Transcript - Episode 016 - Camp, Cadavers and Crappy Questions
Episode 016
Assumptions
You can listen HERE.
Assumptions. We all make them. I spend a lot of my time talking about overcoming assumptions. Wanna know why???
Hi, I'm Daava Mills, The Rebellious Recruiter. It's often said that we preach best what we need to learn most. One day it dawned on me, yes, we do preach what we have yet to learn, and I've added to that. We teach best what we've learned most. Today, we're going full-bore into the world of assumptions.
Pull up a seat, let's chat.
Intro music…
Years ago, I was in a singing group at a private Christian school. Now, those who know me in real life know that I don't hide behind the fact that I was raised in a very conservative, evangelical Christian home. Most of my youth was spent going to a Charismatic Church on Sundays, with one-hour long music and one hour long preaching. I've led singles Christian groups. I've been annoyed as men from the "older singles" groups joined the "younger singles groups" because they felt more at home around youth and enthusiasm. Add to the fact that I am a second-generation Air Force brat… My maternal grandfather was retired Army Air Corps/Air Force, my is retired Air Force too. They both flew in wars. One of my uncles was killed in Vietnam.
Just telling you that, I've probably created an assumption in your head about who I am, and what I believe.
To my liberal friends I am a bit wacky, a conservative, a champion of Midwest politicians and how they are a voice for people who pay taxes and otherwise feel voiceless. To my conservative friends, I'm a liberal tree hugger, who is okay with my taxes paying for people to sit on their butts for doing nothing. Yep… I'm a solid moderate. Any ballot of mine is fully mixed with the parties I vote for and have even found myself leaning Green Party in state elections a time or two. It happens.
For the record, I do make jokes about "Praise the Lord and pass the snake!" Although my church growing up wasn't that out there.
Anyway, the point being. If you only had my upbringing to make an assumption about me. That assumption would not be right as to who I am today. If you met me in person, you would have a different theory of me politically based on the subject at hand. It would be a different assumption.
Back to the singing group. We were sent to a Christian camp for a few weeks one summer, in Montana. They had this swing. One of those one rope swing with the circle seat. They had three platforms. The top platform was close to 30 feet in the air. The 8 of us show up to the camp a few days before the kids start arriving, and we wander over to this swing, and the platforms. Everyone was gathered on the first platform, and started taking turns passing the swing up, and having a go at it. I just climbed up to the third level, told them to pass the swing up. And my first go? I swung from 30 feet up.
What kind of assumptions would you make about me in that moment? That I am a daredevil? An adrenaline junkie? Maybe those are part of the truth. But the reality is, I knew I'd work my way up there eventually… so why not start there. Did that assumption cross your mind? Maybe, maybe not. But you just have to ask, and I'll tell you the answer.
That day someone refused to climb the swing. They watched from the sidelines. I commented, in my 14-year-old expertness that some childhood tragedy probably caused them to be afraid of it. That's when one of the sopranos, tired by my constant chatter and thinking out loud, told me how she was annoyed by my assumptions and ability to make stuff up in my head. I've spent the better part of 3 decades with that reminder of my assumptions.
It's my Achilles heel, it's something that I constantly remind myself of. Reign in people I work with over. Because it's my weakness, I see it in others. Because I see it in others, and I've had to learn to routinely check myself on this topic, to make sure I "practice what I preach."
Some years ago, I was interviewing for a Communications Manager. We had a candidate come in, who had about 30 years’ experience, was polished, decent writer, etc. But one thing drove me nuts in the interview… I didn't like her because, while she was in a suit, she was wearing silk-threaded beads that were fraying. I couldn't understand how a person so polished would wear an accessory so disheveled. I was lamenting to my VP about it… I was going to basically vote against a decent candidate because of one thing to do with her appearance. My VP looked at me and said, "maybe it's her lucky beads." Yep, I was going to push to not consider a person, who would largely be behind a computer, not seen by public… I was going to encourage people to not consider her over beads. Silly right?
That's our assumptions. I see it all the time. Even worse, I see Leaders in various forums encourage interview questions that cause assumptions. And use those assumptions to be the deciding factor in hiring people.
The worse assumptions I've heard are teams telling managers they don't want to hire a perfectly qualified and respectful person because they can't see themselves having a beer with that person. Now, I'm all about work friendships. I've got great friendships from people with whom I've had the privilege of working. And I have many more surface friendships with people who've I've worked with. I've attempted to maintain friendships with people I've worked with, only to have them ignore me… until they lose their job.
You see? They make an assumption. They assume that because I am a recruiter that I will have insider information across many industries. I don't. They assume if they need to hire someone, that I will know a person who fits the bill… there is a reason that 3rd party recruiters bill 20-30% first year earnings when recruiting for you. Because each search is so unique, that it's rare someone is already in the back pocket. In 20+ years of recruiting? It's happened to me so rarely; I can count it on one hand.
But it's the assumptions we make. We all do them.
I have a friend who is a professional opera singer. She's probably been professionally singing for close to 30 years. In those 30 years, she still takes voice lessons. You know why? She sings on key… she takes the lessons because she is constantly being reminded how to breath properly.
Learning to combat our weaknesses is what we will do for the rest of our lives. Know what yours are. Learn to see them in others. Give other's permission to check you on them.
The big one in recruiting that I see most often is assumptions. I can see it, because it's mine.
Here's some questions that cause assumptions:
1. If you were an animal, what animal would you be?
2. Describe something that is less than $20.00 that you can't live without?
3. Would you rather ride a unicycle or a donkey to work? Discuss the benefits and draw backs of each
4. Do you think mummies should be slow or fast? Why?
All of those questions (or variations of those questions) often pop up on a Google search for questions to ask to determine culture. The irony is that one site, it basically issued a warning about how to use them and to be very careful… like, seriously… If you have to issue a warning on how to use an interview question? Let that sink in for a moment. That might as well be a "no lifeguard on duty" sign and deciding to swim during riptide. Don't do it.
Let's break these assumptive questions down, and what you can replace them with.
If you were an animal, what animal would you be? This question is generally asked for the interviewer to see how the candidate views themselves. It falls into what I call the Clever Question category. Candidates that answer this well generally have a witty or clever response. The interviewer then is swayed by the cleverness of the response and how it somehow relates to how the candidate behaves at work. It doesn't. And worse… what if the answer was really "good." Remember me talking about the Halo Effect in Episode 009? This is a great example of where it can start and sway an entire interview.
Try asking "In what type of work environment do you find yourself most productive?"
Okay, the next question. Describe something that is less than $20.00 that you can't live without. This is a truly WTF type question, when I first saw it. It's truly a head-scratcher. I'm going through my house, and other than nice blocks of artisan cheese, I'm really drawing a blank. This is one of those times in which if someone asked me that question, I would give a wholly inappropriate response. Because… yeah, cheese. Did you know it lights up the same receptors in your brain as cocaine? I'm in HR, you can imagine how that response would go over in an interview. And really, what does that tell you about me at work?
So, that question sucks. Ask this instead, "What tool have you discovered that made an aspect of your job simpler?"
On to the next awful question, "Would you rather ride a unicycle or a donkey to work? Discuss the benefits and draw backs of each." Really? Because you are about to talk about the merits of donkey manure and flat tires. Does your job deal with compost and rubber? Okay, ask that question… it's seriously random.
Ask a comparative question instead, that is directly related to the job. Something like "What are the differences when trouble shooting a Raid 5 vs. Raid 10?" or "When operating a switchboard to do naturally default to the manual one next to you, or the one in the computer?" or even "Do you prefer to call, text, or email a customer first, when letting them know there is an issue?" Each of those will draw out a work-related thought process, in which you can deep dive on how the applicant thinks and why they use the methods they do, and it's directly relatable to the position.
Final doozie for today. "Do you think mummies should be slow or fast? Why?" Hmmm… Are we really going to talk about mummies from 1932 vs. when Brendan Fraser took them on in 1999? I really don't want to bring Tom Cruise into this discussion, because I haven't seen that version… and what if your candidate has no context as to why you asked this because they aren't familiar with any of those movies? I mean seriously. Do you have wrapped up cadavers walking your office. No, you don't.
Try this instead, "Would you rather turn in a project late but 100% complete, or a project 80% complete and on time?" Use this type of question to dive into what is important to them and cross reference it to your culture and expectations of culture and communication. Ask how they would deliver the bad news of being late or incomplete. Ask them what they would do to ensure it doesn't happen again. Ask them about their last project that was late or incomplete, how was that received. What did they learn, how did they grow from it?
Can you see how these questions will cross reference to the expectations of your culture in a tangible way? There's no creativity to try and figure out what a candidate means. You're talking about real world and relevant things that happen in your office. That makes a difference.
I've got a challenge for you. As you interview, and as you look at culture as a pivot point, try looking at the unwritten rules of your company, or your assumptions of what a person should know about the job, or how they should perform their job. Then ask questions around that. Be flexible to their answer… consider if they have an answer the contradicts yours, that it doesn't mean they are or aren't flexible, it just means they are the product of their experiences. Talk about why you do processes the way you do. Watch how they react, disagree, counter, agree, and even add to what you are saying. Have a discussion… we are using the flexible part of the rod now, the line is running out, and you’re pulling it back in with that reel. Have fun, enjoy it.
And the final challenge? Be brave, hire the person who thinks contrary to you in some of those ways. Grow from it, expand your leadership skills, and learn new thought processes.