Hiring Manager Saw Her as Threat

One of the members of the Presbyterian Church Searching for Work group shared a story of an interview last week that left her walking away finding the whole incident bizarre.

Coming into the interview with decades of experience in strategic planning, she had been contacted by a recruiter to discuss a similar position with a multi-national corporation in the metropolitan area. During the over 90 minutes meeting she had a chance to discuss her experience, learn about the company's various divisions, meet the hiring manager's boss and was taken on a tour to meet others. The applicant, whose name is being withheld because of the sensitive nature of the topic, entered the final aspect of the day feeling confident that she'd be invited to meet with the manager's boss.

The next step stunned her. The hiring manager told her that he would not be forwarding her candidacy along because he believed that she was over-qualified for the position and he was afraid that she would take his job.

"The first thing out of my mouth was why on earth are you telling me this," she said to the jobs group, who sat in shock while hearing the story. "I remember leaving with a lot of grace, then he invited me to lunch."

The Searching for Work group, led by Rev. Mike Samson and church member Jim McAdoo, a professional recruiter, meets on Tuesday mornings to provide an outlet for networking and support for those who have been left unemployed by the current economic crisis. The group is open to church members and non-church members.

As a part of the group's weekly meetings, members share various stories from what they have been doing on the job search front for the past week. These stories serve as a basis for discussion among the members and advice from McAdoo.

Group members offered advice on how the applicant could handle the situation. She had contacted the hiring manager's secretary to obtain the boss' contact information. She has obtained a phone meeting with the boss for Wednesday and the hiring manager has been attempting to reach her by phone. In preparation for the Wednesday interview, group members were encouraging her to see her candidacy and to advance it, with the goal of being hired by the company but hopefully being able to move to another division.

Concern was expressed over the relationship between the hiring manager and his boss, noting that the woman may want to see if the two have a past relationship via a search on LinkedIn. Others said this situation is pretty common, with it being verbally expressed in this case, noting the economic climate has made many hiring managers cautious on who they hire in order to protect their job.

McAdoo said this could serve as a learning process and that she should not see herself locked into the company at any point and she could end the relationship without accepting a position.

"Remember you want to control the process," he said. "Take it as far as you can, you can always say no."

McAdoo spent some of the time using the experience for the applicant to polish her "elevator pitch" (a quick, compelling summary of your abilities) and her resume. He said the resume and elevator pitch should be more oriented to marketing the applicant, instead of a recitation of past accomplishments and skill sets.

McAdoo has been pushing group members over the course of several meetings to utilize resumes in the marketing format and has plans to spend meetings focusing elevator pitches for the members to get their messages across. He encouraged members to utilize this story for their own benefit.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for you about what you say to advance your candidacy," he said. "This is a test of all your skills."

Editor's Note: This is part of a continuing series about the Searching for Work group at the Presbyterian Church in Westfield.