Compass Settings

Finding The Right Fit for Job Seekers and Employers

Selection and Hiring

Do You Know Who You Work For?

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When asked, most people will reply to that question with “I work for XYZ Corporation.” In reality you work for a person, a boss.

CNN Money regularly publishes the list of the best companies to work for in the country such as Zappos, REI, Google, and Wegmans Food Markets.

Okay, can you assume that you are automatically going to be satisfied and fulfilled with your work–that the people around you and your boss will support who you are?

What if your boss at one of these revered companies is/was – in your opinion – a real jerk, a numbskull, someone from the shallow end of the gene pool.

We believe that it’s your boss, your immediate supervisor, who has a more impactful relationship on you and your sense of well being than any survey results.

So when interviewing for a job it is equally important to pay close attention to the person you will be working for than it is to the marquee over the company entrance.

Making the Sale

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I had an opening at a firm that I had to fill. So I advertised the position. Scads of applicants. The resume sort resulted in many “no ways” a larger number of “so-sos” and a small number of “real prospects.”

After interviewing the “real prospects,” it was clear all of them could do the job as well as fit into our organization. But there was one candidate who, on her way out of my office, turned to me and said “I know there are other qualified applicants and the competition is stiff. But I would really like to work for you and this organization. And if I get this job you will not be disappointed. You won’t find anyone who is more motivated and eager to succeed.” Guess who got the job?

How can You Address the Seeming Mismatch You and the Job Description?

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What skills do I have that match what employers need and where they don’t match how to I turn them into personal assets?

Too many of the unemployed do not have the skills that employers now say they need. What happen to “on the job training”? To internships? Apprenticeships? How can employers bring on board motivated workers who need some additional training to meet the demands of the jobs for which they are hired?

Today too many employers, out-of –work folks take a narrow view of the strengths that they bring to the world of work. Skills can be learned when someone is excited about the tasks involved and wants to be effective in the new job. Someone who already has the skills and really dislikes the activities of the job will be less effective than another whose strengths lie internally in really being passionate about the job and the work involved.