Greater Milwaukee Jobs

2 GREATERmilwaukeeJOBS • January 28, 2016 Too often, job hunters have received calls from recruiters promising access to a hidden job market or tools to perfect a job search. All the searcher has to do is provide a credit card and maybe bring the spouse along to open up secret pos- sibilities. It's a nasty ruse that preys on vulnerable people. Job hunters are advised to spare themselves grief and politely decline any such offer that asks them to pay to find a job. Legitimate recruiters don't charge the job hunter. But back to the engineer who wasn't a financial victim but nonetheless felt abused by recruiters who he felt didn't have his interests at heart. To paraphrase his requests for good recruiter etiquette: – Please read my resume thoroughly before you call me. Don't waste my time and yours by asking ques- tions that are clearly answered on my resume. Give me confidence that you actually understand the posi- tion and my qualifications. – Don't pressure me to go on an interview that I know isn't a good fit for me or the employer. – Don't submit my resume to any employer without get- ting my permission first. – Be honest. Don't tell me you're exclusively recruiting for a company's opening and then I find the exact position posted on job boards. His points are all sensible. But his reaction to recruiters also serves as a reminder to job hunters that legitimate recruiters work for employ- ers, not job hunters. Their role is to fill job openings, not find employment for job hunters. Similarly, people often ask how to get a headhunter to work for them. It's impor- tant to understand that a "headhunter" is a recruiter and – to repeat – recruiters work for employers, not individual job hunters. Individuals can send their resumes to headhunters who specialize in their fields. Ideally, though, headhunters already have found individu- als through professional and industry contacts, individu- als they would like to pres- ent to employers. Head- hunters get paid by employ- ers to present candidates. recruiters ... from page 1 When a top producer is disruptive to your team & A Q A. How do you like working with someone like that? When you've been in that situation, what have you hoped would happen? You've got to put yourself in the shoes of other folks on your team. If you're allowing bullying or just tolerating negativity, you're not doing your job as a leader. That said, there's not a simple answer for what you should do; it will depend on past efforts you've made to address the sit- uation as well as the specifics of her strengths and weaknesses. Let's assume that you're starting from scratch in dealing with this. The first thing you need to do is talk with her about her behavior and her effect on the team. To prepare for this important (and possibly fraught) conversation, spend some time reflecting on your observations. Identify the pros: she is the most creative design- er/high achieving sales person/ productive programmer/etc. you've ever seen.Then the cons: she is dismissive of others' views, abrasive with team mem- bers, takes the credit for others' work, etc. Be ready to speak to the behavior and the outcomes, and have enough detail to bring it to life. This conversation could have a number of outcomes. The happy path? She didn't realize and resolves to change her ways. Then you can provide mentoring and help restore the relationships in order to move forward. Or, she could be dismissive of your comments, preferring to rely on her performance strengths to carry the day.This is quite likely if her negative behavior has been going on a while.This is where the serious effort will come in. First of all, decide how far you'll go. Are you willing to lose her to protect the team? This is an intentionally leading question. The other way to think about it is, "are you willing to lose the other talented and capable people on your team to keep her?" Because that's what will happen. Those with the best prospects will leave. And it won't be because of her – it will be because of your inaction. Then draw a line in the sand, combining clear expectations for change and clear conse- quences for status quo. Ideally, in this way you'll create a path for her to succeed. Define a desired outcome and identify the changes she needs to make. Then meet with her again to discuss. At this point, you can priori- tize actions for improvement so that the process of change isn't overwhelming. If she chooses to engage, I encourage you (and her) to let the team into the loop so they'll know she is making an effort. Otherwise, she may encounter a wall in terms of willingness to trust. Finally, if she chooses not to engage, be sure you've been involving your HR team so that you are prepared for hard decisions. Also, have a backup plan in place in case she leaves suddenly! It takes leadership courage to confront this situation, but your team will thank you and your company will benefit. Q. I have a team member who is extremely successful in some ways and very toxic in others. Others on my team often complain about her but she gets results. What should I do? By Liz Reyer Tribune News Service (TNS) Liz Reyer is a credentialed coach with more than 20 years of business experience. Her company, Reyer Coaching & Consulting, offers services for organizations of all sizes. Submit questions or comments about this column at www.deliverchange.com/coachscorner or email her at lizdeliverchange.com. A publication of Conley Media Call Center Director: Cindy Shaske 262-306-5016 cshaske@conleynet.com Account Executive: Julie Sears 262-306-5008 jsears@conleynet.com Story Coordinator: Dan Muckelbauer 262-513-2626 dmuck@conleynet.com Production: Patricia Scheel 262-513-2690 GREATERmilwaukeeJOBS Volume 18 • Number 19 January 28, 2016 To place an ad: Call us at 262-306-5008 or fax us at 262-338-5271 deadline: Noon on Wednesdays Distributed by: Conley Distribution 262-513-2646 ©2004 by Conley Media, LLC Waukesha County Independent and Locally Owned GREATERmilwaukeeJOBS is published weekly by Conley Media – Waukesha County, 801 N. Barstow St., Waukesha, WI 53186. Contents of this publication may not be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the publisher. GREATERmilwaukeeJOBS assumes no liability for any error in copy or content. It is the advertiser's responsibility to be aware of the laws pertaining to employment advertising. Call 262-306-5008 for information. Q: I am very confused about some feedback I received while looking for a job. After staying home with my children for eight years, I am planning to resume my teaching career. I applied for positions at two schools in the same district and had interviews with both principals. At the end of these meetings, the two princi- pals told me exactly the same thing. They said my answers included too many first-person responses, using "I" instead of "we." I did not get an offer from either school. How should I interpret this feedback? A: Screening applicants based on pronoun choice is ridiculous, so I under- stand your concern. Because such semantics are a poor predictor of actual job performance, giving them that much weight is simply foolish. If this only happened once, I would assume you encountered a bad inter- viewer. If it occurred in different districts, I might suspect something odd in your answers. But when two managers in the same organization take the same peculiar approach, one possible culprit is their training. So here's my theory. Because many schools are now using a team-oriented teaching strategy, the prin- cipals may have been taught to look for appli- cants who are more collab- orative. In these sessions, the trainers could have mentioned the use of "we" versus "I" as one sign of a team-oriented person. see INTERVIEWING . . . page 6 When interviewing, word choice matters By Marie G. McIntyre Tribune News Service (TNS) Your Office Coach

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