Looking Good on Paper

I went out to dinner with a couple of friends the other night. These were girls I had gone to high school with; we had a great time reminiscing and talking about the "good old days." One of my friends had been working in Iraq for several years and we were just glad to have her back in the states now. Our dinner was to celebrate her relocating with her new husband to the other side of the country. While we were sad to see her leave once more, we were glad she was not boarding a flight to the Middle East.

We stopped by a local hangout to just sit and chit-chat before our night ended. We talked about everything from the boys we knew in junior high to trying to manage our own college-aged children. While we were discussing, a "loud-mouth" one table over interrupted our conversation claiming to know more about what we were talking about than we. It turns out, he was one of the guys we knew from our younger years. But he hadn't changed. He was still obnoxious and obviously still loud.

He told half-truths and blatant lies for about thirty more minutes before we decided to call it a night. He was as we had remembered and we were disappointed. Some of us have grown up, others never will. Why is it that many stay trapped in the way they are comfortable and never expand or grow? Blustering, lying, smirking, berating, and general know-it-all attitude can spoil anyone. Here's my twist: How many of us look good on paper? It will get you in the door, but not your name on it.

by rayannethorn

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Permalink Reply by Fran Hogan on October 29, 2009 at 7:08am

Rayanne,
I bet there aren't very many of us that haven't had a smilar situation happen. Our collected stories about disasters with candidates we haven't met would probably make a good book.

BTW, I thought perhaps the guy at the next table might have been my ex-husband but he's in New Jersey :-)

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Permalink Reply by Lesa Caskey on October 29, 2009 at 1:01pm

Wow, it makes me cringe just reading the very words. I feel for you! Rayanne is definitely right about stories from the trenches, but even with all of those stories, I am still a firm believer that we do not need to meet our candidates first.
The examples for myself are plentiful in that I have met many candidates after their hire date and thought "Oh my! You dress like that/look like that and they hired you? Wow!". The best one for sharing, however, seems like fiction. Candidate is presented, gets hired and we schedule the meeting for him to have lunch with my account manager at the time. I describe the account manager in general terms so that the candidate will be able to identify him quickly. The candidate responds: "Oh, he'll have no trouble recognizing me; I look like a leprechaun". This turned out to be quite an understatement. The gentleman not only resembled a leprechaun in his red hair and long beard, but also by the fact that he dressed like one. Oh my, indeed!
Needless to say, I heeded the lesson learned: what I think about a candidate's qualifications counts; what I think about their personal style doesn't count for much and could cost me a placement.
Your Director of Nutrition is an exception, to be sure! But I ultimately don't think those one-offs necessitate spending the time to meet each candidate in person.
What do you think?