The ‘Newest Additions’ to the Hiring Team

Ever heard someone say to you that they are positive about the outcome of an interview they attended, and later on you find out they didn’t hear from the hiring team again or were told they didn’t make it? There are of course several reasons for this –

Sometimes, even though people assumed they were the best candidate that showed up, their submissions at the interview might not have been what the panel was looking out for.

Other times, they just didn’t have the right attitude for the job, or were not just the right fit. And for some extreme cases, it was because of the NEW hiring team members who interviewed them even BEFORE the interview started.

Woow! Interview before the interview? Yes please J

I believe the HR professionals forgot to send us the memo – the newest additions to their team are the RECEPTIONISTS aka Front Desk Executives and the almighty SECURITY GUARDS.

They are mostly your first point of contact when you enter an organization; and they no longer just attend to visitors or receive/transfer calls to people in the organization. Employers are gradually relying on them during the interview process for feedback on the people who might be joining their organization.

Our new breed of HR professionals are now interested in hiring people who have a good attitude i.e. people with excellent interpersonal skills. The teachable skills can always be learnt on the job, but an individual with a terrible attitude is difficult to train and equally finds it difficult to be a good team player.

I read somewhere that we are who we really are when no is watching – and I will add that, ‘… and when we don’t think whoever we are engaging can open doors for us’.

We only smile and are of our best behaviour when we are with the top executives – the bosses/the hiring managers, the senior partners but we cannot be bothered how we treat everyone else. If they don’t call the shots we don’t really pay attention to them.

To all fresh graduates or just anyone going for an interview – watch out for the NEW hiring team members who don’t sit in the conference room to interview you but might have a say in the hiring decision.

All the best to you going for that interview – you got this!

 

Written by Akua Ampah

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