Alexis Senge JohnsonA few years back I had a great opportunity to interview for a position I had experience in and thought I would potentially be the perfect fit for. The position was one that I had actually performed in my past, both for the company I was interviewing with and for one of their competitors in the area, but I had never had the opportunity to have that as my full time job. When I did the job in the past it was generally a part of what I did, like a temporarily assigned workload on top of what I was already handling, but it was never what I had gotten to fully focus on.
Now, the company I was interviewing with is a multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate and you could say that some hold them to the highest of standards in their industry. As a matter of fact, their way of doing things is so highly looked upon by other companies that they might just offer courses that non-employees can take to learn the basics about their service and leadership standard. All that being said, you would expect they could handle anything I might have asked them during an interview. At least that’s what I thought.
Turns out I was wrong.
At the end of so many interviews there is that portion where companies ask if you have any questions for them before they wrap up the experience. I had several questions but, in the interest of time, I figured I’d lead with my most important question. Just in case I only had the chance to get to one question in, I wanted it to be the one I found most pressing since all the interviewees were stacked so closely together on the schedule.
I had been pining for the position for years, so I’d had lots of time to think about what would be the most telling question to ask to learn if I was even remotely close to what they were looking for. I looked at the panel and took my one opportunity ask, “what skills or personality traits would your ideal applicant possess in order to be the perfect fit on your team?” Seemed like a fair question to me and I was prepared to learn that I may or may not be what they were searching for. Instead, I was shocked by their answer.
Of the three panelist, one replied, “I don’t know,” after a slight hesitation. Another spoke up, probably in hopes of salvaging that first answer, and let me know that after the interview they were going to start the process of evaluating the current team. It was in that moment that I realized I no longer wanted that specific job with the company. I don’t want to be a part of a team that is reactionary in their decisions instead of being proactive.
They posted, screened, and interviewed candidates without considering first what they needed in the new addition to the team. What were they looking for in our interviews without knowing what they needed? If that’s how they handled the hiring process then how do they handle strategic planning and goal setting? It was a very telling moment that reminded me that even the best make mistakes sometimes.
