When recruiters meet face-to-face with potential candidates for the first time, we have an agenda: to determine whether to continue with this candidate or part friends and move on. It is a get to know you meeting where we have already had the benefit of reviewing your resume and in most cases, having benefited from a telephone conversation with you prior to our first meeting. We will already have reviewed your resume and made notes, to include notes from our phone conversation. In general, we will have an hour in which to accomplish much. The first few minutes are spent getting acquainted. Next we will briefly recap the search and what we are looking for and why. We will then dive in to your resume and our notes from our phone conversation and probe areas pertinent to the job.
Honestly, in a face-to-face interview we are also assessing your "executive presence." That is really the number one objective of that meeting. Most savvy candidates fully understand this. We then take full advantage of the time to take our phone interview to the next level and will be probing deeply on certain topics.
What would we like for you to do during that initial meeting? For me it is simply to be yourself, be candid, and participate in a discussion. An interview should never be an interrogation, but sometimes it can seem like one, I know. I've been on both sides of that table. You will have been presented a detailed position specification and if you are a candidate for one of my searches, you will have completed an in-depth questionnaire asking for specific examples of your accomplishments. So for this meeting it is critical for me to ask you about the areas that are the "must have's" for my client. That is why it can seem like an interrogation at times, but it is really that I have less time to interview you than I would like (in most cases).
Given that we do not have a great deal of time, during this meeting I simply want to have this discussion. The only prop I need is your resume (and in my case your questionnaire). If you have a more current version of your resume please have one handy to give me (and email me that latest version after our meeting).
What I am NOT looking for in this initial meeting is a sample of your work. I have had candidates bring large three-ring binders to these meetings that they want to flip through with me page by page. I have to admit that candidates who do that drop several notches. In fact, if they enter the room with their samples in hand I put up barriers. Don't get me wrong. There are times when it might be very appropriate to share this information with a recruiter. Keep in mind, though, that time is not on our side and that this meeting is our initial face-to-face meeting. If there is a need for me to see some material you could provide, and if it is possible for you to share some of it later via email, I may ask you to do that.
There is the rare occasion when our clients may want us to actually review some such sample material. I have had clients want to see some "balanced score card" information in order for me to verify that the candidate has implemented such a program. Other clients have suggested that I review portfolios of samples for searches pertaining to marketing or promotions. In those situations where it is requested that I do some sort of a verification, I will ask the candidate to bring some samples along to that initial interview.
For your initial interview with an executive recruiter, bring yourself and an updated copy of your resume (if there is one) and prepare to have a discussion, an in-depth one, yes, but not an interrogation. Leave everything else behind unless we have requested in advance that you bring extra information along. If we need it, rest assured, we will ask.
No comments:
Post a Comment