Wawrinka won the Australia Open Tennis Championship over world No. 1 Nadal. Nobody saw this coming. Not even Wawrinka. When walking on the court at Rod Laver Arena, he was confronted with the following questions: How do you find hope where none exists? Where, ultimately, does belief come from? Few suspected he would have the answers.
Demand Versus Supply
With nearly three times as many job seekers as there are job openings, employers are often overwhelmed by the response for even low-paying jobs. The good news is in 2009, that number was six job seekers for every job opening.
In spite of these statistics, employers still fail to hire the best candidate because they focus on the wrong things when interviewing.
Don`t Decide Solely Based On What You Hear
A client is in the advertising business and often looking for creative and outgoing candidates with technical skills. His employees are high performers and his business has doubled its volume in one year. I admire his leadership skills and ability to develop his business in uncharted territory. However, all his employees have similar people skills. It`s not a major issue as such. However, it could be difficult to manage. They are talkative to a fault and often delay the productivity, resulting in working overtime. They don`t compromise easily and require a lot of convincing to handle things differently than what they would have done alone.
Be Attentive To Non-Verbal Cues
Recently, my client interviewed a graphic-designer with eight years of experience in a large advertising corporation. The candidate had the experience and the skills required for the job, however, he was missing the people skills my client was used to in his choosing of candidates.
He was however very impressed with the candidate`s portfolio and experience in the advertising business. I encouraged him to hire the candidate.
Fast forward two years, the candidate is still employed and my client was so thrilled by the results, he hired three more candidates with similar people skills. As a result, his team is more balanced, things are getting done faster and there is much less time wasted socializing during work hours.
Never under estimate those candidates who seemingly do not appear to have the social skills you are looking for. They might be the underdogs who will produce results for your business. They might be winning over other candidates rated as No 1. Just like when Wawrinka won over Nadal.
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