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The Dunning-Kruger Effect on Job Interviews

“The best lack all conviction, while the worst are filled with passionate intensity”-W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming

What W.B. Yeats intuited in 1919 is a phenomenon that psychologists would later name, ‘The Dunning-Kruger Effect’.  The ‘Dunning-Kruger Effect’ is a “cognitive bias wherein people of low ability have illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their cognitive ability as greater than it is”. Conversely, people who are highly competent mistakenly assume that the tasks that are easy for them to perform are just as easy for others to perform, and typically do not self-assess themselves as highly competent. They recognize their weaknesses and focus on correcting them rather than blustering on about how good they are at this or that. 

I'm Starting to Sound Like a Crazy Ex-Girlfriend!

“I'm probably starting to sound like a crazy ex or something…”

I am sure this is not news to anyone with their head up in the current job market, but there is a common perception out there that recruiters are too pushy, too salesy, and just downright annoying. Yes, sometimes we are ALL of those things… but despite any negative preconceived stereotypes, the recruiters who continue making tough calls and pushing through the negativity are the ones who find success for their clients and candidates.

11 Years in a Headhunter’s Life

“Glamorous” by Fergie and Ludacris was dominating the airwaves as the #1 Billboard song; Will Ferrell and Jon Heder were reveling with their #1 hit “Blades of Glory”: and Carl Pavano of Southington, CT was the Yankees Opening Day pitcher ... this was all happening when I started my recruiting career at Hobson Associates, 11 years ago in March 2007.

A Baby Boomer's Perspective on Interviewing Millennials

I’m a baby boomer who recruits for a living. I speak to people from all walks of life on a daily basis, many of them being millennials.  One of the hottest topics out there right now is the subject of generational differences in the workplace.  As discussed in a previous Hobson blog, chances are, you currently work with or have managed employees from each generation. In order to have a successful organization and increase your profits, you must deal differently with each demographic.

According to an article by Medium.com “with Millennials being the largest generation in America with over 75.4 million according to Pew Research Center and surpassing Baby Boomers with roughly 74.9 million, we need to find effective ways to bypass these differences in the workplace.”

One of the most common and challenging examples of this is when these different generations cross paths in the job interviewing process. Here are some tips for millennials, when being interviewed by a baby boomer:

My Ideal Job Candidate…

Being a recruiter in this current candidate-crazy job market (a market in which there are more jobs openings than qualified candidates), I’ve been questioned, dodged and insulted by candidates more than ever. And it’s not just me -- the partners and senior recruiters at my firm, some who have been in the industry over 20 years, feel the same pain! 

However, as soon as I decided to put myself in a candidate’s shoes, I began to truly see and understand where they are coming from:

CANDIDATES ARE GETTING CALLS FROM GREAT AND NOT-SO-GREAT RECRUITERS—WITH GREAT AND NOT-SO-GREAT JOBS!

Is it Mortality, Prayer or Drive?

Over the past few weeks I have been thinking about how fragile we really are as humans. When we are really young, we are in such a hurry to grow up, that we don’t really appreciate who/where we are. I know it sounds cliché, but it certainly rings true to most everyone I speak with, especially once you hit your 40s, 50s and even 60s… For example: I couldn’t wait to get my driver’s license and gain my independence, go to bars and dance clubs and legally drink, own a condo at 22, and finally start to make my own money and decisions…

Then one day, you wake up and realize wow, where has the time gone?  Where do I see myself in the next 30 or 40 years?  What will I look like? Where will I live? Will I get married? Hell, will I make it to see my kids graduate, get married, and/or have babies??? 

The older and wiser I become, everything and everyone in my life means so much more to me. My colleagues, my family, my friends- new and old. I am now using a new motto I like to call “Scared AF, but embracing every last moment!” 

Just Say NO to Multitasking!

Multitasking. We all do it. I bet you’re reading this right now while on the toilet aren’t you?!  Well, better than while driving... When I started at Hobson in 2006, we had a question on our reference check form that was “How would you rate this person’s ability to multi-task?” The idea was that a person needed to be efficient at multitasking in order to be successful in just about any job. However, studies have recently shown that multi-tasking is actually bad for your brain, which is also bad for business, your social life, your family, everything. 

Traffic Jam of Resumes

Are you a hiring authority with open jobs, yet are not seeing the right “traffic” of candidates? If so, you are not alone. In fact, this is one of the biggest pain points hiring authorities express to me before hiring me. From their side of the highway, it’s a wide open road to their inbox… so where’s the log jam?

Here are a few reasons:

Organize Your Work Life!

Lately I’ve noticed that my work-related stress has pretty much always been tied due to a lack of organization. I have tried to implement more efficient ways to work, but ended up getting frustrated again and again. It was only when I created a realistic routine for myself that I felt better about my work ... It seems like the word “routine” is synonymous with the word “boring” in many people’s minds. What I’ve come to learn, however, is that creating and sticking to these patterns in a world where no one has any control over anything is a small, easy way to control what you DO have power over. This sense of boring, or repetition, will ultimately keep you motivated and productive, and seriously cut back the stress.

Here are the steps that have worked for me:

Prospecting in the Wild!

I’m a big animal lover. I have a dog, a Cavalier King named Murphy, who is smart, good looking and can hunt down food like no one else… from tables, gym bags, backpacks, you name it. Murphy is most notably known for once devouring a whole five pound box of Godiva dark chocolates, wrappers and all, and lived! He is also an expert at pulling tablecloths down when no one is around.

Speaking of hunting, today my colleague discovered that a ‘critter’ has been eating his peanut butter crackers. The critter apparently completed said task twice this week, successfully getting into metal desk drawers and carefully creating a round hole in the package and feasting on his catch!

If Murphy or our office critter were in sales, they would KILL their quotas! They’re true hunters who “eat what they kill”.