Last week we saw how the best places to work rankings change — Google was number one for six straight years, now it’s number eight, while Facebook dropped to seventh place.

People change too. Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who was named the world’s most reputable CEO in 2018, didn’t even make the top 10 this year.

Friends and family often aren’t aware of the most current news about a company and even when they are they may minimize it, especially if the company is hot or an icon.

This isn’t just about Google; Facebook, Amazon or dozens of others that are just as problematical.

Hot startups encourage you to jump in without due diligence. WeWork may seem like an extreme example, but it’s not as uncommon as you might think — remember Theranos, Uber and Zenefits.

It’s about how fast things change, both the big stuff and the little stuff, all the stuff that underlies culture and trust, which can and should affect your decisions.

Because it’s your career, your life and, corny as it may sound, your soul.

Image credit: chaukhat.com

If you follow Ryan’s Journal on Thursday you know that he’s been interviewing for a new position. (If you aren’t familiar with Ryan you can learn more about him here.) Last week he wrote about red flags and deciding factors.

As a Millennial and former Marine Ryan, is extremely sensitive to culture and that’s been number one on his list of wants, including challenge, learning, growing, making a difference, respect, team, etc., and all the normal stuff, such as compensation and benefits.

He has been interviewing for more than a year, both local and remote positions, and finally found it all in a local company called Spatial Networks.

The company builds geospatial intelligence products. Founded in 2000, it has survived the dot com bust and the 2008 financial meltdown, which says a lot about its management.

When Ryan called he was so excited about the company he was practically bouncing. He raved about the people, the culture and said the perks were unbelievable.

What constitutes “unbelievable” to a young married 30-something with 3.5 kids and a mortgage?

Benefits & Perks

Spatial Networks, Inc. continually invests in its employees, and nowhere is this investment more evident than in our employee benefits, development and enrichment program offerings.

Financial security

In addition to competitive pay and performance-based incentives, you’ll receive 100% company 401(k) match up to the IRS maximum (and are fully vested at eligibility), company stock options, and robust life insurance coverage (3x your annual salary).

Complete health

Spatial Networks covers 100% of medical, dental, and vision plan premiums for you and your family. We also offer short- and long-term disability, an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), 24/7 nurse line with care coordination and mental health programs, and on-site gym membership.

Life balance

We love what we do, but work isn’t everything. With flexible work hours, maternity/parental leave, and generous, tiered paid time off (PTO) and flex-time, you can devote time to the things (and people) you cherish most.

Continuous growth

At Spatial Networks, you’ll learn from some of the most talented, passionate software developers and geographers around and receive professional development and training (plus internal career growth/acceleration).

Happy workdays

Enjoy a fast-paced, fun and collaborative environment, a visible and responsive HR department, company-paid parking in downtown St. Petersburg, and all the fresh-ground coffee you can drink!

This is from a follow-up email Ryan sent.

Very profitable and they are growing. Plus the benefits are insane. I receive 4 weeks vacation to start. 100% payout of all medical premiums for me and my family (I was paying 20K annually before) and I also receive 100% match on my 401K up to the max which is $18,500 per year.

(Note Ryan’s compensation jumped $20K just based on the medical premiums he no longer pays.)

I call these adult perks, plenty of coffee, but no food. Unlike so many perks at companies such as Google and Facebook, none of these are designed to encourage people to stay at the office or build their lives around work.

Image credit: Spatial Networks

I recently made a career change that, so far, has been extremely positive.

I have been in the tech space for some time and enjoy it. However, I think I carry a bit of baggage when I go to new companies.

By that I mean I have had employers in the past who were truly miserable to work for. I dreaded going in each day and my motivation was very low.

When I look at new companies I tend to carry that frame of reference with me as I interview. I consider the culture, how would I like the boss, how do people act in the office?

I have been interviewing for a few months now, at a variety of companies, and I have seen a few that make me want to run!

I’m in sales and whenever I hear a company say that they don’t have a process in place and just want somebody who’s hungry, I think red flag.

Obviously you want to be engaged and hard working in sales, but I have found that organizations that have no formal process in place are just flying by the seat of their pants.

It’s hard to define success, there is little support for you and if you don’t hit your numbers you are out right away.

I also spoke with a company that recently received an influx of VC money. As a result they have hired 70+ sales people all at once. Big red flag! How do you manage that? What metrics are defining success? How many people are on quota? None of that could be answered, so I stopped that interview process right away.

At the end of the day I found a company that is doing some really cool things in the GIS space. They are growing, own their IP, have a huge customer base and the co-workers are truly kind and passionate about their roles and product.

The benefits were awesome, but at the end of the day I asked myself, could I be here for 8 hours a day and still want to come back the next day?

For me the answer was yes.

Image credit: Bs0u10e0

I have been exploring a few options lately when it comes to my career. While I am not unhappy with my current role I realize that the potential elsewhere is greater.

This has led to some interesting thoughts as I look into different companies and teams. It is almost like a career day at school, you sit there to hear about different paths and imagine yourself in the role.

I read an article one time that stated its hard for a company to convey culture during the interview process, instead, they lead with salary and benefits.

This makes sense to a degree, but as a candidate, you end up dealing with asymmetric information. Sure there are sites that give job reviews but we all know that when you really dislike a job you will write a review. Lukewarm about the whole thing? Probably not writing a review one way or the other. So how can we overcome this information gap?

As I have matured a bit in my career (mature is loosely defined, by the way) I have started resorting to reaching out to a trusted friend or business acquaintance. I like to hear about their personal experiences and their viewpoints.

One way I do this is by reaching out to those I respect via LinkedIn or on the phone. I prefer hearing someone describe something and listen to their tone while they say it.

Why do I do this? If I trust someone then I feel that they will have my best interests in mind.

If I reach out to a random site online that have company reviews, then I really do not know if they have my best interests in mind. They could be bitter or they could just have an employer encouraging positive reviews.

How do you evaluate?

Image credit: Hiking Artist

To set the record straight I have been married for a number of years now and am very happy with my wife. I have not dated in any way since our courtship and am quite frankly a poor judge of what the current scene looks like. The closest I get to dating at this point are interviews for new jobs and roles.

A lot of people equate interviewing jobs to a sales cycle. You need to qualify the opportunity, determine next steps, and get to a close.

I actually agree that interviewing is very much like a sales cycle. However I also view it as trying out a new relationship.

Work/life balance is more of a blend. You need to know if that job you take will be flexible when needed or support you in your goals. Do you see yourself settling down with them? Have they mistreated others in a similar role before?

Essentially, when we read review sites, ask around and conduct an interview we are trying to determine if it’s a right fit.

I was taught a good lesson recently that we need to show a company what we can bring to the table, not just what the company can do for us. I liked that statement a lot and it reminded me a bit of when President Kennedy spoke about what you could do for your country.

So as a happily married man, interviewing is the closest thing to dating that I can think of in corporate America. (And I am not naive to think dating doesn’t happen in a traditional sense, just not going down that road here).

What are your thoughts on all of this? Am I on the right path with my system or can it be refined?

Image credit: scott.fuhrman

Poking through 11+ years of posts I find information that’s as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies is a collection of the most relevant and timeless posts during that time.

Diversity hiring is focused on women and minorities (we’ll be talking more about this during the week), but there are other categories that are the focus of negative bias.

Obviously, one is age, school bias is still front and center, and, of course, GPAs. As an ex headhunter, i.e., recruiter, I can tell you that GPAs are a total joke when it comes to great candidates. It’s not that good grades are bad, it’s that GPAs don’t tell much of the story — or at least not the parts that really count. Sam’s story below is a good example of what you miss when you focus mainly on GPAs.

Read other Golden Oldies here.

I have a post today at Leadership Turn (a blog I wrote for b5 Media) that focuses on college student’s grade expectations for “trying really hard.” It’s worth clicking over to read because these are the same people you will be hiring over the next few years. Scary thought.

I said at the end that hiring managers might find it of more value to look at grades a bit differently.

Historically, managers and corporations have considered overall GPAs to be a significant factor when recruiting.

But based on current attitudes towards grade inflation, combined with federal, state and local governments’ focus on funding numbers as opposed to learning, perhaps there is a more useful use of grades.

Let me give you a real world example, I’ll call him Sam.

Sam has a 2.7 GPA, but if you look closer you see a different story.

Sam said that when he started college he not only didn’t bother studying he didn’t really know how. He said his grades in high school were mostly Bs and a few As, but that he never really put out much effort. His first semester was totally in the toilet and he almost flunked out when his GPA hit 1.8.

That was a wake-up call.

Sam buckled down. He started by learning how to study and how to learn and really applied himself.

Third semester his GPA was 2.5; junior year GPA was 3.1; senior year isn’t over.  Additionally, the GPA for his major is a solid 3.5.

Sam isn’t getting a lot of interviews; he believes it’s because of that 2.7 GPA and he’s probably right.

But for a manager with an entry level position, Sam is solid gold.

Think about it,

• he knows that he doesn’t know it all;
• he enjoys learning and understands the value of hard work;
• he knows that showing up every day isn’t enough; and
• he realizes that he needs to perform at a high level to have value.

Sure sounds like a valuable employee to me—and one with a lot of potential loyalty to those who can see past the trappings to the real value.

Are you smart enough and confident enough of our interviewing skills to find the Sam hiding in that stack of resumes?

Image credit: flickr

This is a short post, because you need time to read the links.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a CEO building an executive team or a newly promoted supervisor, interviewing is critical to success — the team’s, the company’s and, especially, yours.

The most important things to learn from your interviewing aren’t about hard or soft skills.

The truly critical factors are

• how they think; and
• their attitude.

That should be the “make or break” information you come away with.

There’s a lot of help to be found here; look in the hiring category and use the various interview* tags — and, of course, today’s links.

Asking slightly off-the-wall questions that candidates can’t prepare for is a good technique as long as you have a valid goal in mind — one that is well beyond just being discomforting.

The technique is used by CEOs from companies diverse companies, including Tony Hsieh of Zappos, Stormy Simon, president of Overstock and Ashley Morris, CEO of Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop.

Use them as a guide, because the same questions probably won’t work for you. First, they will become well-known as they are passed around the digital world, and second, because they won’t be relevant to your particular situation.

Now, a moment of interviewing levity, better know as “candidates say/do the strangest things” or  WTF?????

“It’s hard to say why a candidate would do some of these things,” Rosemary Haefner, chief human-resources officer for CareerBuilder, tells Business Insider. “Maybe he or she is nervous, thinks an employer would find it funny, or perhaps the candidate simply has no boundaries.”

More than 2,600 hiring managers and employers shared with CareerBuilder the most memorable job-interview mistakes candidates have made. Here are 25 of the most unusual things that happened:

I sent this link to several friends; here is the response of one who is a senior manager at a large industrial enterprise in the southeast.

I’ve been offered a blow job, been asked out, been introduced to the “cruising” area of my city, threatened with a sexual harassment suit and shouted at. Interviewing is no joke…

Managers are still sticking their respective feet in their respective mouths.

Don’t be one of them.

Image credit: Hiking Artist

When it comes to hiring, as Forrest Gump would say, “stupid is as stupid does.”

And stupid is using recruiters who think the only “right” answer to a technical question is the one written on a sheet of paper. (Note that “technical” can refer to the specifics of any field, although in this case it was software.)

No knowledge or understanding of the subject; just the blind focus on the written words — kind of like talking to customer service when the rep keeps repeating their script no matter how you phrase the question — and no recognition that they may wrong.

The call started off well but as the interview progressed, Guathier got an increasing number of questions wrong. His frustration grew as he tried to discuss the answers with the Google recruiter only to find that the recruiter wanted the exact answer in the test book even if alternative solutions were better.

The company is Google and it should be noted that they approached the candidate, as opposed to his applying.

Way back in 2007 Google announce that they had developed an algorithm to screen candidates.

It didn’t work.

Google was also famous for its brain-teaser questions.

Only, according to Lazlo Block, SVP of People Operations, they are a lousy predictor of success.

“Part of the reason is that those are tests of a finite skill, rather than flexible intelligence which is what you actually want to hire for.”

The value of elite colleges and high grades was publically debunked in a 2013 story about the prevalence of grade inflation.

Not all Google’s efforts fall in the stupid category; block’s efforts to educate both management and workers about bias is definitely a smart move.

But locking technically ignorant recruiters into accepting only set responses to tech question rates right up there with algorithms and brain-teasers. And I say this as someone who was a tech recruiter for more than 12 years.

Of course, managers’ interviewing skills won’t matter, since  the best, most knowledgeable, most creative candidates will be screened out before they ever see them.

Image credit: Chris Pond

It’s amazing to me, but looking back at more than a decade of writing I find posts that still impress, with information that is as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies is a collection of what I consider some of the best posts during that time.

I’ve written a lot over the years about hiring, but it’s a subject that never gets old. We’re going to be looking at the subject again this week and I thought this Golden Oldie would be a good way to kick off the conversation.

Read other Golden Oldies here

Michael Cascio, a former executive at the National Geographic Channel, A&E and Animal Planet, who now runs M&C Media, has a favorite interview question.

Early on he asks, “What did you do in the summers during college and high school?”

Not a question most candidates are expecting, but one that stems from Cascio’s personal experience.

He worked two summers as a janitor at the Wolf Trap event venue while he was getting his MBA.

You might not expect that would be a defining experience for a “middle-class college kid headed for a white-collar life,” but it was.

Cascio says it was in that job that he learned the basics of a great career and it was his janitorial boss who gave him the best career advice.

The basics:

You have to show up every day, and on time. You have to appreciate everyone who works around you. You should acknowledge — and learn to deal with — the pecking order in the working world. You have to exert yourself in ways you may not have learned in school. And you often have to do things that have nothing — and everything — to do with your career and your life ahead.

The best advice:

“Never turn down a chance to take on more responsibility.”

The point is that it’s not just about what candidates have done, but what they learned from the experience that matters—no matter what it was.

Flickr image credit: warrenski

I often say that I’m successful now because I’ve made every mistake in the book. The key is I’ve learned from those mistakes and it’s rare — if ever — that I make the same one twice. –Robert Herjavec

Herjavec wrote a good post on hiring that covers many bases, but ignores two critically important factors.

1. The most common reason for a bad hire is charm and the best way to guard against it is preparation.
2. The most common interviewing  error to avoid can be summed up this way: don’t lead the candidate and don’t follow where the candidate leads.

In fact, if you do nothing other than what is described in 1 and 2 your hires will improve significantly.

Flickr image credit: qthomasbower