Donald Trump’s, “The Celebrity Apprentice” puts a number of “B” and “C” actors and actresses together on two teams for several weeks working on projects together. Each team will select a project manager for the task that they are competing over.
Each week, one team wins; the other team loses. The winning team’s project manager wins a contribution to a charity of their choice; the losing team’s project manager gets to bring two people into the board room to argue as to who was the one most at fault for their team’s failure. Trump ultimately fires at least one of them.
It’s reality television so the cameras follow the teams around and you get to see what is going on behind the scenes. Who complains about whom. The trivial anxieties blown out of proportion. The egos inflamed.
But looking at it as a hiring process, Trump has put these people into a position where he has an actual opportunity to see them do the job that he would like to hire him for and see if they can do it . . . not just once but many times.
Several smart employers I am working with have constructed their own version of “The Celebrity Apprentice.” One this week, flew up several people for interviews and, after the interviews, put the three program managers together on a project to work with one another.
The project was more symbolic (siting a building in a foreign nation and how you would prepare and present the program to government officials) but the process would be the same. The hiring firm had a team of people watching how the team worked, how they assigned work and how it was done, then listened to the proposal.
Some companies are having people do a presentation at the white board; some are asking potential hires to teach a class or do other tasks that relate to the job the candidate is being considered for.
Start to keep in your metaphorical back pocket a simple presentation you could do at a white board about how you did something for your current employer.
Be prepared to do a short project related to your current work or sell something to the interviewer.
Just don’t always expect to recite some facts about what you do and how you do it and expect to be hired.
© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC 2012