Happy Phriday
MTV premiered August 1, 1981 at 12:01 am. Ironically the first video was "Video Killed The Radio Star" by the Buggles. The question is, what killed MTV?
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Quote I am Considering
Old George Orwell got it backward. Big Brother isn’t watching. He’s singing and dancing. He’s pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big Brother’s busy holding your attention every moment you’re awake. He’s making sure you’re always distracted. He’s making sure you’re fully absorbed. He’s making sure your imagination withers. Until it’s as useful as your appendix. He’s making sure your attention is always filled. And this being fed, it’s worse than being watched. With the world always filling you, no one has to worry about what’s in your mind. With everyone’s imagination atrophied, no one will ever be a threat to the world.”
— Chuck Palahniuk, Author of Fight Club
Hiring for Small Businesses, Part V, Interviews:
Phone Interviews
Once I get my resume stack down to just a few top candidates, I do phone interviews first. What I like about phone interviews is this: I cannot see the person and therefore I don’t jump to any conclusions about the person’s qualifications using their visual appearance before they have answered my questions.
We know from Daniel Kahneman’s book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, that humans are full of unconscious biases. So, when I do a phone interview it helps me block some of my bias from interfering with my judgement. Also, a phone conversation before the face-to-face helps the candidate relax and to be more themselves once we do meet.
I like Zoom interviews too. However, I have found that some candidates have little experience with this technology, and it can be clumsy for them. But if they are at a professional level candidate, you would expect the Zoom interview to go much like a face-to-face interview.
In Face to Face Interviews, Give It 10
This is my first rule in face-to-face interview (this is a tough one to do) suspend any judgement for 10 minutes. It is hard not to immediate evaluation a candidate’s appearance when they walk in the door. But I am telling you, Give it 10.
Yes, I am old school and feel at some level if you are going to an interview you should dress like you are going to an interview. But I will say that I have often been rewarded when I look past the candidate’s appearance to see the real value.
Questions to Ask in an Interview.
Really there are only two sets of questions to ask in an interview. The first set is “Day One” questions. What does this candidate have, skills, knowledge, intelligence, grit, to be successful on the first day of employment. If I am filling a welding position I need to know if the can weld. If I am filling an accounting position, can they do accounting.
The next set of questions are the critical ones. According to Lou Adler in his book Hiring and Getting Hired, there is only one question you need to get answered in this process:
What have you done in your past to show me that you can be successful in this position a year from now?
There are a hundred ways to get this question answered yet it all comes down to the same question. Believe me, all the other things one might consider when assessing a candidate will funnel into, are connected to, serve to define, this one question. If it sounds like I am harping this it is because it’s important.
I go into a lot more details on this matter in an earlier post I wrote: “Eulogy Traits”. Here is the link.
Next week I will share some of my another method I use in interviews.
Mike’s Friday Funnies: Heat
A new study shows bodies found in the Bermuda Triangle all died from heat exhaustion...Everyone knows its 180 degrees inside a triangle, I don't know why people even bother traveling through it.
The doctor gave me one year to live. So in the heat of the moment, I shot him. And the judge gave me 15 years. Problem solved.
To all the Europeans suffering from the current heat wave, here is a reminder to stay strong. Your ancestors colonized entire countries in much higher temperatures.
If you apply enough heat and pressure to Kid Rock...he turns into Neil Diamond.
I saw a movie where a guy tried to shoot open a lock, but the heat from the bullet actually fused the metal together so the door wouldn't budge. Now that's what I call a shotgun welding.
I finally got a microwave to heat up my leftovers. So I was able to quit cold turkey.
My landlord wants to talk to me about why my heating bill is so high. I told him my door is always open.
Doing roofing work in the summer heat can be dangerous. WARNING: HOT SHINGLES IN YOUR AREA.
Speaking of heat:
https://fitzlab.shinyapps.io/cityapp/
TEDX Normal Talks I like: Erica Orrison
I am on the planning committee for the Normal TEDx Talk. I am also one of the speaker coaches. Over the years we have had some wonderful speakers. I thought I might share some of them with my readers.
Friday Twain is Leaving the Station
"When one has tasted watermelon, he knows what the angels eat." Mark Twain
Throat Punch Poetry: Candy Cigarettes
By S. Lewis
Every now and again I get a jones to pick up One of those candy cigarettes I quit so long ago and To smoke it like a mofo. As me and my cousins Walked through the valley Of shadow of death Sucking on straws of sugar We feared no evil. But we forgot about Tooth decay and diabetes.
Moment of Zen
She was constantly staying near the fish market and watching people come to buy fish. She took a leaf that fell from the tree and came to the owner. On the first day, surprised, he took her "money" and gave her a fish. From that day on, every morning she comes with a leaf to "buy" fish.