One of the things I work hard to spot with job hunters are liars–people who exaggerate what they have done or take credit for things others have done. I’m sure you find it as frustrating as I do to speak with someone who you know within a few minutes sat next to the person who did the work but didn’t actually do it.
One of the frustrations I hear job hunters have with potential employers is speaking with a firm that really wants to hire a drone to do a job, not think much, take direction and has no real plans for them beyond doing the job they are being hired to perform BUT TRIES TO PERSUADE THEM THAT THERE IS THIS HUGE UPSIDE TO THE JOB.
I spoke with one developer recently who told me of an interview they had where it was clear to him within 5 minutes that he was being hired to do nothing more than pound out code (be a code monkey) with little thought, take direction from a hiring manager who would tell him what to do and how to do it with the promise that one day, if he was a good little boy, he would grown up to be a manager of people and do the same thing!
How thrilling (can you detect sarcasm)!
But what are you supposed to say to such a person?
Have you considered the truth? Have you considered that you need to hire a consultant and not an employee? Have you considered that your manager doesn’t know how to manage and should be replaced?
Too many businesses get stuck because they have the wrong people in jobs that have no business being in those jobs. These folks kill a business from the inside out, sometimes by destroying talented subordinates with micromanagement or with “rules” that suck the life out of them.
Whether you are in HR, in a line role, a C level executive or board level role, your job is hiring the right people and giving them an opportunity to succeed and your business an opportunity to succeed. Taking remarkable people (you are hiring remarkable people and not just monkeys) and lying to them or choking them to death is a fast path to losing their brilliance.
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