Earlier this month, I read an article on LinkedIn by Mark Stevens about job interviews. For those of you unfamiliar with Mark, he is an established marketing guru who built his business up in a bootstrap manner. That is remarkable!
However, I strongly disagree with his stance in this article. Some say he was "trolling" just to receive online responses. If this is true, he succeeded.
Here are 3 lessons I share with readers:
1. Understand the role and power of HR
From my career experience, HR has become well-connected with other departments in an organization. HR representatives are included with both strategic planning and tactical daily operations. While some reps do not have personal experience in roles in which they are hiring for, they do have open communication with those in the department and have at least a baseline understanding of their hiring needs. They are not outsiders--they are "in the know" and know both what is going on within the company and what is perceived to be needed.
2. Do not lie about skills--lying sets you up for failure
Mark makes a rational argument that "resume filtering" happens all the time. To some degree, I agree. Some recruiters rely heavily on boolean searches and keyword optimization. Missing buzzwords and industry-specific terminology equates on the surface as not knowing the industry at hand well enough. Also, a well-written resume beats a poorly-written resume on most days.
However, department managers, HR managers, and peers can all identify problems associated with misrepresenting knowledge, skills, and abilities. Underskilled team members can cause teams to fail when they are being counted on to supply knowledge, skills, and/or abilities that they do not have. This means that work is done poorly, work is finished late, or work does not get done at all. In some trades and industries, this disrupts workplace safety. That is a serious problem!
Ultimately, lying and misrepresentation can be grounds for termination. Resume lies are written documentation. Spoken lies are verbal actions that are documentable. And, bad performance and mistakes are certainly documentable.
3. Do not lie about your personality--you will end up unhappy in your environment
Mark says to lie about personality-type questions to get past the initial portion of the candidate screening process. The problem with this is one of two scenarios: 1) They know you're lying; or 2) They think you are telling the truth and will proceed with the screening and hiring process with the belief that you are a certain way, have a certain approach, or likes things a certain way.
In scenario #1, you are screened out as a liar. In scenario #2, you are evaluated as being someone you are not until you are either hired or discovered to be a liar through other interviews, testing, and screening.
If hired, the person will be typecast (incorrectly, too) and will be put in situations, structures, and environments contradictory to what is wanted. Odds are, the person will become unhappy fast. In turn, productivity and performance will suffer. Even extremely capable workers struggle when unsatisfactory environmental factors come into play.
In Conclusion
Okay, so lying got so-and-so a job. Then what? Is he/she performing well in the job? Is he/she happy in her role and his/her environment? Or, is his/her employer trying to get him/her to quit before turning to a demotion, reduction of hours, employee improvement plan, and/or termination?
Lying leads to failure and unhappiness. Rather, step forward with honesty and truth. Overall, be professional and be yourself. Doing so will get you closer to where you want to be.
However, I strongly disagree with his stance in this article. Some say he was "trolling" just to receive online responses. If this is true, he succeeded.
Here are 3 lessons I share with readers:
1. Understand the role and power of HR
From my career experience, HR has become well-connected with other departments in an organization. HR representatives are included with both strategic planning and tactical daily operations. While some reps do not have personal experience in roles in which they are hiring for, they do have open communication with those in the department and have at least a baseline understanding of their hiring needs. They are not outsiders--they are "in the know" and know both what is going on within the company and what is perceived to be needed.
2. Do not lie about skills--lying sets you up for failure
Mark makes a rational argument that "resume filtering" happens all the time. To some degree, I agree. Some recruiters rely heavily on boolean searches and keyword optimization. Missing buzzwords and industry-specific terminology equates on the surface as not knowing the industry at hand well enough. Also, a well-written resume beats a poorly-written resume on most days.
However, department managers, HR managers, and peers can all identify problems associated with misrepresenting knowledge, skills, and abilities. Underskilled team members can cause teams to fail when they are being counted on to supply knowledge, skills, and/or abilities that they do not have. This means that work is done poorly, work is finished late, or work does not get done at all. In some trades and industries, this disrupts workplace safety. That is a serious problem!
Ultimately, lying and misrepresentation can be grounds for termination. Resume lies are written documentation. Spoken lies are verbal actions that are documentable. And, bad performance and mistakes are certainly documentable.
3. Do not lie about your personality--you will end up unhappy in your environment
Mark says to lie about personality-type questions to get past the initial portion of the candidate screening process. The problem with this is one of two scenarios: 1) They know you're lying; or 2) They think you are telling the truth and will proceed with the screening and hiring process with the belief that you are a certain way, have a certain approach, or likes things a certain way.
In scenario #1, you are screened out as a liar. In scenario #2, you are evaluated as being someone you are not until you are either hired or discovered to be a liar through other interviews, testing, and screening.
If hired, the person will be typecast (incorrectly, too) and will be put in situations, structures, and environments contradictory to what is wanted. Odds are, the person will become unhappy fast. In turn, productivity and performance will suffer. Even extremely capable workers struggle when unsatisfactory environmental factors come into play.
In Conclusion
Okay, so lying got so-and-so a job. Then what? Is he/she performing well in the job? Is he/she happy in her role and his/her environment? Or, is his/her employer trying to get him/her to quit before turning to a demotion, reduction of hours, employee improvement plan, and/or termination?
Lying leads to failure and unhappiness. Rather, step forward with honesty and truth. Overall, be professional and be yourself. Doing so will get you closer to where you want to be.