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Career Corner: Step One
Arcadia Weekly Oct 24, 2019
Hiring managers should be as prepared as the people interviewing for the job. - Courtesy photo by Staff Sgt. Kayla Rorick / U.S. Air National Guard
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By Angela Copeland
Ifyou’ve interviewed lately, you know the first step of a job interview is aphone screen. After you apply for a job, a recruiter from the company willreach out to you. They’ll ask to setup a time to meet.
Inthe phone screen, the recruiter will ask predictable questions. They say,“Tell me about yourself.” Then, they’ll ask follow up questions.“Why are you interested in the job? Why are you looking for a job?”They may also ask how you heard about the job, or how much expertise you havein a certain area. And, they’ll ask how much money you want.
It’spretty standard. The one question I have seen lately that is shocking howeveris this. At the very end of the interview, the recruiter will say, “Afterthis call, can you email me a copy of your resume?” Read that again.“After this call, can you email me a copy of your resume?”
Thisseems like an odd question, right? What I’m getting at is this. Some recruitersare interviewing job applicants without having a copy of their resume. Theyaren’t downloading it ahead of time from the application. They are going intoan interview cold, without knowing anything about the candidate. They’re askingrandom questions. They are completely and totally unprepared. And that is howthey’re making important hiring decisions for the company.
Asa candidate, I suppose you may want to start off an interview by checking tosee that the recruiter has a copy of your resume. However, this question reallyseems like it may introduce an odd dynamic to the conversation.
HRleaders, if you are reading this, please take note. This is a genuine problem.I’ve observed many examples of this lately. If you’re a company, I know youwant to hire the best people. And, you certainly don’t want to waste acandidate’s time. After all, candidates study for interviews. They memorizeyour job description. They scour the internet to learn about your company. Theypractice their answers to common interview questions. They prepare their ownquestions. And, often, they ask friends and family for help. This is a hugeeffort to go through for a recruiter to show up unprepared.
Ifyou’re looking for a job, I don’t have a ton of great ideas for this problem.Honestly, the lack of accountability baffles me. And, companies are using thesefolks as the gate keepers. Sure, many recruiters are helpful. But, even oneabsent minded recruiter can really cause problems with an entire hiringprocess.
Companies,it’s past time that we hold ourselves to the same standards that we holdcandidates to. It’s time to show up on time and prepared for our interviews. Ifwe don’t have something we need in order to participate in an interview, weshould ask for that piece of information before the interview begins. It isstep one.
Angela Copeland, a career expert and founder of Copeland Coaching, can be reached at copelandcoaching.com.
