How much professional advice is it ethical to ask job applicants to supply?

"Success is the ability
to go from one failure to another
with no loss of enthusiasm."
Sir Winston Churchill

If you've filled out an application recently, you may have spent hours, even days on a new type of barbarism known as the "supplemental question."

These may involve proposing solutions to difficult problems, suggestions for development of the organization or even full-on business plans.

Several years ago, The Resource Exchange, a Colorado Springs non-profit put out a request for proposal that included asking interested public relations companies to provide a one-year communications strategy.

That could be viewed as getting a comprehensive example of how a firm would function, or it could be perceived as asking for the company's work, free of charge. The Job Slog Blog attempted to reach the Resource Exchange CEO and its human resources director, to ask about this, but was unable to connect.

Application requirements like these are even more ethically dicey when someone has been de facto chosen to fill the position before the job is posted. In a situation like that, lengthy, complicated questions could be viewed as information mining from those who have expertise, but no chance of getting the job they're seeking by providing it.

Michael Connor is editor and publisher of Business Ethics Magazine. (Yes, I too was speechless that there is such a publication. I assume businesses will be dumbfounded, since many are unaware that the words, " business" and "ethics" can be used in the same sentence. Check out the magazine - http://business-ethics.com/ )

Connor is not entirely sure what he thinks of the supplemental question thing. "It's always difficult to generalize because these situations can vary to a great degree, depending on the job and how senior the people are," he said. "I'm not sure organizations are taking advantage of job seekers. It's more like the process has gotten so institutionalized. My instinct is that it's more thoughtless than unethical, kind of an institutional insensitivity, which may border on unethical."

But Connor has another concern. "Some of these jobs are posted, just to show you did the search. Worse than stealing ideas is that nobody even looks at them." Prozac anyone?

The University of Colorado, Denver, has been known to ask some extensive supplemental questions, so I went there to ask how the questions are formulated and if there's a line in the sand on what's reasonable to ask.

I contacted three communications representatives at UCD, all of whom were very nice and referred me to a fourth person who asked me to contact a fifth, in human resources. Ah, The Dark Side. Despite repeated attempts, the HR representative did not return phone calls or emails.

Lesley Bishop, Interim Director of the Experimental Learning Center at UCD, said her department attempts to compose questions that will help determine the skill set of applicants. "In our department," Bishop explained, "most questions don't get asked until the phone interview or face-to-face, and we have a search committee where applications get reviewed by actual human beings, not just run through a computerized screener."

Seems like the Experimental Learning Center might be a good place to apply.

I have no Tips from the Dark Side for you this week.  It's apparently too gloomy and vaporous over there to use a phone or computer.

Happy hunting gang, I'll be back next Friday.
Ann

How Good Does It Have to Look Before You Don't Get the Job?

Here is a this week's story and then information from Susan Kirchenbaum, owner of Greenburg, Kirshenbaum, voted among the best recruiters in New York by Time Out.  She was kind enough to take a cold call and offer some high-dollar advice.

The story:

Having a strong background in medical sales.  Katie R. applied for a position at CareFusion, a global, medical tech corporation based in San Diego.

Her first interview was over phone, then a face-to-face with a CareFusion rep in Denver. 

After that, the company then flew her to southern California, put her up overnight and she interviewed with the Vice President of Sales.

Back to Denver and an interview with the head of strategic sales.

The next interview was in Minneapolis.  "I thought it went so well, and I'd gotten information from a friend inside the company that I was the only remaining candidate," Katie noted.  But that, my friends, was that.  Four months, four interviews and two cross country trips and the whole thing came to a halt. 

Katie was told the position had been filled and she was ruled out because she was not employed at the time and therefore had no current sales experience.

Tips from The Dark Side

Susan Kirshenbaum is New York - no nonsense funny.  She was slightly perplexed at why I'd call her and ask stupid questions, but kind enough to answer them.

When queried about why a company would spend the money to interview, fly and hotel someone, then not hire them, she explained. "Companies have budgets for things like that.  They've got the money and they wouldn't spend it if they weren't looking for the best."

That's where she suggests applicants try to leave emotion behind and take the broad view. "If you're trying to get a job, it's a very personal endeavor," says Susan, "but at a big company, it's not about you.  It's what they need to fill their job.  If they want you, they'll be back in touch.  Most companies are remiss about contacting applicants after they've been ruled out, but this isn't a Don Draper world anymore.  Grow some thicker skin."

Susan added a little more from the company perspective.  "You could be fantastically interesting on so many levels, but if you don't fit into their puzzle, to the company, it's not going to work.  It's your obligation to be very aware of everything about the company, look people in the eye, and write a damn thank you note."

From my perspective?  This is where you say, "I've had a lovely time.  It simply wasn't this one."  That's Groucho's quote.

If the whole thing is feeling pretty silly, give yourself a Friday break and watch the Monty Python short that Daniel Ervin suggests.  

It Seems Like This is Getting Weirder

Hi Gang,

As you know, this is a blog about job hunting.

Does it seem like job interviews are getting crazier and crazier?

Panels of 8 grilling one hapless soul who's wondering if he or she is going to get the job or be eaten. 

Endless questions about how you've failed in the past, how you've regretted your failings in the past and how you plan to fail in the future.

Here's my story of the week, following by a Tip from the Dark Side on the benefits of exercises like this.

The Interview: 3 Minutes Looking at a Lego Sculpture Then Telling How to Build it Without Using Your Arms

Stan applied for a job at Vestas, the wind turbine maker in Fort Collins, Colorado.  He doesn't want his last name used because he got the job and would like to keep it.

There was an application, phone interview, then a trip to the factory for a large group interview of 20 - 30 applicants. That's where it got unusual.

"The room was filled with evaluators," Stan said, "they broke us into small groups, did a couple ice-breaker exercises, then asked for a volunteer from each group to lead the next task."

Stan volunteered and was taken to a small room where there was a large model of a Lego wind turbine.  He was allowed one minute to look at it, then given a bag with the same Lego pieces and sent back to his group.

His task was to tell his team members on how to recreate the Lego sculpture without using his arms.

Things got wild.  "You could really tell who could handle stress and who would be awful on a team," he said.  "There were some pretty ugly meltdowns.  From my perspective it made sense because they could evaluate how you handled the situation and what you remembered as being important about a wind turbine.  It was really interesting to see how many interpretations there were."

Stan felt he did well because he has the verbal ability to describe spatial concepts.  "I would just say I needed two-inches of white around the bottom, then four grays above that, and so on."

Kudos to Stan for grace under pressure.

Now I see this as a model for all kinds of job interviews.  I'm thinking hospitals might have neurosurgeons do a couple of procedures using tongs and a hamster, while wearing a beer helmet loaded with two cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon, but I'm sure human resources could come up with something more evil than this.

Tips From the Dark Side

Do those computer screens look like they're made of Legos? Just asking... 

Vestas is a huge, multinational company, so it's not particularly surprising that no one wanted their name to be associated with any tips they would give out.  But here's the insight I got from those who would speak with me:

Hands-on exercises give a company information about more than a candidate's verbal skills.  They can demonstrate abilities in organization, task completion, stress management and teamwork.

Exercises like this can also show creativity, like when a candidate doesn't remember exactly the design he or she saw, but actually comes up with a better one during the exercise. Vestas recruiters say they often get early indications of people who have potential for jobs beyond those for which they are applying.

If this sounds intriguing and you're good with Lincoln Logs, Legos, or Erector Sets check out Vestas website http://www.vestas.com/ - ! 

As of this morning the company has 243 jobs open around the world.

There are so many interesting interview stories.  If you have one, please drop me an email at tothepointcommunications@yahoo.com.

Have a successful week.  See you next Friday.

©  Ann Ervin Janitell

To the Point Communications