Squirrels, unicorns, and the world of recruiting

I've written before about purple squirrels. At my current job, I've determined that even this elusive creature will not satisfy some of our hiring managers. They are seeking rainbow unicorns. Let me explain.

We have been in drastic need of trade X at my employer since before I was hired. At the time I started working to staff these openings in January, Dept. A needed 4, Dept. B 3, and Dept. C 1. Since these are all the same positions, just in different areas, when we interview candidates at least one person from each department attends. If multiple departments want the same candidate, we prioritize based on need. As of last week, I have filled Dept. C's 1 spot and Dept. B's 3 spots plus 1 additional opening that was created. You'll notice I left out Dept. A. That's because they have not liked a single candidate. Meanwhile, I am getting feedback from departments B&C about how well their new hires, aka the people not good enough for Dept. A, are doing. After one interview in my frustration I told my boss "They aren't looking for purple squirrels. Squirrels are at least real. They are looking for purple unicorns." One of my coworkers laughed. I was talking about the situation with two members from Dept. B., aka the department that has hired 4 of trade x in 5 month, and one of them told me "they aren't looking for a purple unicorn, they're looking for a rainbow unicorn." Another person from the department contributed how you catch a rainbow unicorn- with a golden lasso!

This week the unthinkable happened- Dept. A interviewed a candidate and liked him enough to offer him a job. When I got back to the HR department I told my boss "we used our golden lasso and caught a rainbow unicorn." She did not need a translation. She was, however, as shocked as I was. And even better, the candidate accepted our offer. If I was a gambler, I would have bought a lottery ticket.

Interview tip: Don't touch the recruiter

A public service announcement for all job seekers: to improve the chances of your interview going well, don't touch the recruiter.

By now you're probably wondering what led to this tip. First, some backstory about me. I am not the touchy feely type at all (that breeze you just felt was all my friends and family nodding strongly in agreement). Not once but twice this week, candidates violated my personal space. Yesterday we were interviewing an external candidate,and he touched my arm while answering a question. It was quite on purpose, not an accident brush. I quickly but as unobtrusively slid myself and my stuff down the table so I was out of range. After the candidate left, I mentioned this. My teammate didn't notice, but the other interview team member saw the whole thing.

Today we were getting ready to begin the interview of an internal candidate. Once everyone was in the room, he tried to hug me! I immediately put up my arms and said "I'm not a hugger". I barely know this person. Who does that? And he hadn't tried to hug anyone else on the team. Just me.

In summary: a handshake at the beginning and end of the interview is fine. Other than that, hands off the recruiter, especially if she's me.

3, 2, 1,dine!

3- yesterday I made 3 meals from scratch

2 of these meals featured new recipes

Breakfast was french toast made from Chocolate Chip Panettone

Why, yes, it was delicious. Thanks for asking.


For lunch I prepared ginger shrimp. I served it with rice and mixed veggies.

1- it was 1 delicious day

Lunch inspired by Rachael Ray

When I saw this Thai Curry with Shrimp recipe in Rachael Ray's magazine, I immediately flagged it as "must try". My mom had prepared it recently and I loved it, plus it looked quite easy to make. Sunday I tried it. Here's the finished product:

It was fast and simple to prepare. The only changes I made were to delete the scallions and exchange the green curry paste for red. This is going in the repeat file for sure.

Why the hiring process moves at a glacial pace

Every wonder why the hiring process tends to take beyond forever? This article by the Evil HR Lady does a great job of explaining the factors behind that reality.

Two more reasons I'd like to add based on my own recruiting experience:

1. Managers who take forever to choose candidates for interviews

I have had managers take weeks to select which candidates they want to interview. To me, the length of time it takes you to complete this step is directly proportional to how badly you really need to fill the position.

2. Managers who take forever to select their chosen candidate from the interviews

Our normal process is at the conclusion of the last interview for a position, the interview team discusses all the interviewees and identifies up to the top 3 candidates. However, sometimes hiring managers take forever to make this decision. We have a position for which interviews occurred a month ago, and there has still not been a decision made. It is maddening, and to me a indication that the hiring manager really doesn't need to fill this spot.

There can be benefits of being sick

I recently got over what is probably the longest lasting illness I've ever had. Far from the most severe, it was still a far from pleasant experience. However, in the spirit of turning lemons into lemonade, I did notice a few good things that can come from being sick.

1. You don't spend any money (except for medicine & co-pays)

When a trip from the couch to the bathroom every few hours is at the absolute max of your physical abilities, your opportunities (and desire) for spending are severely reduced. I did break down and actually go to the doctor, but thanks to good insurance at this job and HSA money from 2 jobs ago, that was pretty financially painless.

2. You lose weight

I went over 24 hours without eating. In my family if you go off your feed for any significant time, something is seriously wrong, For a long time after that, I had very minimal appetite. Thank goodness for Clif bars. I pretty much lived on those for a while.

3. You appreciate health

Last week I was leaving a meeting room to get a candidate to bring into the interview room. On the way out, I twirled. I told the rest of the interview team I did it because I could. Dizziness had been my worst symptom during my incapacitation, and I truly appreciated being to move around in any way I chose without fearing I would topple to the ground at any time.

It's probably time to work on that

I recently had a bit of downtime at work, so I thought I'd actually read some of our employee handbook. As an HR person I thought it might be a good idea to have an idea of some of the things it said.

I hadn't read very far when I found something that wasn't right. I asked one of our long term staff members about it. What she told me blew my mind. The last time our company completely revised its handbook was 1998. Yes, you read that right. It seems there was another complete redo ready to go in 2011, but that was shelved due to an organization wide audit that was in process. Since then, internal memos are circulated that have changed the procedures, but the handbook itself, aka what is on our internal website and what is provided to our employees, is woefully outdated. A revision is on the to do list, but pressing day to day work must be done first.

I have to say I've never seen anything quite like this. The HR manager for my former long term employer would be aghast. We had multiple changes to our handbook every year. The situation at my current employer is certainly not optimal. It's probably time to dedicate someone to work on this exclusively until its done. Nearly 20 years between revisions is far too long.