Send the next guy in

04/03/2018

Send the next guy in,said Annie Wilkes on the intercom from the interview room. Do we have one more guy? Asked Tom. Yes. He is the last candidate and his name is Paul Milano replied Annie.
The door opened and Mr.Paul Milano, a stout person in his mid-40s, walked in. Having worked in 3 different companies, handled agile software development and used several project management tools in his 20+ years of experience as a project manager was now facing the interview panel

Mr.Tom Powers, the director of IT along with Ms.Annie Wilkes, the human resources manager were on the last lap of the interviewing process. They were interviewing Mr.Paul Milano for the position of the Project Manager. Tom Powers had crossed his 50th birthday, was tall, handsome but was little bald with grey hairs, natural with his age. He was a shrewd and intelligent person. Ms. Annie Wilkes was in her mid-30s and was very observant and clever manager of the company.

As a Project Manager, what would be your and your team’s ideal workplace be like? Mr. Tom asked Paul with a teasing smile on his face.

This was an unexpected job interview question for Paul. Even though this imagination had passed his mind earlier on how his workplace should be, he had not given a serious thought to it. Now, after this question was posed, he was confused with whether they are testing him, trying to corner him or pushing him into a trap?

However, the question was to be answered. A good cubicle, comfortable chair, Air Conditioning, good ambiance, high-speed laptop, was never the sufficient aspects of an ideal workplace for him. Paul took a deep breath, decided to be bold and honest, looked into Tom’s eyes and replied “I expect Flexible time, easy dress code, freedom of expression, no micromanagement, Hassle-free Time offs, permissions or leaves, pressure-free environment, frequent get together to keep a good rapport in the team, and good motivational plans for the team.”

“Aren’t you asking too much? What would be the company’s risk to allow the above relaxations or expectations? And why should we do it?” Tom asked again.

“My responsibility is to getting things done and increase profit” Paul Said “ I don’t know what it would cost to the company, but I am sure that this is going to increase employee engagement in turn impacts team productivity and profit for the company. I believe that, with this type of work environment, the team responsibility goes up, and so does their motivation level and team sprit. Each team member will be responsible enough to take the ownership of his/her assigned task. All we need is a good task manager and tracking tool, preferably the one with the above aspects embedded in the tracking tool itself. This makes my team competent and in turn, my team will make the product competent."

“Mr. Paul, If you are hired, how much time would you take to show us the result?” Tom asked.

“I am confident of doing it in 6 months” replied Paul

“OK. Thank you Mr. Paul” Tom concluded the interview and said, “We will get back to you soon”.

Both Tom and Annie watched Paul leave the room. Then Tom turned to Annie and asked her what was her opinion on that days interview.

“Among the four candidates we interviewed today, Paul is promising” Tom said “He is an experienced person, pretty confident on his thoughts and knows what he is talking”

Annie replied by just nodding her head, but she was in confusion.Tom could observe the confusion in Annie’s face and said “Come let us go and have a cup of coffee in the cafeteria and discuss on it” and they walked towards the cafeteria.

The Confusion :
Every recruiter will have a confusion on the way how people get hired, which is a mystery. How one can rate or assess the qualities, skills or expertise of a person that are required for a particular job interview in a span of 30 to 40 minutes. On what parameters does the recruiters know he/she is a good fit for any job?