Surprising Interview Results

It is funny when you look back at your life and think about how much you may have developed and matured over the years.

I was a very carefree student who flew by the seat of my pants and acted this way well into university.

I was very disorganized which is probably a shock to most who know me now as my anal retentiveness when it comes to planning and time management has taken on a personality of its own.

Anyway, people mature and people who were late getting to the party eventually find their groove, but it is still amazing when I see senior executives making crucial mistakes and are as ill prepared as I might have been in my Grade 11 Chemistry class.

Here are a couple of examples within the last 10 days:

We had a candidate interview for a senior Vice President of Marketing position with a company that was not familiar with their product and had not actually seen it used.

How does that happen?

The candidate was so excited about the position and was all prepared to discuss their experience in relation to the company's requirements but they did not due any diligence on the product.

For a marketing position!

This is not a case where the candidate went to the interview looking to practice interviewing skills, they REALLY wanted the job even though they gainfully employed at very reputable company in a strategic capacity.

Another person developed a very poor business case for their meeting for a General Manager position with a medium sized organization.

It was a third meeting between the client and the candidate and it should have been a rubber stamp meeting.

Instead, the goose egg that was delivered in the form of the

business case immediately led to this person's dismissal from the process as a viable candidate for the opportunity.

For the amount of interest shown in the company and the amount of time that was invested into the opportunity, I was almost at a loss for words when I called the candidate to deliver the bad news to them.

Again, this person was very excited about the opportunity and working for a large reputable company where business proposals to senior management should not have been a foreign concept.

Perhaps, there was a full moon last week or some other explanation but my faith was restored after two other candidates delivered brilliantly in each of their meetings which included focused portfolios of relevant experience as well as extensive due diligence being conducted on both product and company.

I don't have a morale here because you either "get it" or you don't, but if this can help anyone who is slow in getting to the party I will not view it as a wasted blog.

Farewell,

Mike