Is it okay to be excited AND nervous about a new job?

Quite often when an interview process gets close to offer and acceptance, the candidate begins to get just a little nervous.  No matter how excited they are to make a job transition there are always nerves when considering a job change.  That is just human nature as most of us don't like change.

My best advice for a candidate in this situation is to sit down and think about the decision from three different perspectives - the past, the future, and the present.  All three likely play into any decision to make a job change or consider a career move.  Here is how:

The Past - you are shaped by your past regardless of whether it was good, bad, or otherwise.  When considering a job move your recent past probably weighs more on the decision, but I would argue try looking farther back as well.  Don't just base your decision on how well you like your current boss, current company, or current job.  Think back further.  Why did you take your last job?  What were your goals even back to graduating from college?  Have your ideas about your career changed in the past two years, five years, or even twenty years if you are my age?  This thought process and internal Q&A session should help cement in your mind if this particular job opportunity in front of you is the right one to take.

The Future - where do you really hope to be in two years, five years, or twenty years?  And will taking this job help get you there?  Some people are motivated by money.  While others are motivated by work/life balance.  Occasionally people want recognition and are looking to climb the corporate ladder.  Regardless of the reason, if you are making a job change just for a temporary short-term fix, it probably isn't going to last.  And you likely have more reason to be nervous than excited because you are making the decision for the wrong reason(s).

The Present - is your gut telling you this is the right move?  Some people make job decisions with their head while others with their heart.  Neither is necessarily more right, but 100% of the time I tell candidates who are weighing an offer to go with their gut.  There will be advantages and disadvantages that go along with every job change.  Most times you would hope the good outweighs the bad, but maybe it is only 60/40 or 70/30.  When this is the case, however, I would argue your gut is still telling you to make the move.  So do it with excitement, not nervousness, and take the plunge!

The bottom line is that it is always okay to be nervous about a new job.  Heck, I've been in my current role for 12 years, am less than two weeks away from embarking on year number 13, and I still have some nerves about what the future holds.  But if I weren't nervous at all I would probably be stuck in a rut.  Just like the performer that doesn't have some butterflies before a big performance, if you don't care or if it doesn't mean anything to you, there is no reason to be nervous.  It is the important things that really impact our mindset.  Reflect on the past, look forward to the future, and be thankful for the present.  That will give you the big picture every time.

True or False - The Recruiting Process is Complete at Acceptance of an Offer

I used to think this statement was true 100% of the time.  To get to the point where you extend an offer to a candidate you have thoroughly vetted their candidacy, feel there is a good match, and have spent time, money, and resources to confirm the match.  So they're going to gladly accept your offer and always come to work for you, right?  But then a funny thing happened - I had several offers accepted that were subsequently turned down for a variety of reasons.  I actually just had it happen again on Friday, which led me to write this blog post.

Of the multitude of reasons why this statement is false, some are understandable and others are not.  We can, however, learn from all of them.  Here are a few things to keep in mind to ensure you are never caught off guard after having a candidate accept an offer:

1)  Ask the candidate directly if upon acceptance they are going to call all other prospective employers they spoke with during their search.  The difficult part about this is that you have to first admit the candidate was talking to other employers.  Some of my clients hope that they are the ONLY company a candidate would consider.  It is a fool's errand, however, to hope for that.  If a candidate is leaving a company (for a good reason or not doesn't matter) then they are likely going to have more than one conversation to find the best long term career move.  Which means them accepting an offer with you does not guarantee they are going to tell all of those other companies they are off the market.  Unless, of course, you ask them to.  We have found that once a candidate does comply with this request it is a great way to confirm their commitment to the offer and subsequent employment.

2)  Ask the candidate directly if they are susceptible to a counter offer from their current company.  I ask that question EVERY time at offer stage and somewhere between 90-95% of people respond to me with something along the lines of, "No, that won't ever happen."  Fill in the blank after that for whatever the reason may be.  Just like the stock market, past performance is no guarantee of future results.  There are a million reasons why this situation could be the exception and a counter offer is difficult to say no to, even when we know the stats show that it seldom works long term.

3)  Keep in touch.  All. The. Time.  There is really no exception to this one.  Oftentimes employers fall into the trap of thinking because an offer was accepted the candidate has no additional questions and is cool as a cucumber.  The reality is that many questions can still be floating around in a candidate's head, but they don't really know who to ask.  And asking too many proverbial questions without any answers can lead to doubt in a candidate's mind.  You don't want even a shred of doubt to creep in.  Find a reason to check in a few days after an offer is accepted.  Check in again a few days before the first day to make certain all forms are completed or ready to complete on the first day.  While you can certainly communicate too much and freak someone out, I have found that it is pretty difficult to do unless you call every day, twice a day, for three weeks leading up to a start date.  I could see how that might be a tad overboard.  But only then!

4)  Check in frequently AFTER a candidate begins employment.  This is where the absolute biggest surprises can come if you are not prepared.  If you were lucky enough to gain acceptance, get the candidate through the resignation process, and have them start, do not for a moment think they are still not susceptible to some doubt.  Maybe they keep in touch informally with an old colleague.  Or perhaps they stay in touch with one of those other prospective employers that didn't have an opening at the time, but wanted to check in occasionally.  Candidates need to be reminded why they made a good decision and be re-assured they are in the right place.  Then when that call comes to try and pry them out, they appreciate it, politely decline the conversation, and start on the path to becoming a really good long term investment.

I spoke recently with a candidate of mine that I placed with a good client about eight years ago.  We still talk today about his decision to join this client and to see if he is still happy with the transition.  Fortunately for everyone his is and has been incredibly successful.  It is never too late to keep asking that question and never assume that the recruitment process is complete at acceptance of an offer.

Have you ever experienced either end of an acceptance turning into a declination?  How did you learn from the experience?

Recruiting Strategy - Building a Pipeline

Google the phrase “Building a Candidate Pipeline” and you’ll get 19,000,000+ results describing oil and gas pipelines. It’s like the discussion about The Keystone XL Pipeline. Both sides argue points related to impact, cost, resources, risks and aesthetics. The analogy works for the topic of proactive recruiting and is the subject of the second installment in Capstone’s Summer Series.  

Having a stable of qualified talent for future positions is low on the priority list compared to sales, marketing and management, yet when its crunch time to fill a position you drop everything. Scrambling to make a hire doesn’t feel good. It costs more money than you set out to spend. Sometimes you have to settle for a candidate that isn’t ideal.

Here are a few ways your company can start building an effective talent acquisition pipeline.

BUILD YESTERDAY FOR WHAT YOU NEED TOMORROW

My team often connects with remarkable candidates for whom we have no immediate opening, but we still spend significant time vetting them for future positions. You should do the same. Get introduced to quality candidates and learn about their skills. It pays dividends in the future.

INTERNALLY ADVERTISE YOUR RECRUITING STRATEGY

Employees are your best bullhorn to the masses. Don’t rely on one person or department to build the entire pipeline. For consistency create advertising using employees from different departments to explain why they like about your firm and their job. Have a formal review on a website like Glassdoor. Incentivize through an employee referral program. Earn a spot on a “Best Company” business list.

TRACK AND ORGANIZE DATA

Avoid paper pipelines. Applicant Tracking Systems are extremely valuable and document candidate information, correspondence and EEOC data. Smaller companies use an Excel spreadsheet or Outlook folder(s) as a substitute. Keep in mind data entry is just an important as the system. Candidate information is useless if you can’t find it in the future.

As always please reach out if you want to explore these ideas further. We’ve learned from our own mistakes and the mistakes of others when building pipelines. I’m happy to share the good and bad to make certain your experience is a positive one!

Why the interview process can be a game of inches

Too soon to be thinking and talking about football?  Never.  But today's story is actually related to surfing.  How is that for a lead-in for this week's blog topic?  Football and surfing on a Monday.  Warning, this blog is actually still work-related, so don't keep reading if you were only looking for a fantasy football update or checking the waves on the beaches.

I selected the picture of a referee measuring for a first down to symbolize how sometimes a matter of an inch or two can powerfully impact the outcome of a game.  Similarly, small details in an interview process that may seem mundane or even unnecessary can sway the decision of a prospective candidate.  And not even knowing that something small could make this big impact could be an even bigger symptom of a bigger problem.

Case in point, my family recently went on vacation and we were near a beach that was a popular spot for surfing.  At my age I know what is good for me and what constitutes a bad idea.  So I did not try to rent a surfboard and attempt anything too crazy.  But our hotel did have some boogie boards that were free for hotel guests, so I decided to give it a shot.  Little did I know that I was not supposed to be sharing the big waves with the surfers.  I was coming into shore off of a larger wave when I saw a surfer heading right for me.  The wave went over my head and as I saw my life flash before my eyes this surfboard went over my head by a small margin.  The surfer came right onto the beach to check on me and seemed quite concerned.  I told him I was fine and went about my way.  My wife told me later that she watched it all unfold and said it looked like the surfboard missed me by what appeared to only be a few inches.  It could have been ugly.  Luckily I learned a lesson the easy way and not the hard way.

I have seen clients learn the hard way during an interview process and take one on the proverbial chin.  From not knowing that a candidate was interviewing other places to missing a small detail on an agenda to having someone on the interview panel cancel last minute, there are a lot of moments in the process where thing can take a turn for the worse if you're not too careful.  The best defense is a good offense.  While never a guarantee, all football coaches go into a game with a plan, learn from any mistakes they make, and never stop trying to get better at making the process as seamless as possible.  I wish I would have done the same thing on the beach.  Had I just asked a few simple questions of other beach-goers, or even some of the surfers, I could have made a better (and safer) game plan for what I hoped to do on the boogie board.  Sure I might have looked a little unprepared or even worse a middle-aged man from the Midwest trying too hard to fit in with the young and buff surfer dudes.  But it would have ensured the game of inches was won by a wider margin than it was at the end of the day.

Have you ever had an experience where you missed hiring a candidate by a small margin?  And if so, did you learn from that experience and incorporate new details into your recruiting strategy moving forward?

Why it is important to honor commitments in an interview

Jordan Spieth had an important question to ask himself after winning the U.S. Open last month - do I honor my commitment to a small-town tournament in Iowa or prepare to win the Open Championship overseas and try to win three major tournaments in a row?  It didn't take him long to make his decision as he called the tournament director at the John Deere Classic the same day he won the U.S. Open to see if they could arrange a chartered flight from the Quad Cities to St. Andrews.  Once they said yes, he committed to coming to their tournament the week before.

I don't know about you, but the idea of playing in humid Iowa conditions this week (triple digit heat index and 100% humidity) does not sound like a good tune-up to traveling six times zones over to another continent to play in grueling conditions for the Open Championship.  Not only did he do it, but he won the whole darn thing in a two-hole playoff.  Talk about making the most of the opportunity afforded him!

I had something similar happen to a candidate recently, and we actually see if quite often.  They had multiple interviews lined up, one company really got aggressive and extended an offer earlier than expected, and unfortunately it wasn't the candidate's first choice.  This individual decided to go with the philosophy of one in the hand vs. two in the bush and accept the offer.  Another company continued to pursue a conversation, this person said yes, and ended up with another offer.  Both were attractive offers, and a tough decision had to be made.  The idea of honoring the first commitment was the prevailing thought.

While disappointed, everyone understood and respected the decision for a few reasons.  The first is that it was clearly communicated to everyone what the circumstances were.  Had something been omitted or hidden from the conversation, it might have come to a different conclusion.  But because everyone knew the rules of engagement, the door is now open down the road for the second company to consider this candidate again for employment opportunities.

Secondly, timing came into play as an important determining factor.  One company clearly seized an opportunity, moved quickly, and was chosen because of it.  No one would have blamed Jordan if he had cancelled his appearance at the John Deere Classic because of the proximity in timing to the Open Championship.  But because there was a window of time that worked, he took advantage.  The candidate in my example had enough time to consider both opportunities, but was really forced to make a decision quickly.  Because of that everyone involved was able to process the fact that the company that moved quickly and first was expecting an answer and firm commitment quickly.

Lastly, there is a balance between long term and short term goals.  Sure it would have been a lasting legacy for Jordan's career if he had won the first three majors of the year and given himself a chance at a calendar grand slam.  But he also knows at 21 years of age that he has plenty more opportunities to win.  And he wanted to do things right in his golf career from very early on.  Similarly, this candidate will be able to keep in touch with the second employer because of the way the situation was handled.  The first offer was a good one, will be a good career opportunity, but future conversations with the second company will always be a possibility.  That is a win, win in my book.

Have you ever had a situation where someone did NOT honor a commitment to interview or accept an offer?  How did you feel about that afterward?

Three tips to an effective long term recruiting strategy

In case you haven't heard, over the weekend the final match for the World Cup set a viewing record.  More people than ever tuned in to watch the re-match between USA and Japan.  Four years ago the Japanese women's team beat the U.S., and they found themselves in the championship again this year.  This time the U.S. team was victorious and in pretty resounding fashion.

Admittedly I am not much of a true soccer fan, but I was drawn to a few of the stories that I believe draw a parallel with the world of recruiting.  As you look to build a team and a culture within an office setting, there are a few things I think we could all learn from this resilient group of women.

1)  Balance veteran leadership with mentoring young talent.  I can't tell you how many times we get asked by candidates who they will be working with.  This includes who they will report to, who else they work alongside, and any other departments they will have interaction with.  If someone is newer in the industry, they will want to have someone guiding them in their new job.  If you cannot show them they will receive that at your organization it will definitely be a mark against you.  On the flip side of that coin there may be a candidate with a great deal of tenure in the industry that could be a key member of a younger team to provide expertise and perspective to the team.  

2)  Use the failures of the past to help build the future.  I guarantee the four-year lapse between matches was not enough time for the U.S. team to forget the gut-wrenching loss in 2011.  They used that to fuel their fire to win this time around.  Sometimes it isn't even true failures, but just lost opportunities.  Earlier this year I had a client interested in a candidate, only to have that person take another job.  For a number of reasons that move did not work out for the candidate.  My client was open to the idea of talking with her again, they really hit it off, and she accepted an offer to join them in a perfect match of a role.  Win, win!

3)  Ignore outside distractions.  I am not here to debate any of the relevance of the side stories spun in the media with a few of the players on the U.S. team.  The bottom line is that they did not let any of that negative attention distract them from their goal of winning the Cup.  Oftentimes I see companies let outside noise affect hiring decisions.  Whether it be an informal reference saying something about a candidate or speculation about someone's past work history or even choices about where someone has worked in the past, sometimes you just have to rely upon your own recruitment process.  If that is working, trust it.  Don't allow outside distractions to prevent you from making a good hire.  

Just as the recent performance in the World Cup will certainly draw some new fans and players to the sport, what else can you do to affect your long term recruiting strategy?  Do you have a winning formula right now that includes some of these ideas?  As always, I would love to hear from you as we work every day to build these championship teams for our clients.

Recruiting Strategy - Planning Ahead

We start every summer here at Capstone thinking things will slow down with summer vacations, kids being out of school, golf outings, backyard BBQs, and general rest and relaxation. Then every June we are reminded of how busy summertime can be in the job market. Then when we look back on the end of the first quarter and beginning of the second quarter, we realize that we have many conversations with clients about hires for the New Year. They just take some time to come to fruition. Most companies make plans sometime mid-first quarter and then begin executing those plans in the weeks after that time period.

This also happens for us again in October of most years. And for the same reasons; everyone is getting over 7/1 renewals, preparing for 10/1 and 1/1 renewals, and beginning to conduct year-end planning for hiring and budget purposes. We do have many clients that wait until it is too late. They call in October, and can’t understand why there isn’t an abundant pipeline of candidates for them to choose from. The time to start planning a pipeline is today, not three months from now.

CareerBuilder recently published a Q2 report for 2015, and it included a poll of employers and one question was, “Do you have job openings at your company that stay open for 12 weeks or longer?” 43% of employers polled said yes. Through Harris Poll they spoke with more than 2,000 hiring managers. That is a pretty good sample size and proves a point that not many want to admit – it takes time to fill a critical position, especially if you want to find the “right” candidate.

So what can you do to prevent yourself from being in a tight spot when needing to hire in the fourth quarter or beyond? Plan now. Begin building that pipeline of candidates. Be honest with them that there might be a position out there in 6-8 weeks, but you want to talk now. Partner with outside firms like Capstone to see where the candidate activity is and if you are in the right target salary range. Sit down with hiring managers and human resources to see what you can do pro-actively to prepare for a new hire.

If you plan ahead, you can prevent predictable headaches and obstacles in the hiring process. We would be happy to share additional strategies with you if you have questions in the coming weeks.