Interview Chatter

On A Personal Note - Rob’s Story Part 2

by Darlene McDaniel on July 27th, 2007

Here is Part 2 - On A Personal Note - Rob’s Story

If you recall, part one ended by me telling you that by the time Rob completed the presentation and the interview portion, I was sold. I knew, I could take what was in him and mold it and shape it, into an excellent trainer.

Rob received the 3 month cross-training opportunity. He did an excellent job training the new hires on customer service for American Express Traveler’s Cheque division. Approximately half way through his 3 month opportunity, I was given permission to post a new Trainer position in my department. Guess who I wanted to come work for me? You guessed it Rob! The only problem from my perspective, was, that I could not hire him out right. He had to post for the position and I had to conduct interviews.

Back in those days, when I posted a position, I was very particular about the hiring process. I want the process to be fair for every candidate interviewing for the position. It was very important that I was fair and that I went into the interview with an open mind, and not my mind made up about who I wanted to fill this position.

So, I met with Rob. I let him know the oppportunity was available, but that he had to post for the position like everyone else. I coached him on preparing for an interview, asked if he had any questions and sent him on his way. Once I coached him, Rob was on his own to participate in the process and compete for the position.

The bottom line is, Rob did compete for the position and he got the job. But he worked for it. He prepared for it. I did not just hand the position to him. A fair question that some of you may want to ask, is how do I know the process was fair to all parties competing for the job?

I tell you tomorrow!

On a side note - I want to answer the questions I posed to you from yesterday’s post. I had a reader ask me about them, I want to respond to her question and fill you in on some additional information.

My Questions For My Readers:

I would be interested in any comments you may have about the first portion of this story. How important were the piercings at a company like American Express? Do you think he got the “cross-training” opportunity with the piercings? Did he remove the piercings at any point to compete for the job once the interview process was complete? What do you think? Why am I sharing this story?

My Answers:

The piercings were a big deal to a company like American Express 7 years ago. I don’t know a lot about American Express today. Things have changed so much in every sphere of life. They may not have a problem with piercings today. And even back then, it wasn’t something that was voiced, but how many men were in key decision making positions 7 years ago with eyebrow piercings and lip piercings. NONE! When I coached Rob about his piercings, I never asked him to remove them. I did however let him know that if he had aspirations beyond training new hires, he would need to consider the audience that he would be training. I don’t care how good you are as a trainer/facilitator, if your class is distracted by your personal jewelry, no matter where it is on your body, you are a distraction and therefore ineffective as a trainer.

The reason I am sharing this story - I will anwer that when I complete the last edition of this series. Hint: It On A Personal Note

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POSTED IN: Interesting Stuff, On A Personal Note, Preparation & Planning