The Interviewer's Advantage

I have had the opportunity to interview for new HR staff lately. It's something I don't get to do often although lately it seems I've had the opportunity to do it more due to staff promotions, turnover and new HR positions.

People walk into an interview and it's unknown to me - and to you - what they have on the line at that moment. Whatever "it" is, it belongs to a person in one of the most uncomfortable situations a person could be in.

As the interviewer, I know - but sometimes forget, that I have the opportunity create the space for the person sitting across from me to shine. As I recently watched a candidate come into her own right before my eyes, it made me wonder, what do others do with the very same opportunity?

With this thought on my mind, I saw 10 Human Questions Interviewees Should Ask, from Paul Smith pop up in my Google Reader. Like Paul, I thought "about the anxiety of interviewees and how interviewers have most of the advantages in that environment."

Interviewers can set the stage for an interviewee to be at their best. Their anxious and nervous best, but their best nonetheless.

Why wouldn't every interviewer want to do that?

Is it easier to say, "no" to someone who did not fully step-up-to-the-plate? It is not possible to be both direct and nice? Shame on you if you quell confidence and pride and don't nourish, propup or cultivate every chance you get.

It's not all about the applicant you say? It's all about you? Ok, I get that so let me ask you this, "What impression do you want them to have of their interaction with you, of your department, and of your leadership?"

Interviewers, you have the advantage. Use it well.

Photo credit iStockPhoto

A Well-Paced Day: A Day in the Life Sunday

The alarm clock goes off in the morning and I am up.

No slow morning stretch here. I am instantly upright and out of bed as I wake to reminders, notifications and updates. Not the noisy ones I could set on my personal BB, my work BB or my iPad, but the imaginary - just as annoying ones - on the mental to-do list in my head. They are set off the moment my eyes open and they are all overdue.

I'm late, I'm late for a very important date . . . and so my days begin.

It is a frenetic pace that leaves me drained, ineffective and at times, feeling very alone, at the end of the day.

My friend, Becky Robinson, recently asked her readers, How Do You Pace Yourself?. When she described the pace of an enjoyable day for her, s I was right there with her. I know the feeling of a well-paced day and I've even said the words out loud, "This is such a great day. It has a nice pace to it."

In research from SHRM on the aspects most important to an HR professional's job satisfaction, communication between employees and senior management was at the top of the list with the largest gap (48%) between the level of importance and the level of satisfaction. My unofficial personal research says that this carries through to communication between a a stressed woman and her family, friends, and colleagues.

Those great days with such a nice pace I referenced earlier? They were filled with communication and in-the-moment connection. When I speed race through my days I get (a ton of) things done yet, if I am not careful, I can lose myself and my connection to those around me in the process.

In Alice, the White Queen believed in as many as six impossible things before breakfast. A well-paced day is not an impossible thing. Nor is a well-paced life. No rabbit holes required.

What's a girl to do? What do you do?

Photo credit: Return to Eden