Started in the Bay Area. Been working in PR for 11 years -- enterprise and consumer tech -- and have lived in a rural town in Idaho since 1998. By day I live the scrambled and fast-paced life of a comms consultant with a firm in Silicon Valley. The rest of the time I'm just a flip flop-wearin' wife and mom to two kids in a town where you have to hunt down the rare wireless connection, the only highway is two lanes, and the post office workers know me by name.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

The "Cold Sweat" Interview


Some nights I have to work late. We could all work late every night though. Tonight I did not. Tonight I watched American Idol (go, Blake!) and surfed my favorite reading grounds.


I found a post on one of the blogs (What I hear you saying is...) that I check out once a month or so and it reminded me of our own office and our interviewing techniques. The post is titled "On Interviewing" and it's about questions that he asks recruiting candidates and then what it is he's really asking for with the question.


From the post:



I like to ask questions to which the only right answer is the one you will inevitably give me. For example: What was the best day of your life? ... and What did you eat for dinner last night?


The post is more substantial than just those two Qs but... This reminds me of one very respected and seasoned peep in our office that nearly scared away one of our finest recruits. And it wasn't the first time...


He always liked (I use past tense because I think I harrassed him enough about it) to ask "Where do you see yourself in five years?" I think this is a completey fair question for someone with ~5 years in the industry under their belt. However, ask a "still finding themselves" 23 year old and it might be as scary as the first time their parents told them "you're on your own" (assuming they had help). Five years was just the longest time of their lives (in their eyes).


Anyway, it all worked itself out for the best. The guy ended up joining our clan of crazies anyway, despite not knowing if he was signing away five years of his life to us for reals or not (he'll hit his 3 year anniversary this July).


Now, one of my favorite things to do is poll the "new hires" a year or so after they've been at the company about their interview experiences. I get some frickin' funnnnny stories.


So, esteemed readers, tell me some of the interview questions that have sent you for a tailspin - and don't leave me hanging!?

(I want to know so I can try them out on our interviewee tomorrow - kidding!)

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Making my fave TV show a "write off"


As you all know (if you have been following along), The Office is one of my favorite shows. Well, now, I've found a way to make it more educational. There is a blogger, Julie Elgar, out there that specializes in HR, with a focus on The Office -- a petri dish of infractions. After each episode the HR Hero blog evaluates the potential damage Dunder Mifflin may incur based on the latest crazy behavior in the Scranton Branch.


For example, for last Thursday's episode where Dwight "heroically" pepper sprayed Roy (and many others) in the office and Michael negotiates a salary increase by using sex as a bargaining chip with Jan, Elgar places a $350k price tag on last week's show.


From Elgar's recent post:


Employers who fail to fire employees who tape pepper spray canisters, nunchucks,
and throwing stars to the bottom of their desks are playing with fire. Expensive
fire. Sure, Roy started it, and I’m glad Dunder Mifflin fired him. But what
about Dwight? After all, the man kept weapons at work for God knows how long.
And if Roy can prove that Dunder Mifflin knew about them and failed to take
action, then he just might have a claim for damages (e.g. eye doctor
appointments, pain and suffering, etc.). Maybe Toby should go ahead and start to
prepare for this deposition too while he is at it.

Check her site out, pretty eucational AND humorous. Tough to do for this "litigation happy" time in HR. ;)