How To Spot Red Flags When Hiring

How To Spot Red Flags When Hiring

In this episode of “Diary of a Worthy Pursuit,” we delve into the world of hiring and spotting red flags in potential employees. We share surprising stories of employees quitting without notice and discusses the challenges of hiring, such as sifting through a constant deluge of job applications. We add valuable insights around assessing candidate attitudes and behaviors during interviews, emphasizing the need for genuine energy and authenticity in customer service interactions. Together, they explore the complexities of the hiring process, offering practical tips and strategies to identify red flags and make informed hiring decisions. Stay tuned as we uncover the nuances of hiring in the modern workplace and gather insightful experiences from our speakers and our listeners.

Enjoy!

Podcast Transcription:

Speaker A [00:00:06]:

So I had an employee quit last week. No notice. I’m sure it happens to a lot of businesses. In fact, I know it happens to a lot of businesses. The interesting thing with this particular employee quitting is that I was not surprised, which I’m sure many of you have been to as well. In this case, she sent me a text, long babbling text, but essentially the gist of it was her saying that She would never be the person that would do this, though she was exactly the person that was literally doing it. The interesting thing was this is super bubbly person, very smart person. This woman had a lot going for her, but she just ended up being, essentially, that pendulum swinging the other way.

Speaker A [00:00:44]:

So we’re gonna talk today about the red flags in hiring because I found out way too expensively, I guess, How to learn those about those red flags?

Speaker B [00:00:54]:

Welcome to diary of a worthy pursuit.

Speaker A [00:00:56]:

How to get what you truly want in life and business.

Speaker B [00:00:59]:

Yeah. And I think we’ve all Oh, been here and have these stories.

Speaker A [00:01:03]:

Mhmm.

Speaker B [00:01:03]:

But, you seem to be doing a lot of hiring lately, so I feel like you might be a, an expert in this area. I’m excited to hear your stories.

Speaker A [00:01:10]:

Yeah. I feel like I’m learning too much, I guess, as far as what not to do, which I suppose you learn by mistakes. It’s one of those things.

Speaker B [00:01:17]:

But Yeah. Sure.

Speaker A [00:01:18]:

And it’s also I guess that’s not to say that I don’t have great employees because I do have quite a few that are incredible.

Speaker B [00:01:24]:

Right.

Speaker A [00:01:24]:

In fact, I would dare say that currently at this moment, all of them are incredible. But that’s only because I helped get rid of 1 and the 1, I guess, left. So with no notice. Even though she was doing really well, whatever.

Speaker B [00:01:39]:

Well and I think that that’s sometimes where we get some of the best of these stories is we hire someone. We they’re going to be this kind of person, and then they show their true colors after they’ve been on the job for a month or two, and you realize, oh, I should have seen that. Right. Or that I should have seen this coming. So sometimes our best lessons are from the people that don’t turn out to be who we thought they were or They leave.

Speaker A [00:02:01]:

Yeah. You know, it’s challenging, I guess, especially in what I have going on because we need butts in seats to actually do the work, which I suppose you do for any business, but I found that I’ve I have 20 to 30% more employees, to make up for the people that are either slacking or not not showing up, calling in, quitting, whatever, which means that you have to either raise prices or make less money.

Speaker B [00:02:26]:

Yeah.

Speaker A [00:02:26]:

So it means you have to raise prices.

Speaker B [00:02:28]:

Right.

Speaker A [00:02:28]:

Which is tough, but it’s universal. It’s across the board.

Speaker B [00:02:32]:

Well, and it’s that whole 80/20 rule. Right? So 20% of your staff is gonna be awesome, and it’s carry 80% of the weight, but you still need to do the rest of that work. So you need some of those mediocre players as long as we don’t get those, kinda mailing it in, folks. You know? And I think that’s what we’re ultimately trying to avoid. Those folks I guess when I’m looking for employees, I wanna make sure that they have integrity, that they do what they’re They say they’re gonna do that they, you know, come after something with a an attitude of they’re gonna tackle it. They’re gonna take responsibility of their actions and not be a victim. Mhmm. Those are some of my personal pet peeves as we’ve talked about a lot in

Speaker A [00:03:08]:

the show. Don’t be the victim. Yeah. Right. Don’t play the But I

Speaker B [00:03:11]:

think one of the first things that’s really important to know is what do you value in an employee so you know what red flags you’re looking for.

Speaker A [00:03:17]:

Mhmm. Fair. Fair. Totally fair. You know, it’s interesting. I used to look for skill set in computer stuff. Mhmm. Right? Because you’re gonna be at a desk working at a computer.

Speaker A [00:03:25]:

Right. I don’t mean necessarily coding, but I hired someone that didn’t know how to copy and paste. Mhmm. Didn’t know what copy and paste was, and I’m like, how did not know this? But whatever. It’s just one of those things where that’s part of the game, but a bigger part of the game is just their personality

Speaker B [00:03:42]:

Right.

Speaker A [00:03:42]:

And how they interact with other people. Mhmm. Including or you could argue, I suppose, pretty strongly how they interact with other people remotely. Mhmm. Because we’re communicating, all my employees are work from home.

Speaker B [00:03:53]:

Right.

Speaker A [00:03:53]:

So they’re communicating over instant messaging for the most part, which means it’s typically written word. And written word where you take out the body language and all that kind of stuff. Like, I can write a sentence, and somebody will read it to themselves totally different than how I wrote it, but I don’t know that.

Speaker B [00:04:11]:

Right.

Speaker A [00:04:11]:

Because you don’t have this like, how did you interpret that sentence?

Speaker B [00:04:14]:

I have this running joke with my sister. And, again, love my mother. She’s Very loving person, but she cannot text because she’ll say things and we read it, and we’re like, is she upset? Did she just, like, Get run over? What? Like, this is so passive aggressive. And then you call her, and she’s like, hey. How’s it going today? And she’s so bubbly, and you’re like, this doesn’t compute. This doesn’t match. And you’re like, oh, you’re just not good at tax.

Speaker A [00:04:37]:

Alright. So how do you I guess, what is the difference? What is she doing?

Speaker B [00:04:42]:

I think that she well, she doesn’t use periods, and she doesn’t use pronouns all the time. Like, gotta go. Call you later. I don’t know. But some of it’s just, like, quick responses also.

Speaker A [00:04:55]:

We need to talk.

Speaker B [00:04:56]:

Right. That’s scary. Right? Like, what does that mean?

Speaker A [00:04:59]:

Yeah. Right?

Speaker B [00:05:00]:

So I hear that and that some people are just not talented at written word.

Speaker A [00:05:04]:

Interesting. Mhmm. Alright. I’d never heard that. That’s peculiar. I like it.

Speaker B [00:05:08]:

Yeah. Yeah. So,

Speaker A [00:05:10]:

anyways, some of the things, we’re gonna help you learn from, I guess, my pain, I guess, as far as that goes. One of the things I was thinking about as we were talking about this, I guess the first point about showing up

Speaker B [00:05:23]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:05:23]:

Because I have so we use an online thing to to get a bunch of people applying, and I’ll get hundreds, Hundreds of applicants.

Speaker B [00:05:33]:

Wow.

Speaker A [00:05:33]:

Which you’re like, yay. And out of those hundreds, let’s just say it’s 300 that I’ll get over the course of, I don’t know, 3, 4 days, something

Speaker B [00:05:40]:

like Okay.

Speaker A [00:05:41]:

You know, ballpark 100 a day average. Sure. Out of those, maybe maybe 5 will be worth pursuing

Speaker B [00:05:50]:

Oh, wow.

Speaker A [00:05:51]:

Which is, we have one of the things that we have them do is a customer service test.

Speaker B [00:05:55]:

Okay.

Speaker A [00:05:55]:

Which I feel like I’ve taken this test, and I got scored expert. Yay. But, anyone can. I’m pretty sure well, I thought anyone could. Right. But it’s one of those, like, the barrier to entry to see if you’re worth taking the time to interview. Mhmm. These are questions, multiple choice.

Speaker A [00:06:12]:

It’d be like, if somebody walks into the store, what do you do? Do you hide in the back? Do you keep staring at your phone? Do you say, hey. How can I help You or do you say, hey? Yeah. A, b, c, or d. Right? And to me, this is, like, super easy.

Speaker B [00:06:26]:

Right.

Speaker A [00:06:26]:

What’s the ideal one? No problem. I think it would be c. I don’t remember what I said there.

Speaker B [00:06:30]:

Yeah. Fair.

Speaker A [00:06:31]:

C. At any rate, people are failing. Failing, like, getting f’s, essentially.

Speaker B [00:06:37]:

Wow. Wow.

Speaker A [00:06:38]:

That test. I had 1 woman. I think she was a woman based on her name. She reached out and said, hey. I didn’t get an interview, and I was wondering why. And I didn’t respond. Mhmm. Because I’m like, I’ll let you know if you get an interview.

Speaker A [00:06:52]:

Right? Because I’ll send you an email saying, hey. You get an interview. But I can’t respond to each individual one because we have 100. Right. So I don’t know that she realized this or cared. But, anyway, she kept sending like, hey. I haven’t got an interview. And so I said, hey.

Speaker A [00:07:05]:

You didn’t get an interview because he didn’t pass this test. Mhmm. And she got mad at me and wrote this little tirade email, which I thought that’s ironically funny because you, from a customer service point of view, you failed the customer service test. Yeah. And now you’re proven that you’re terrible at customer service.

Speaker B [00:07:22]:

Oh my gosh. So this Reminds me of a story I was doing phone interviews. Again, the interviewees were fed to me by a service that you know, where people submitted their resumes. And And the person was just buzzword dropping. The whole interview. So it was a marketing position, And they’re talking about, I can SEO that. I can do the, the backlinking. I can work on building your authority, blah blah blah.

Speaker B [00:07:50]:

And all this, can. I can. I can, but nothing about how Uh-huh. Or what they’ve done or stories that they’ve actually accomplished that. And so at the end of it, You know, I sent a very generic statement of, you know, thank you so much for spending time with us. We’re heading in a different direction. Really appreciate, you know, your interest or some generic statement. Right.

Speaker B [00:08:10]:

And what I got back was very snarky. I knew I shouldn’t have wasted my breath on you. This interview was terrible. It’s clear you have no integrity. I was like, woah. Let’s get a little defensive here. But then what I thought was so interesting was, Are you projecting? Are you projecting how you feel to me? Because you knew that interview didn’t go well, and you knew that you didn’t have Credibility, and that came through. So that’d be a red flag I would add to this is Yeah.

Speaker B [00:08:38]:

Can they really do what they say they can do? Because As I prodded into okay. But how are you going to do that? How would you move this customer from a to b? It was a well, I can. I can do that. Trust. And I can do this, and I can do this, and it was like, all you’re doing is dropping all the buzzwords. I I can’t understand your ability. So that was a huge red flag. And luckily, I saw that one Coming.

Speaker B [00:08:59]:

Yeah? I don’t always see them, but that one I saw.

Speaker A [00:09:02]:

Interesting. I like that. One of the things that I use is if how seriously See, they’re taking the interview.

Speaker B [00:09:08]:

Yeah.

Speaker A [00:09:09]:

So they have interruptions, how they’re dressed.

Speaker B [00:09:11]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:09:11]:

Just if they’re, I have a lot of interviewers that come in. They’re in their car with their phone. Oh. I even had 1 woman that was driving during the interview where you could see she must have the phone in her cup holder or something like that, so you just see the chin shot. And you can hear traffic and stuff like that going by. Like, You are not even remotely close to trying to invest the time into this interview.

Speaker B [00:09:34]:

Right.

Speaker A [00:09:35]:

Yet we are.

Speaker B [00:09:36]:

Right.

Speaker A [00:09:36]:

So and this could be Supposedly, your livelihood

Speaker B [00:09:40]:

Well, it’s a it’s a priority thing. Right? If it’s if you’re willing to make this a priority, then I will make Your next your next interview or hiring you a priority. But, yeah, it’s so interesting when that doesn’t match.

Speaker A [00:09:50]:

Yeah. In hourly life, you can’t just find a quiet place. There’s libraries, whatever. I don’t know where you have to escape, but something. I had another woman. I ended up hiring her, but she ended up leaving because she’s She actually took the interview while she was on break at her current job At her then current job, I should say. And she was like, Okay. And she was answering the question in whispers.

Speaker A [00:10:15]:

So she was in a conference room, but it must have been next to other offices, and she didn’t want them to hear as she was looking for a job. Mhmm. So it’s one of those, like, I guess it’s kinda like working with what you got, but and she’s like, I gotta run and get the phone quick kind of thing.

Speaker B [00:10:31]:

Oh, no.

Speaker A [00:10:32]:

So it’s a weird

Speaker B [00:10:33]:

That’s a weird dynamic. Right? Like, I can see someone wanting To move past where they are. Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:10:38]:

You know,

Speaker B [00:10:38]:

and usually you want a next job lined up before you quit said job.

Speaker A [00:10:42]:

Mhmm.

Speaker B [00:10:42]:

Still, that makes it extremely awkward for You? Yeah. I think this goes into another red flag that we talked about before, which is this idea of blame. Oh. So one of these questions that, you know, I have asked in the interviewing process before is why did you and your last company decide to part ways? And I don’t know if that’s a PC question more. But you can certainly also ask, what did you like about your last company?

Speaker A [00:11:06]:

Alright.

Speaker B [00:11:07]:

How did you best inter or what do you want in a boss that’s going to you excel. So questions like this to try to suss out, like, how are you going to work Mhmm. And what didn’t work at your last place? And hearing people say things like, well, I just feel like I had no direction. There was no path created for me. The I feel like there was a vendetta against me. The boss really didn’t appreciate my work, and it’s like, Oh, that’s all about them, them, them.

Speaker A [00:11:37]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:11:37]:

But what was your role

Speaker A [00:11:39]:

Mhmm.

Speaker B [00:11:39]:

In all of that? And this goes back to, again, the victim mentality, but that whole, like, well, I’m gonna blame this terrible circumstance on you.

Speaker A [00:11:45]:

Yeah. They were the star employee Mhmm. Making the company tons of money. Right. And the company still said, oh, we hate you. We’re gonna make your life hell.

Speaker B [00:11:52]:

Oh, no. I’m not gonna give you a raise.

Speaker A [00:11:53]:

Yeah. Right. Right? Besides every coin.

Speaker B [00:11:56]:

Right? Exactly. But, you know, it’s a good it’s a good opportunity to see how someone views themselves.

Speaker A [00:12:01]:

Mhmm. I ask, why did you leave your last 3 positions?

Speaker B [00:12:05]:

Oh, interesting.

Speaker A [00:12:06]:

And I’ll get interesting answers because you can tell nobody wants to admit being fired. So and I’ve been fired before. It’s not

Speaker B [00:12:14]:

been approved. They say? What kind of

Speaker A [00:12:16]:

They’ll just say that, we left on our own terms or something like that. Or I found this other position, and you look at the resume. Like, you found that other position 3 months after you left that other one. So they just They’ll say stuff and just dance around it.

Speaker B [00:12:32]:

Okay.

Speaker A [00:12:32]:

Whatever. But if they left for like, I left because of a move Mhmm. Or I left because I got this other job that was more feel. They’re left because I was chasing a quarter an hour, whatever. Sure. Usually, they’ll say something like that.

Speaker B [00:12:44]:

Okay.

Speaker A [00:12:44]:

But I take that back. I haven’t had anyone say anything about chasing money even though they probably did.

Speaker B [00:12:51]:

Interesting.

Speaker A [00:12:51]:

Yeah. But they never admit to being fired or I should say rarely admit to being fired.

Speaker B [00:12:56]:

Yeah.

Speaker A [00:12:57]:

And they if if they do admit to it, typically, it’s Twenty people were laid off. Her new manager came in to clean house kinda thing.

Speaker B [00:13:04]:

What would you do, hypothetical, if someone came in and blatantly did admit That they were fired. Would you use that as a red flag, or would you how would you prompt that to say, well, they were fired, but this person is Oh, I wouldn’t worth talking to.

Speaker A [00:13:19]:

I wouldn’t consider that, like, your your black flag forever kinda thing. No. Because, Like, there’s 2 sides of every coin. Right? So maybe they were fired because they called out their boss on being a drunk or something. I don’t know. Right? There. Whatever it was.

Speaker B [00:13:32]:

Right.

Speaker A [00:13:33]:

Right? The reason that they were let go, I’d wanna know more of the story.

Speaker B [00:13:36]:

Yeah.

Speaker A [00:13:36]:

But part of me wants to know more of the story good just because it’s a story. Right. And another, I guess part of that to hear the story from them. Right? Why do you believe that you’re fired? Because, I guess, when I got fired, it was not I guess it was kind of a surprise, but I deserved it. At the time, I didn’t realize it. When I think back, like, if I did If an employee do what I was doing, I wouldn’t have fired, but I definitely woulda had a conversation.

Speaker B [00:14:04]:

Yeah.

Speaker A [00:14:04]:

Like, a little come to Jesus meeting kind of Right. Because what I was doing was actively looking for a job and giving the phone number for that business that I was working at to the companies that I was Yeah. Because they, I was making them a lot of money, and they’re, Cool. Yeah. Because they, I was making them a lot of money, and they’re like, we’re gonna take care of you, James. We’re gonna take care of you, James. Mhmm. And then 6 months go by, it’s time for my review, and they’re like, gonna give you 40¢ raise.

Speaker A [00:14:33]:

And I’m like, 40¢? Woo. So that’s when I’m like, flip the switch. Yeah. And I applied to all these positions. Even that I wasn’t interested in the position, I just wanted other jobs calling that business. So we’re looking for James to schedule an interview.

Speaker B [00:14:47]:

Yeah.

Speaker A [00:14:48]:

And and so I got fired for attitude, which whatever.

Speaker B [00:14:52]:

Well okay. So that’s a good segue Yeah. Right. Into one of these other red flags that we’ve talked about, which is, his attitude. How do they not only are they prioritizing the interview, How are they approaching it? So if they’re coming in again with shame, blame, all those things, that’s a big red flag for me. But But also if they’re coming in and saying, well, I I really need a new opportunity or they’re, Like, desperation Mhmm. Is not an attitude that I’m attracted to. No.

Speaker B [00:15:23]:

What are some other attitudes that have Thrown you off.

Speaker A [00:15:26]:

I’ve had some so I do group interviews.

Speaker B [00:15:29]:

Okay.

Speaker A [00:15:29]:

Groom, remote room, whatever, interviews, and for some reason, some people are surprised by that. Even though in the job description, I say these are the 3 times for the interview.

Speaker B [00:15:40]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:15:41]:

So, like, I had 1 woman reach out just recently this week. She reached out at least 10 times saying I’m ready to go on Wednesday. Right? Because in the in the job post, I put these are the interview times. So she’s like, I never got the link. Right? Like, there’s a reason we didn’t give you think. Mhmm. Anyways, the thing that I look for in the interview is how do they interact with other people.

Speaker B [00:16:03]:

Yeah.

Speaker A [00:16:03]:

So I’ll ask a question. One of the questions, for example, I think we talked about it a little bit before, about the other jobs. I feel like there’s another one that I can’t think of right now. Anyways, one of the questions I ask is what are the top 3 challenges in your right now.

Speaker B [00:16:18]:

Yeah.

Speaker A [00:16:18]:

Not counting the job search.

Speaker B [00:16:20]:

Right.

Speaker A [00:16:20]:

And so people will answer that with whatever. And if another person following up on that question, like, their turn comes, and they say, well, like Becky said or like Lou Anne said or like Steve said, whatever Mhmm. That shows that they’re paying attention. I’ve I’ve had other people that are just like oh, I’m sorry. What was the question?

Speaker B [00:16:40]:

Oh, no.

Speaker A [00:16:41]:

So they’re not. They’re totally space cadets. Like, they’re doing 50 things at once. So I get it because some some interviews I’ve had 12 people

Speaker B [00:16:49]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:16:50]:

Which is tough because you don’t get to ask that many questions. Right. And some people wanna hear themselves talk way, way, way, way too

Speaker B [00:16:56]:

long. Yeah.

Speaker A [00:16:57]:

I haven’t figured out a nice way to cut that crowd down. Like, you start with 12, but after the first 3 questions, they’re like, okay. You ate and take a walk because I don’t I would love advice on I don’t know how to tell them, you can go now without the other 4 that I’m still interested in Mhmm. Saying, well, what’s wrong with this guy?

Speaker B [00:17:18]:

Right. So if you have any advice for James Yeah. So it’s really cool. Below about how he can filter that. I think that’s really interesting thing though because you do you don’t wanna waste your time or their time.

Speaker A [00:17:31]:

Or their or everyone else’s time. Right?

Speaker B [00:17:32]:

Exactly. Because time is the resource we can’t get back. So that is extremely hard. I got nothing for you, but hopefully, somebody will. Another attitude thing that I’ve experienced is, you know, they’re just coming in and they’re talking about How hard their life is before you even ask the challenge question. Like, well, I got COVID, and then I was out for 2 weeks, and then my dog got sick, and then this happened. And, yeah, I get that. A lot of things happen in life, but it’s about how you’re responding to it.

Speaker B [00:18:01]:

So we if we only have a half hour together

Speaker A [00:18:05]:

Mhmm. How are

Speaker B [00:18:05]:

you gonna use that half hour? Are you gonna use it complaining to me?

Speaker A [00:18:09]:

Oh, fair.

Speaker B [00:18:09]:

You know? I feel like If they’re complaining on the interview, it’s not gonna get any better. No. And they might be one of those toxic personalities that then just poisoned your whole team. And if you can find those before you introduce them to the team, awesome. Sometimes you can’t.

Speaker A [00:18:23]:

But Yeah. Very true. You know, it’s interesting talking to my existing employees Mhmm. That went through the interview process that we do. I had 1 employee recently tell me I knew who you were gonna hire within the 1st 5 minutes. And she this is my rock star stellar, like Yeah. Holy cow. I will throw rose petals on the ground for you, employee that I have, and she’s, like, within the 1st 5 minutes.

Speaker A [00:18:46]:

I knew. The other ones, I’m just like, you guys are morons. And she could tell from my body language.

Speaker B [00:18:53]:

Oh, interesting.

Speaker A [00:18:54]:

Sharp, sharp, sharp woman.

Speaker B [00:18:56]:

Yeah.

Speaker A [00:18:56]:

It was impressive. And I’m like, I didn’t even know at the time, but Yeah. She picked up on it, which means that she was paying attention.

Speaker B [00:19:02]:

Right.

Speaker A [00:19:03]:

Which is why she’s a rock star.

Speaker B [00:19:05]:

Well and that’s fair because if people aren’t responding, I think that’s another red flag. If I’m we’ve talked about before how when you are asked a question, if you just answer the question and then leave it alone, it’s very difficult to have a conversation.

Speaker A [00:19:17]:

Mhmm.

Speaker B [00:19:18]:

But how good is someone at a back and forth the conversation. I think the one of my pet peeves and phone interviews that I’ve done when I was hiring for a marketing firm was if they don’t have any questions for me on the back end, Even if it’s just something like, hey. I researched your company, and I see that you work with these kind of clients. Cool. That at least shows me You researched, and you’re trying to, like, toss the ball back in my court. Were the typical what does an average day in this role look Look like

Speaker A [00:19:46]:

Right. Great question.

Speaker B [00:19:47]:

At least it’s a something that they’re asking me, showing me their interest rather than them just Spit firing answers back.

Speaker A [00:19:54]:

Right. You know, it’s interesting. I was at the high school or one of the high schools here for a job fair.

Speaker B [00:20:00]:

Yeah.

Speaker A [00:20:01]:

And so I got my little booth trying to see if any of these high schoolers would be worth hiring even though I don’t know if we typically don’t hire young. Mhmm. And it was all what can you do for me from their end.

Speaker B [00:20:12]:

Oh, interesting.

Speaker A [00:20:13]:

It was interesting because when I was looking for a job about a long time ago. It was this is what I can offer you. Mhmm. And this was totally like, what do you guys pay? Right. What are your hours? I need work, life balance. I’m like, you’re 17. Right? Like, what work, life balance? Your whole life is Right. The life portion without the work Right.

Speaker A [00:20:33]:

So it’s interesting how that dynamic has shifted where it’s just like, what can you do for me from the employee to the employer versus the other way around? And I’m like, I’m the one paying you. Right? You’re not paying me.

Speaker B [00:20:45]:

Right.

Speaker A [00:20:46]:

So I get like, what am I buying?

Speaker B [00:20:49]:

If you wanna pay me To employ you. To give you a place to come after school, I’d be happy to do that Right.

Speaker A [00:20:54]:

For you. We can do all kinds of cool stuff

Speaker B [00:20:55]:

for you. Exactly.

Speaker A [00:20:56]:

Quick life balance all day long.

Speaker B [00:20:58]:

So, we had talked before for about this question, though, of people saying, well, what’s the average day, like, in this role? But what we had Found as we were kinda swapping stories is that sometimes people come in with a different expectation of what the role is than what you have in mind for them.

Speaker A [00:21:14]:

Totally.

Speaker B [00:21:15]:

And I had a situation like this where we hired someone. She was a remote employee. We went through the whole interview process. She talked about all this experience. She seemed like she was gonna be a rock star, but she wasn’t very good at presenting in front of clients, so lesson learned there.

Speaker A [00:21:31]:

Oops.

Speaker B [00:21:31]:

But, also, she thought the job was gonna be 4 to 5 hours a day. 5 days a week, but 4 to 5 hours a day, and she had a toddler at home. Now I have kids. I’m fully supportive of if you want a flexible job so you can go pick up your kids earlier, do the said thing.

Speaker A [00:21:45]:

Sure.

Speaker B [00:21:45]:

But I was then, like, after the fact, how could we have Caught this. How could we recognize this on the front end? So the question that I plan to ask in the future is, What do you think a day in the life of this role will look like? And then I’ll tell you what it will look like. Yeah. Because I think it’s interesting to have that Comparison. Because if you tell me upfront, like, well, I plan to work from 8 to noon and then go have some lunch and walk the dog and read a book and go pick up my at 3 o’clock. That’s a very different situation.

Speaker A [00:22:17]:

Right. You know, it’s interesting. I have a hard time, but I try to consciously think of what that potential employee is going through.

Speaker B [00:22:25]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:22:26]:

Like, they’ve they’ve, whatever, applied to hundreds of jobs because I think online now you can just click. Right. Send resumes to millions of places, and they’ve looked through countless job things that are probably They’re those job descriptions are probably trying to sell them on the job. So it’s just constant advertisement, so to speak, of those jobs. And it’s one of those things, like, I imagine they get mixed up in their head.

Speaker B [00:22:52]:

Fair.

Speaker A [00:22:53]:

Right? I applied for this one where it’s a dog wash thing. I applied this one as a car wash thing, whatever. So maybe they get blended up. So pants

Speaker B [00:23:00]:

sold for

Speaker A [00:23:01]:

You’re an automatic car wash for dog or automatic car wash for dogs. Like, no. Grace, I tried to put myself in their shoes to just try to think, like, what have you been through? So one of the questions I ask is how’s the job search going?

Speaker B [00:23:14]:

Okay.

Speaker A [00:23:15]:

Which is very interesting because I I mean, it used to be, I’ve been searching for 2 hours, and I got an interview. But now it’s like I’ve been searching for weeks. And part of me, I wanna dig a little more. And depending upon how many people we have in the interview, I to try to figure out, like, why haven’t you?

Speaker B [00:23:32]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:23:32]:

Is it because you haven’t found the perfect like, no one’s offered me $5,000,000,000 a year. Right. Or is it, so many people have seen the red flags where I’m trying to take care of my baby and work from home kind of thing? Or is like, what is the what is the common denominator?

Speaker B [00:23:47]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:23:48]:

Or what is the reason that you haven’t been hired? And I had 1 woman yesterday who I’m having a second interview with today

Speaker B [00:23:54]:

Okay.

Speaker A [00:23:55]:

Who said my resume doesn’t show I feel like my resume doesn’t show what all that I can offer a company.

Speaker B [00:24:03]:

Tell me more.

Speaker A [00:24:04]:

So she had, she’s vet tech.

Speaker B [00:24:07]:

Okay.

Speaker A [00:24:08]:

And she works at, I think, a family farm or something like that, works at a racetrack somewhere. And when talking to her, she’s very presentable. Right? She actually it looks like she dressed up Mhmm. For the job interview, which most people have cats crawling on them, almost literally. Anyways, she essentially had it showed me that she had confidence Yeah. In her ability, but also the resume is kinda weird thing. Because you’re just like, the these are the dates and the places that you worked. That’s it.

Speaker A [00:24:35]:

And from that, we’re supposed to garner whether you’re whether it justifies hiring you Mhmm. When there’s way more like, what’s your personality like? Right? How do you put that on a resume?

Speaker B [00:24:44]:

Right.

Speaker A [00:24:44]:

And be honest. Right? How would someone answer that? I’m awesome.

Speaker B [00:24:48]:

So Hot tip for anyone watching this. This isn’t necessarily a red flag. Yeah. Right? One of the things that I have seen that has stood out and has been an for me, like, if I’ve seen opportunities come up in in my prior career is sending a video Yeah. And saying something like, I actually think we talked about this when I first interviewed on one of your shows that, sending something personal and showing your personality and your Confidence in how you hold yourself is really helpful in trying to get get an interview or encourage Someone who who you might wanna hire. So I did this for a couple roles in my past, and I’ve started doing it as I’m trying to go out and get podcast guesting or speech opportunities. Mhmm. But I think if you included this as a staple in the hiring process.

Speaker B [00:25:35]:

It could be a good opportunity to see some of these red flags before you invite them to a group interview or spend some of these times. And even if it’s just a 2 minute, Tell me a little bit about what you’re looking for and why I should hire you. Oh, that’s great. Send this and send this link. Everybody’s got Video. Yeah. A video camera in their pocket. They can do this, and they can store it somewhere and send it to you.

Speaker B [00:25:57]:

Right. But I I can see people pushing back. I’m being my own devil’s advocate of well, now you can see that person, and what are your stereotypes of how you would judge that person based on What they look like or how they talk. But I think you can tell so much more from an interview that you’re right. You can’t get from a flat piece of paper. Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:26:18]:

I do have them call in and leave a voice mail.

Speaker B [00:26:20]:

That’s cool.

Speaker A [00:26:21]:

Because I wanna listen to their voice to make sure that it’s a voice that if I heard that, I felt like this would be helpful.

Speaker B [00:26:27]:

And someone that would take care of you.

Speaker A [00:26:29]:

Yeah. Right.

Speaker B [00:26:29]:

Because if

Speaker A [00:26:30]:

I hear somebody that mumbles as bad as I do or has a crazy southern accent.

Speaker B [00:26:36]:

Yeah.

Speaker A [00:26:36]:

That’s gonna be a turnoff right away because a lot of our clients are Midwest based.

Speaker B [00:26:39]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:26:40]:

So they’re gonna know, like, oh, you’re not in the office. Mhmm. You are in the deep, deep, deep, dark swamp of Mississippi or something like

Speaker B [00:26:48]:

that. Right.

Speaker A [00:26:49]:

So it’s They’re little things that I’m sure they’re a nice person. I’m sure they’re smart. And maybe if it was an answering service in Mississippi, great. Couldn’t handle it. Right. But in the Midwest, it’s just we need we need a long a’s from the Midwest.

Speaker B [00:27:03]:

Right. Let’s talk about it. Yeah. Like, oh, about it.

Speaker A [00:27:09]:

I didn’t pick up on it until my Canadian brother-in-law, he started pointing it out. And I was like, oh, interesting. Tristene, even though he says a after almost everything.

Speaker B [00:27:19]:

The a different a.

Speaker A [00:27:20]:

Yeah. Yeah. Right. What are we gonna do?

Speaker B [00:27:24]:

Alright. So a couple other challenges or I’m sorry. Red flags to spot when you’re hiring are Just some things related to, I guess we talked a little bit about attitude, but I just wanna go back here for a minute, the polarizing attitude. Mhmm. And that idea that, They come they come at the job interview with either intense positivity

Speaker A [00:27:45]:

Mhmm.

Speaker B [00:27:46]:

And not even talking about why they’re a good fit. I’m so excited for this role. I think this would be great for my experience, blah blah blah, but they never really get into the nitty gritty. They just come at you with, like, this big positivity punch.

Speaker A [00:27:58]:

Mhmm.

Speaker B [00:27:58]:

Because to your point, the pendulum will Swing the other way. Yeah. Or the opposite. You know, they come at you with all of, you know, here’s here’s everything that’s wrong in my life. Here’s, you know, how I can I don’t it’s not even necessarily the gone wrong, but more of the here’s how I need this?

Speaker A [00:28:17]:

Yeah. Or just a dark cloud over him.

Speaker B [00:28:20]:

I’ve had That’s a really great visual.

Speaker A [00:28:22]:

Some people that just Right? And we’re in the business of helping people, and I can’t imagine, like, an ambulance driver showing up. Right? You’ve been hit by a car, and they’re like, hey. Are you okay? They’re like So

Speaker B [00:28:37]:

it’s an energy thing.

Speaker A [00:28:37]:

Totally energy

Speaker B [00:28:38]:

thing. Energy do they bring? And does it, Also, does it feel authentic?

Speaker A [00:28:42]:

That’s the thing.

Speaker B [00:28:43]:

Because I I have been on the phone with plenty of customer service people where you can tell it’s a front. Mhmm. You know, I called the credit card company, and and clearly, they’re going from a script. And that’s fine, but it sounds like you’re really frustrated that you lost your credit card. I’m sorry about That how can I help you?

Speaker A [00:29:00]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:29:01]:

Well, you could be a little bit more frustrated with me that I lost my credit card again, you know, or whatever thing is. Yeah. Sound like a human. I don’t know. Right?

Speaker A [00:29:08]:

Yeah. It’s interesting talking about the the polarized attitudes because I’ve had 2, including the story here, 2 extremely positive people. We talked about the the most recent one, but one before that, she ended up being crazy psycho and tried to get a lot of employees to quit. And I reached out to her, and I’m like, what happened to the person that I interviewed? The positive person that I interviewed. Yeah. And she’s like, that was a front. I knew I wouldn’t get hired if I wasn’t happy. And I’m like, why don’t you just and she was she considered herself a depressed person.

Speaker A [00:29:44]:

I’m like, well, you can put that front on all the time if you want. Like, if you want a positive life and you know how to fake it

Speaker B [00:29:50]:

Right.

Speaker A [00:29:51]:

What’s wrong with just faking it all the time?

Speaker B [00:29:53]:

Or if you just wanna keep a job. Yeah. You know? Fake it at least while you’re on the phone.

Speaker A [00:29:58]:

Yeah. It was very interesting because I go back and watch that interview, and I’m like, woah. Yeah. Sociopath.

Speaker B [00:30:05]:

That’s so interesting, though, that you record those interviews and that you can go back and see it. Because, again, I think some of our best lessons are from who didn’t work out and Why? What could we have seen? You can go back.

Speaker A [00:30:16]:

Well, sometimes also when I’m interviewing, whatever, 6, 12 people at

Speaker B [00:30:19]:

a time Yeah.

Speaker A [00:30:20]:

I don’t pick up on everything. Mhmm. And I’ll go back and watch them or just listen to them, and I’ll make you say, woah.

Speaker B [00:30:27]:

Yeah. I was gonna

Speaker A [00:30:28]:

hire this person, but now I have follow-up questions for them that I didn’t think about at the time because you’re also kinda, I guess, entertaining. I’m not trying to keep the flow and all that kind of stuff on top of trying to pick, like, hey. Is this person that I’m gonna pay Right. 1,000 of dollars every week, whatever Mhmm. Worth hiring.

Speaker B [00:30:46]:

Yeah. So it’s less than a year. Though, because it gives you another upper it gives you an opportunity to give folks a second chance if they didn’t pick up on

Speaker A [00:30:54]:

Trying. I don’t know that I have it all figured out. I know I don’t have it all figured out.

Speaker B [00:30:58]:

I think we just keep doing the best we can with the information that You know, every every employee that doesn’t work out, we learn a new opportunity

Speaker A [00:31:06]:

Mhmm.

Speaker B [00:31:06]:

Or we learn a new lesson. Right? But, hopefully, these red flags from Hiring have been helpful. If you have others that you have experienced, please drop them in the comments so we can learn from you too.

Speaker A [00:31:16]:

Absolutely. This has been diary of a worthy pursuit.

Speaker B [00:31:18]:

Where we help you get what truly want in life and in business.