#JobSearch #Friday – Important Secret for YOUR Job Search!

By RecruiterGuy | July 4, 2020

As an expert professional recruiter with 39 years of Talent Attraction experience (not to mention being known as RecruiterGuy since 1993), I have an important secret for Every Person searching for a job.

In my communications with thousands of Managers over the years, there is 1 constant. Every one of those Hiring Managers wants you to Totally Impress Everyone on the Interviewing Team!

Why?

Managers want to manage their team. Unfortunately, the majority of Managers do not view interviewing as an opportunity to Improve their team. Therefore, they hope the person they pick to interview will impress enough to make the hiring decision easy.

In his book, TopGrading: How Leading Companies Win By Hiring Coaching And Keeping The Best People, Bradford Smart, Ph.D. separates Managers into 3 groups based on their ability to manage. The top performers are A-Players and they are the top 10% of Managers. Many of the 2^nd level Managers are efficient Managers and tend to care and manage their people. My feeling is the B-Players are the 45% to 89% level of Managers. Finally, we have the C-Players who are the 44% and down level of Managers.

Levels Of Hiring Managers

As a candidate, it is important to develop a sense of the level of Manager who is interviewing. Why? Simple – Your Career depends on it!

Let’s discuss the C-Player Manager first since I prefer to finish on a high note. At some time in your career, you have either experienced working for a C-Player Manager or you know someone else who has. They are a person who was promoted to Manager (or above), probably because they excelled in some aspect of their job. Sales is a common area for this to happen. They were an excellent sales hunter who consistently exceeded their goals and made a lot of money. Then the Sales Manager departed and the Director of Sales approached their top sales performer and offered the Manager position to them.

Initially, they were excited about the promotion. Then they realized that managing people was not their forte. They were great as a sales professional but did not know how to manage or identify talent. Not wanting to lose the guaranteed salary, they hung to the sales management position with their fingernails.

They may have suggested that other people’s suggestions were their own. Then their hold became tenuous and they were quickly losing confidence. Almost every member of their team was perceived as a threat. Their actions became passive-aggressive – they treated their team members nicely to their face. They then planted the seeds of doubt in their team members’ ability to succeed while their decisions prevented team member success. They typically hire people they feel will not succeed. When they do not succeed, this C-Player Manager will blame someone (HR is always a target) for introducing them or the economy or some other excuse for the team’s failure.

Congratulations if you did not interview badly enough to receive and accept their offer! You and your career just dodged a bullet.

B-Player Manager Discussion

Since the B-Player Manager is the most common, their expertise ranges from the C-Player Manager to the A-Player Manager.

My feeling is the B-Player Managers nearest the C-Player Managers are probably the ones spiraling to the C-Player levels. Whereas the B-Player level Managers nearest A-Player level may be headed to the ranks of the A-Player level Managers. With some mentoring, they may raise their expertise to the A-Player level.

Generally, the B-Player level Managers are good Managers who encourage their teams to meet and exceed expectations. They may be Managers who have many years in place and are viewed by executives as competent (or “Steady Eddies”). They understand if a direct report is promoted to a position above them, it is a positive reflection on their expertise.

During interviews, if they were never taught how to effectively interview, they will select candidates who reflect their earlier experience and values. If an A-Player candidate has a poor interviewing day, they will probably extend them an offer (feeling they are similar) – keeping in mind that most people tend to be more comfortable with people like themselves (also impacts hiring diverse candidates).

If you receive an offer, try to pick a Manager who is closer to A-Player than C-Player level. If they “feel” closer to the C-Player level, think very carefully prior to accepting. If they feel closer to the C-Player level, ensure the position will benefit your career by giving you exposure and experience to a new industry, field, or position before you accept.

A-Player Manager Discussion

If only there were a larger percentage of A-Player Managers!

The A-Player Managers in companies are similar to the top General Managers in professional sports or the top Athletic Directors in elite college/university programs. They constantly are following Top Talent to improve their teams whether they are more A-Player Managers/Coaches or A-Player Sole Contributors.

The A-Player Managers understand that hiring Top Talent demonstrates their hiring skills and their management skills. They know that Top Talent pushes their own career upwards to new levels while the Top Talent is progressing. If one of their direct reports is prepared to grow to a new level, the A-Player Manager recommends that person to the hiring Manager. Their recommendation is taken seriously. The team reporting to an A-Player Manager expects to exceed everyone’s expectations – and they do.

The A-Player Manager expects candidates to research their company, determine where their skills may benefit the organization, and determine where they may contribute to the Manager’s team. They seek candidates who are confident, not arrogant. They want to hear stories about Top Talent’s accomplishments, particularly how they encouraged their team to succeed in previous organizations or companies.

The A-Player has high expectations for themselves and their team. If you attract an offer from an A-Player Manager, Congratulations! Hold on! Your career has the opportunity to skyrocket!

Let’s Get Back To My Secret

Now you have insight into why all Managers hope you impress them and their team. Their motivations are different.

You are in a sales position, selling your most valuable attributes, skills, and experience. Prepare for every interview. You will learn from each interview. If you decide to “wing it”, you may be on the way to receiving an offer from a C-Player Manager. It is YOUR Career.

For more details and for a Salary Negotiation script to accelerate your #Jobsearch, please immediately click on this link to my recent book, Employee 5.0: Secrets Of A Successful Job Search In The New World Order – http://amzn.to/2D9w39f My book contains the 12 Steps to find a new position in a nice, orderly fashion. It also has the stories of people who did well – and some who did not. You may learn from both sides.

See you on Fridays!

Coming Soon, my third book on Finding A Job! Expect Success! The Art Of The Over 50 Job Search!

Bill Humbert is available for Speaking, Talent Attraction Consulting, Career Transition Consulting, and Training contracts.

www.RecruiterGuy.com RecruiterGuy@msn.com 435-714-4425

https://www.espeakers.com/marketplace/speaker/profile/23767/Bill-Humbert

USA 01-435-714-4425 RecruiterGuy@msn.com

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