wrong one. You will need to ask the right questions, and just as important, you will need to ask the right questions in the right way.
The normal hiring process is practical and involves becoming convinced that there is tangible evidence that the person being interviewed can do the job. The premise of this short series is that this well established way of doing business when nearly everyone who comes through your door can do the job is no longer enough.
What will be the discriminators you will use to separate candidates with similar work qualifications? What factors are going to make the difference in your selection process? How will you address and then sift through the intangibles?
That’s what this next series of blogs is about: finding the right person for your office. The one who not only can do the job, but who is the right fit for your work environment.
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