Diary of a CEO

Interviewing -- I had so much experience to interview people who seeking an offer from our company, some get the recruitment information from the net, some from newspaper and some were referred by recruiting company; I remember a few years ago, I got chance to chat with an experienced recruiter, I asked her why I didn't received any head hunters' call ? she smiled at me and said, there's 2 kinds of person who we are hardly approached, 2 extreme in the job market, one is those who performed very bad, his or her notorious spread out in the recruiting field, so, no body dare to represent him, the other are those who are very talented and sit in a very stable position who we thought they may never consider leave their current position or career, I think you fit the later qualification; I smiles at her as well.

I met a few recruiter afterward and via their professional service, get change to meet people in varies industry, but non of them place me in my venture to come; some said I am over-qualified ( 80% of they reply this way ), I am not sure whether this is a compliment or excuse, but according to career guild books, 40 % of the job changers serve their purpose by the networking, not going thought the recruiter or posted advertisement; I keep 2 of the foreign recruiters as my pocket consultant and they occasionally feed me some information.

this time, A. serious about my move and wish to complete his " mission " -- placing me in one of the conglomerate, moving me from the type 2 telecom entity to type 1, and expend my responsibility from 300 persons to 800 persons, I am not in a mood of leaving, but willing to process the recruiting , another challenge to check my value through potential employer.

high ranking executive interviewing is totally different from the normal interview, first is to choose the proper location -- neither in their office nor in the recruiter’s office, then the conversation covered topic from leadership / management / to goal / strategy achieving; I am not preparing to answer all the question as an interviewee, cause this will change the balance I want to keep in the pre-negotiation position; something’s the interviewer think they are picking and in a higher ground to look / check / review you, this attitude won't let people feel comfortable ( this is what I trying to avoid whenever there's a chance to interview people who were referred from recruiting firms ), we are equal, even though you are evaluating me, but I have my own judgment to decide whether I want to join this company and become the team player with those we interview me, so, this is so important, if you don't know the answer yet, don’t assume interviewee are hungry for this position, you don't respect in the first place, the worst scenario is you might losing opportunity working with a true talent, the second worst scenario is if this person become your colleague in the future, you are creating an enemy before he on board.... so, be very caution and be very careful, be very humble and be very polite.

I don't believe a few papers from the recruiting firm (synopsis) and one hour conversation are good enough to decide who the leader is in the big company and who will deliver what he said. It’s all about presentation skill (communication ) and chemistry ( the way you convey the message )

recruiter present a talent who don't build any relationship ( history ) with his future employer, which is very risky, if an executive who don't have a history with the company he is going to serve, then everything must be black and white -- you are simply a tool to drive the result you commit during the interviewing, they don't have the obligation to give you time and resource you may enjoy, they want the result, the performance, as soon as possible, as juicy as possible; why they need to train you becoming the leading of the company , if they have this great mind, they can easily pick and choose their relatives / friends / associated , they don't need to spend decent money to recruiting and finding a very expensive you -- everything have a price tag, everyone who were referred by recruiter shall always keep this in mind -- you are the tool to produce profit, they a minor share of the profit belongs to you.

how to secure this situation ? pros and cons analysis is essential , the cost of leaving and gain of join the new company, you need to carefully compare all the tangible and intangible factors and make a very clear table before deliver your answers to them; if double your salary will ultimately cut off your career ( let's say half of the tenure ), then the overall income ( monetary ) is the same, or maybe worst, because the incremental salary will go to government , you will be a great tax payer only; if they don't offer the job tile the same or higher then what you are now, then the people surround you will think why you take this offer might be " no where to go ", if the perk is reduced, then you better think they don't value you as you are now -- remember, you don't have a history with they, the only way to protect yourself is to have everything writing down and make a contract to secure before on board, once they got you, thing will go sore and the oral promised will be meaningless, who you wish to claim ?

The final round is approaching , next week, I think this is fun and interesting, I am not ready to leave, but I am prepared to be " the best " among all the candidate, when you wind the medal of " the best ", this is the starting point to negotiate, if they want you hungry, the terms will be favor with you -- remember, you don't have a history with anyone of them ( even the recruiter, they only want to send out their Champaign and show their client how excellent they are , thus why they keep the talent pool so vivid )

posted by Roger @ 5/14/2004 02:53:00 下午