Monday, September 22, 2014
Hiring Tip: Ask Job Candidates for Their Love Stories
Remodeling: Consider asking the potential employees you are interviewing when they knew what they wanted to do for a living. The earlier they knew, the more likely they will be to have more experience and a higher level of commitment than other candidates.
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7 comments:
Although the advice of asking someone when they fell in love with the occupation is a great idea, I disagree with the author's view on how to interpret it. Its stupid to ask for the story and then judge it by how long they've wanted to be in the profession. When I was four, I wanted to be a painting ballerina, not all of us had the most practical aspirations. Even though I discovered design and production two years ago, I have been working nonstop on improving my craft. And I shouldn't be turned down for a job, just because someone discovered their love of theater a few years earlier.
There are many people who going through college still have no idea as to what they want to do with their life. They just say they’re going to wing it until they have to make a decision. What kind of motive is that for a career that you’re just going to end up disgusted with yourself in the long run of things and wish you were doing something else? Why do people not go with what they love to do? Since I was in high school I knew I wanted to pursue theatre. Sure throughout my childhood the type of person I wanted to be went from pirate, to fireman, to president; essentially all of the cool stuff a kid likes to get their imaginations wrapped around in. When it came to me and choosing theatre I was just fascinated by how the world seemed to change with every show. You’re not going into a build, and making the same structures over and over, each design is different and provides its own challenges. That’s what makes this so unique and appealing to me. I feel as though every person who chose a job that was their passion would bring just that much more to the table than those who chose it just because it was time to make choice in life.
Right off the bat, I thought the article was talking about asking your candidates about their romantic love stories. I reeled back and clicked on the article, intrigued. While the article strayed away from that definition of love, I applaud the author for catching my attention. I am disappointed that the article isn't accurate to the title, but whatever. I strongly agree with the message here. Knowing where people come from is a big factor in understanding who someone is. On that strain, asking someone "what got you into the business/ what made you love xyz?" can be a great way to connect with your potential employees.Personally, I would love if someone asked me this question in an interview. If my interviewer did this, I would know that they actually cared about my growth and development as a theatrical artist, not just what I did last summer.
I'm really not sure that this is actually an accurate way of judging how good someone will be at a job. Yes, if someone has been in love with a certain profession since a very young age, that's a pretty good indicator that they'll really care about their work and that they'll have a lot of experience. However, a person who only recently discovered the field they're working in could bring even more valuable skills to the table. People who have had complicated and perhaps random career paths are most likely flexible, willing to try new things, and have past experiences that allow them to look at problems and situations in ways that someone who has only done one thing their whole life cannot. This reminds me of some of the things that come out of the BXA program at CMU- last year I saw an art exhibit by science/fine arts students, and there were some amazing science-inspired designs that no one with either a purely science or purely art background would have been able to think of. Just because some people haven't had the privilege of knowing what they wanted to do since the age of 4, doesn't mean that their work and their experience is any less valuable.
I disagree wholeheartedly with my peers. You can absolutely teach someone how to do a job. But you can't teach them how to love it. Burnout is a real threat to the professional world. If I am hiring someone, especially in a capacity where the hope is that they'll move on up to become an integral part of the company. I don't want to invest in someone whose going to be bored, or who doesn't share the same passion and motivation for the job as me. You want someone to be committed to the company and it's vision. How someone fell in love with their job is a great way to see if they really and truly want it and therefor are willing to do the work, or are they offering up some trite and genuine answer.
I don't really agree with this article. Why should the amount of time a person desires to do something indicate their worth? Why should that determine their credibility? It just doesn't make sense. When I was little, I was determined to be the first woman president. When I was in high school, I was set on being a cardiac surgeon. Both of those ships sailed, and now I'm studying to be an actor. So does that mean I'm not as qualified as someone who has planned on being an actor since they learned to speak? It's funny, I was actually thinking about this the other day. Sometimes I really do feel less qualified. You hear stories about professionals actors who say "This was always the plan." It makes me doubt myself sometimes, but it shouldn't! My love for theatre was always there, I suppose, but I didn't necessarily want it to be my career. And who knows where my life will take me, but I should not be looked at differently because I chose this path when I was 17, not 7. In all honesty, if people actually use this as an indication of whether or not a person is qualified, that's a little strange. A person's drive is found in their present being, not in their past dreams.
It's great that your childhood influenced you to have such a clear image of what you wanted to do growing up. However, not everyone has the same circumstances growing up. Lots of people aren't even sure what they would like to major in when entering a university. To fit all potential employees into one critique is a bad idea. The interviewer will not realize the employee's full circumference of abilities they have to offer, and therefore runs the risk of not employing some of the best candidates. I think rather than judging their commitment to how long they have decided to do something, judge them on their passion. Judge them on the energetic enthusiasm they give you in the interview room. Wouldn't it be nicer to have someone just starting out that is excited and ready to begin with an amazing work ethic than someone who has practiced it most of their life and has become bored with their occupation, and maybe even sloppy? Better yet, might it be a good idea to wait and see what really drives you to get out of bed every morning, instead of picking a major/job just to settle into something that you may not feel any passion at all for? I think it is.
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