is it better to hire for skills or attitude? by Alison Green on February 1, 2017 A reader writes: I am a fairly new manager, and one of my staff recently accepted a promotion so her position is vacant and I need to fill it. My manager has told me to focus on skills when creating the job description — that it does not have to be the same exact position […] Read the full article →
I feel guilty about having to reject good job candidates by Alison Green on January 26, 2017 A reader writes: I am a relatively new manager (almost one year) overseeing three full-time employees and one part-time worker. I have hiring/firing authority for all employees in my department. One of my full-time employees gave me a month’s notice, and I will start interviewing people to fill her position soon. I have already been […] Read the full article →
how to interview a really nervous job candidate by Alison Green on January 11, 2017 A reader writes: Any tips for interviewing someone who’s really, visibly nervous and isn’t able to relax as the interview progresses? I conducted an interview like this today, and I did everything I could think of to help this person relax and be herself. I was friendly, talked about myself a little to give her […] Read the full article →
should I re-hire an employee with a terrible attitude? by Alison Green on January 3, 2017 A reader writes: I briefly worked at a terrible company, where I was brought in to help fix problems with a department that had been underperforming due mostly to incompetent leadership. Soon after I was hired, it became obvious to me that the company was a mess and that they hadn’t been honest with me […] Read the full article →
did a reference lie to me to stop me from hiring a candidate who she wanted to hire herself? by Alison Green on October 18, 2016 A reader writes: A few months back, my organization had a job opening for which we had a lot of internal candidates. We have a number of part-time, front line staff who are actively seeking full-time jobs, and whenever a full-time position comes available we usually get a lot of interest from those employees — […] Read the full article →
how can we get job applicants to stop applying for every open position? by Alison Green on October 13, 2016 A reader writes: I am the recruiting manager for my organization. We receive over 100 applications every month from candidates looking to fill some of our vacant positions. I am the only one who screens, interviews, checks references, runs background checks, and completes hiring paperwork with applicants. As you are well aware, it can be […] Read the full article →
is it wrong to Google job candidates? by Alison Green on October 12, 2016 A reader writes: I recently was given the responsibility of finding interns for our company. In the process of reviewing applications, I Googled one of them. The first search result was her Facebook page so I clicked on it, and saw that many of her posts and pictures were set to “public.” I did not […] Read the full article →
can you ask about mental health in job interviews? by Alison Green on September 14, 2016 A reader writes: I’ve just been put in charge of hiring a group of staff for a summer camp. I began managing this group of staff last May (and was thus not involved in the hiring process) and discovered that a couple staff members had some mental health issues that interfered with their job responsibilities. […] Read the full article →
loose cannons, interviews from the toilet, and other stories of ridiculous job candidates by Alison Green on August 2, 2016 A couple of weeks ago, I asked readers to share the weirdest or worst behavior they’ve ever seen from job candidates. The entire thing ended up being hilarious, but here are 12 of my favorites: 1. The winner of them all Listed in the “interests” section of a managerial candidate’s resume: “shitting.” Candidate called us shortly after […] Read the full article →
my company asks personal, invasive questions about your childhood and adolescence by Alison Green on July 27, 2016 A reader writes: I’ve been working for the past three years at a large global organization. After three interviews, I was brought on board for a one-year trial period, a common situation for junior staff, and I was recommended to go through the formal hiring process at the end of that first year. Thus began […] Read the full article →