During the past couple of months, I have been able to either observe or be involved in several hiring processes, both from the perspective of the employer and that of the potential employee. From the employer side, I have been participating in multiple faculty position searches for the James M. Hull College of Business at Augusta University (AU). Thanks to the vision of the new AU President, Dr. Russell Keen, who understands the important role of a strong business school in a prestigious university, the Hull College has been provided funding for five new faculty positions in Marketing, Management, Finance, Management Information Systems, and Economics. During the past few weeks, most faculty and staff of the Hull College have participated in the on-campus interviews of the finalists for these positions. At the same time, I have been mentoring two people close to me on their job searches as they consider making career changes. These experiences have shown me that both the employer and prospective employee face similar challenges during the recruitment and hiring process, and in today’s column, I will address how both sides can better address these challenges and hopefully end up with a positive result.
During the hiring process, it is critical for both sides to be able to evaluate each other. For the employer, it is not just important that a candidate has the requisite talent and skills to succeed in the position, but that they also have the character and personality to fit the organization. As an academic institution, we find it fairly straightforward to evaluate a candidate’s talent and skills, which is primarily his or her ability to both teach and produce quality research. During a visit to campus, the candidate will present recent research to many of the current faculty, which is a good way to evaluate the candidate’s research and his or her ability to present material, which provides a good proxy for teaching ability. In the case of one of my mentees who is looking to transition to a career in sales after a few years in customer service, potential employers asked her how she would handle various sales scenarios and also had her perform some hypothetical sales calls. So, I would strongly recommend that if you are an employer evaluating candidates, it is extremely helpful if you can actually observe candidates performing similar work.
It can be a little more difficult to perform a direct character and personality evaluation. However, the way we do that at Hull is for the candidate to have as many individual meetings with various faculty and staff as possible, to include four meetings over meals (a dinner the night before the day-long interview and breakfast, lunch, and dinner during the day of the interview). These smaller, more informal meetings provide significant input on the candidate’s “fit” with the organization, as does observing how the candidate interacts with administrative staff and others not directly involved in the interview process. One of my mentees had a similar experience during a half-day, on-site interview. While much of her remote interview focused on transferable skills from her previous experience, much of the on-site interview focused on her interaction with others in the office. I think it is critical that as you consider potential candidates, you invest as much time learning about the candidate and who they are as you spend on learning what they can do.
One thing I have always told those in the job market, whether I am mentoring them or interviewing them, is to realize that they are interviewing the employer as much as the employer is interviewing them. While I understand that in a tight job market, you are typically going to take almost any “good” job you are offered, but it is critical to evaluate the organization you are considering joining. As you evaluate the organization, you should consider both its leadership and your potential co-workers. Do they have similar values, ethics, and work habits that you do? Is it an organization that rewards good work and cares about its employees? Does everyone seem to get along? Is the leadership honest with you as they discuss the organization and the job? I know that we have been very successful in securing the faculty members to whom we make offers because when they visit, they feel very good about the collegiality within the College and the honesty of the leadership.
The last challenge I would like to touch upon from the perspective of both the employer and the candidate is the evaluation of the potential long-term tenure of the candidate. As indicated above, recruitment and hiring are expensive and time-consuming for the organization, and searching for a new job is often highly stressful for the candidate. Therefore, both parties should go into the process considering how best to make this a long-term relationship. For the firm, this means identifying career paths in the company, so that the candidate sees this not just as a job interview, but potentially a “career interview.” This is clearly something the candidate should be looking for as well. Similarly, during the process, the organization should discuss the professional and personal development the company offers, which, again, is something the candidate should be looking for as well.
In reality, both the employer and the candidate are looking for many of the same things. While the organization is looking for someone who can succeed, the candidate is looking for a place where he or she can be successful. At the same time, the company is looking for someone who fits it, while the candidate is looking for a similar fit from a personal perspective. Whichever side you are on in the hiring process, the more that you can not only understand what you are looking for, but what the other party is looking for, the better the chance for mutual success.
