Emulating Desired Leadership and Governance Values at Individual and Organizational Levels
You know how human resource professionals have a lot of material about how you should be as a prospective employee? How you should research for jobs, how you should position yourself and write your CV, how you should interview right — from appearance to presenting your best self-etc.. The list of tips on what to do and what not to do are not in short supply.
But recent experience had me thinking differently, hence the title of this article. Maybe at times it’s not about the prospective employee but the prospecting employer. “I need to get paid to attend interviews”, was the exact statement I made to at least three people during the course of the last two months, when I decided it was now time to go back to the workforce.
However, it’s not all about me in all honesty, as, in the process of stepping back into the employment arena I consulted far and wide to check myself with those I considered peers, and, oh my. Some had more horrifying experiences than I did and had fully embraced opening up businesses or independently consulting, as an alternative.
So, for me, this is about putting pen to paper and documenting my lived experience, coupled with being the voice of those who might not necessarily want to share their own experiences publicly, and, more critically, validating for anyone — past, current and future — their sentiments about what was or is happening on the job market.
Before I proceed, as always, I want to qualify my sentiments with the below statements:
Firstly, I do not know if this is a more global phenomenon but from my experience and those I heard of, it was from the Tanzanian landscape.
Secondly, in as much as I am going to take a jab, here and there, from here on, I understand the privilege I dwell in. It is not often one parts ways with their employer, decides to take professional time off, uses this down time to attend to personal matters and when they are ready to jump back into the employment arena have a buffet of options and have the gift of choice. Here, I start from a footing of gratitude.
Lastly, in this same time, I was in the process of working with someone to help me professionally profile and position me for executive roles. In this process I also got the opportunity to really sharpen years of my likes and dislikes into non-negotiable values. So, it was good that the roles I was applying or being headhunted for were in the same vicinity as my path.
But let’s get back to the cracks of the matter. Needless to say, when I said I need to get paid to attend interviews! I was at my wits end to say the least. To give you perspective of what could be termed as my frustration or underwhelming experience, I am going to try frame the nature of prospecting employers and their interviewing behavior that I encountered along the way.
The Questionable Company Culture Employer: This employer was looking for someone to be part of the executive/leadership team
A friend of mine had turned down this role because they did not want to give up the job they then had. In turn they fronted my CV to the hiring manager and informed me about it. I gave it time for the hiring manager to contact me and in the interim I inquired with contacts I knew within this organization about the role. When good time had lapsed to feel I am not ‘harassing’ the employer I decided to contact the hiring manager directly and reference how I got there. The process was like pulling teeth. Erratic communication, at best, to zero communication, all together, to invitation for interview in ‘hurried’ conditions. I had reserved feelings about this organization’s culture from what I had already experienced. If this is just HR, I thought, what of the organization?
At the end of the day, I was not hired. Unfortunately, they did not come back to give me this feedback. I got the opportunity to see who was eventually hired on social media and that was my cue. However, I tipped my hat off to the new hire because I knew they were the better fit indeed.
Tip for prospective employer: Common courtesy is a gem — acknowledge emails; give timelines for when you intend to attend to the person or issue, and, even if you don’t want to take the conversation further, that is okay too, wind up the conversation but, please, respond and in good time.
The Time Waster Employer: This employer was looking for the executive leader of the organization
In this process I was subjected to an initial round of interviews and got shortlisted to the final round. I must say, of all the interviews I was attending, this was one of two that I truly paid attention to in terms of reading, research, profiling myself, talking to different parties that could offer insights into the role and slightly different industry etc. As I write this, I almost want to switch their name from The Time Waster Employer to The String Along Prospecting Employer.
In retrospect, I believe I was thrown into internal board and company politics and power plays, and, the interview process was for them to meet their hiring requirements. I believe there were smaller teams within the greater panelist team, with each sub-team rooting for or already have lobbied for their candidate. I felt strung along. They could have spared me round two of interviews.
At the end of the day, I was not hired, of which, like The Questionable Company Culture Employer, they did not have the common courtesy of giving me this feedback officially. I somehow got to learn about my fate from informal channels. For me, they are the Time Waster Employer, because they did not have to invite me for the interviews.
Tip for prospective employer: Please do not waste the time of your candidates. If your choice was already made outside the interview room or in spite of a hiring process, figure out a way to justifying that process internally and move on. Don’t string everyone along in your bid to meet certain good practice requirements.
The Naïvely Underprepared Employer: This employer was looking for the executive leader of the organization
To be fair, the most enjoyable interview experience I have ever had! Good communication, well thought out panel, excellent team spirit, amazing non-traditional interview questions and most of all, an organization doing the good work. Like the preparation for the Time Waster Employer, this was the second role that I truly applied myself in terms of reading, research, profiling myself etc.. I also felt very passionately about the work.
Unlike the two roles mentioned above, this one, the decision for go or no go was in my hands and I felt sorry for turning this offer down. However, it became clear to me that this prospective employer was not sure who they were looking for.
After having done two interviews and before entering a one-on-one with my soon to be boss, I sent the role description to a trusted human resource professional friend. Immediately, they said, “the role title doesn’t match the accountabilities; you will get frustrated.”
After the one-on-one session and reviewing everything, I figured I was too big for the role! Too big in terms of years and diversity of experience under my belt; the investment I had made in my professional growth; and positioning and my general career trajectory expectations. Too big in that in my previous role, I had been doing the equivalent work at leadership level, yet, this prospective employer clustered similar work and wrapped it with a much grander and fancier job title.
For me this signaled an employer who just lacked the experience, wisdom, or judgement, despite the advance age of their organization, to balance between their desires for strong and capable teams to drive their work and their actual internal organizational realities when it comes to matching people, levels of work and structures. This showed naïveté and under-preparedness on their part. It also made me mad that, despite me having the choice to say no, someone, who does have the luxury and privilege of saying no, will take the offer and participate in setting a whole new normal for the job market.
Tip for prospective employer: Review and design your organizational structures to match people, levels of work and positions. Align your desires with your reality. Value local talent. In fact, this is one of the times it is okay not to shortlist candidates from the onset, who you believe will not fall well within your organizational structures.
I decided to share in more details those three experiences because they really stood out for me and caused a lot of discussion in my family and professional network about what was happening in the employment landscape. The worrying thing for me was if, this is happening at senior/executive roles, then the state of affairs below that level must be dire. I also recall having thoughts about, if I qualify for and take up the roles and I have to stand by policies, organizational structures and culture that really undervalue or waste the time of current and future employees, then, I would not be okay with that, morally. I also asked, who is regulating the market generally? In some cases, I felt that some of these employers were getting away with their ‘poor’ ways. I also had to double check with female friends who were in the same position as me — transitioning and/or independent consultants — to understand whether I was being hyper-sensitive.
The other unshared experiences that come to mind were of the employer who took months trying to court me; the prospective employer whom, at initial call, I asked them to confirm their salary and benefits for the role before they engage me further; and, another prospective employer who I had to withhold my CV because I felt that my professional direction and ambitions were being diluted by having my CV in many hands.
Surely something is amiss. I am also very aware and very receptive to the fact that the “amiss” could be yours truly, ME!
And so, I happily sat back and withdrew from the jobhunting space in its traditional sense. If my resolve to protest, in the way I know how, has a chance of changing how one employer is doing things, or, changes how a future candidate will experience interview process, then I am happy.
For now, let me focus on consulting independently — and not to allude that there are no interviews happening in this sphere — and use these few experiences as comical shares over dinners and drinks with friends.
My tip to employers and prospecting candidates, for securing senior executive roles, use headhunters and/or recruitment firms. Short of that, there could be a lot of time wasting and value misalignment between the candidate and the employer.
Furthermore, for prospecting employers, you should have clarity on what you want, you should research your candidates better, you should strive to position yourself in a positive manner throughout the hiring process. Finally, do not make assumption that the candidates are not interviewing you too during the hiring process.
My tip to human resource professionals, it’s time to pay attention and give high level support to prospecting employers. Support them reduce the level of fumbling happening out there. I ascribe to feminist leadership principles and believe our processes, systems and structures need to be well thought out to ensure all should be treated fairly and equally. However, at Executive level - due to the nature of roles, responsibilities and accountabilities — it is expected that the rigor and tone of the engagement to be superior. That caliber of excellence should be expected from both sides.
All in all, the hiring process is a crucial space to establish alignment between oneself and the recruiting company before you commit deeply. I hope in the spirit of sharing my personal experiences I have made someone out there laugh but more so not feel alone in the job-hunting market.
Furthermore, however minor this might seem, if we cannot emulate the desired leadership and governance structures and values at individual and organizational levels, then we should not expect much at national and global levels; yet we must! We must for the sake of shaping a world that operates on certain minimum standards of values and practices'.
