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Career Corner: Hiring by Consensus
Arcadia Weekly Nov 04, 2019
Julia Allegretti presents Queer Clothing Swap at Art Center in Pasadena as part of Euphoria exhibit that features empowerment in the queer, transgender and non-binary communities in Los Angeles. - Photo by Alex Cordero / Beacon Media News
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By Angela Copeland
Thejob market is the best it has been in 50 years. You’ve heard that on the news.And, companies are struggling to find good candidates. There aren’t as manypeople available for work as there used to be. In other words, because themarket is doing well, companies are hiring more. Because companies are hiringmore, job seekers have more options.
Theironic thing is, when a company finds a great candidate that they want to hire,they’re still interviewing that candidate like it’s 2001. The company is puttingthe candidate through the paces, assuming they’re in control. One of the waysthey do this is by hiring by consensus.
Inthe “good old days” of job seeking, you might have three interviews. The firstwould be a phone screen with human resources. Then, you would have a phoneinterview with the hiring manager. Last, you would come in person and meet thehiring manager and a few others in a panel interview.
Formany jobs, the days of a straight forward interview process are gone. Manyhiring managers haven’t hired new employees in so long that they’re nervous tomake the wrong choice. They don’t want it to be their fault if the candidatedoesn’t work out.
So,what does the hiring manager do? Unfortunately, they force the candidate tomeet everyone they can create a calendar invitation for. Recently, I have seenmany, many job openings where the job seeker is interviewed 10 to 15 times forone job. They are interviewed by the boss, HR, the boss’ boss, the boss’ peers,the job seeker’s peers, the job seeker’s future employees, and sometimes eventhe person who left the job.
Fifteenjob interviews don’t result in someone unearthing some important piece ofinformation about a candidate. It is a way for the hiring manager to coverthemselves in case the person doesn’t work out.
Ifyou are a job seeker and you find yourself being asked to interview repeatedlyfor one job, you have a decision to make. You can refuse to do so manyinterviews. If you do this, you can rest assured that you will not receive ajob offer. It doesn’t matter that the company is being both unreasonable anddisrespectful of your time. It’s their process. If you want to play ball, ithas to be by their rules. So, if you do want the job, you’ll have to go throughthe process.
But,I would take note of this disturbing trend. If you find yourself interviewingwith a boss who is putting you through this experience, it is very likely areflection on them. They may be a weak leader who is unwilling to acceptresponsibility for their own actions. It doesn’t mean they’re a bad person andyou may even want to take the job. But, if you find yourself being hired byconsensus, pay attention.
Angela Copeland, a career expert and founder of Copeland Coaching, can be reached at copelandcoaching.com.
