How do you treat candidates for a professional job interview?

A common interview failure companies have is to not treat candidates correctly, to be arrogant in their process, or maybe the company does not have a consistent process.

A high level position is going attract high level talent, people who are used to commanding respect, leading, basically it is going to attract true professionals.

Why then do so many institutions and organizations treat these folks as simple job applicants? How do you expect to get the quality candidate you want when your hiring practices are perceived as disrespectful and condescending? That kind of reputation follows you and then you have the audacity to complain that you are not receiving quality resumes!

There are certain organizations that always seem to have the same job vacant: why is this? Why is it you cannot fill the position, or worse why is it people keep leaving that position.

It does not take much to fix this and here some easy steps:

1.      Treat all candidates as valuable commodities

2.      Communicate with them in a timely manner in all things

3.      Ask meaningful questions that allows the candidate to showcase the skills they have to do the job

4.      Make sure the people doing the interviewing are qualified to do so

5.      Please check your rejection letters carefully. Use the correct name, spelling, title, and make sure they understand that how much you valued their time. A rejection letter should not be dismissive of the time and effort the candidate put in

Remember, they are interviewing you as much as you are interviewing them. A good candidate will have choices, so what are you going to do to make them choose you?

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

First world problems are actually real problems for our children

The Problem With Perfection: There's a thin line between wanting to look pretty and becoming obsessed with perfection

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/advice/a6519/beauty-dysmorphia/

“South Korean Photographer Shows Costs Of Plastic Surgery”, “South Korea's obsession with plastic surgery”

“Redshirting in the Age of Academic Kindergarten: Should You Hold Your Child Back?”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lori-day/redshirting-in-the-age-of-academic-kindergarten_b_3710561.html

“‘Redshirting’ Kindergarten-Age Kids Can Lead to Regrets” http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/07/redshirting-kindergarten-age-kids-can-lead-to-regrets/?_r=0 

“Veteran Star Helps Shine Light On Elder Abuse” http://www.npr.org/2011/03/08/134363396/Veteran-Star-Helps-Shine-Light-On-Elder-Abuse

https://hereandnow.wbur.org/2015/10/20/south-korea-plastic-surgery-photos

http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2013/05/30/32026/south-korea-s-obsession-with-plastic-surgery/

“Stories about eating disorders” http://www.npr.org/tags/141716010/eating-disorders

 

These are things that our kids have to see and witnessed as part of the privilege of living in a “first world” country, these are the issues our children are going to have to deal with in the future.

We have 9 year old girls who are super obese, and we have 9 year old girls who panic about being called fat even though they are not. We have kids obsessed with how they look in order to secure a better future. We are holding little boys back a year because we want them to “have dates and be a leader”. We treat our elderly with disdain instead of valuing their wisdom and experience. There are people in other countries who are struggling to get one meal a day and yet we waste food like nobody’s business

When does it become too much?

What message do we want to send our kids? What legacy do we want to leave them? Being a kid is not supposed to be this complicated, so let us not make it so.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

The Nile Perch

 

“The Nile perch (Lates niloticus) is an important food fish in Africa and a prized catch for sport fishermen, but the species is also a massive environmental nightmare. In fact, the Nile perch is massive in more ways than one. It's a giant among fishes, reaching a length of up to 6 feet and a weight of more than 500 pounds. Anything that big eats a lot, and when misguided humans have introduced the Nile perch into new aquatic ecosystems (most notably, Lake Victoria in East Africa), it has caused catastrophic declines among native fish populations. The Nile perch is now common in the Nile, Chad, Senegal, Volta and Congo river basins, and has been ranked by conservationists as one of the world's 100 worst invasive species” http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/river-monsters/fish-guide/nile-perch/

Nile Perch is not an important food fish in Africa, it is important to the foreign investors who set up the system and sell the fish, the locals do not and in most cases are not allowed to eat it because of its value.

If you have never seen it before I recommend watching “Darwin’s Nightemare”

http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/164380/Darwins_AlptraumDarwins_Nightmare_Hubert_Sauper_2004/

Sometimes we have really bad ideas.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

The importance of handwriting

There is enough documented evidence out there that shows students who take hand-written notes retain more than those who use a computer.

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/take-notes-by-hand-for-better-long-term-comprehension.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/body/taking-notes-by-hand-could-improve-memory-wt/

There are also enough studies out there that suggest student’s ability to spell is getting worse because of reliance on spellcheck versus simply learning to spell.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9280203/Over-reliance-on-technology-is-undermining-spelling-skills.html

http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/spellcheck.html

Imagine you see your favorite movie star or sports hero, and you want an autograph: can your tablet or smartphone be used as a pen? What happens if you need to write something down quickly and your electronic device is powered down or out of power?

Now back to the problem of education; my personal experience with students note taking on a computer is that their notes are often lousy, or worse they did not take them but instead had a friend send them a copy of the notes.

There is a phenomenon I see that is very prevalent amongst graduate students, and the result is they are not able to pass simple tests or exams because they have no notes to study. I have even allowed students to use handwritten notes during tests, and it is amazing how many students do not know how to take efficient handwritten notes, or try and pass off someone else’s photocopied notes as their own.

Do you remember receiving letters? Do you remember how pleasurable it was to get that envelope and read what was inside? How many of you now look forward to receiving emails? Not many I would guess.

How many of you memorize phone numbers now? How many of you have been in a position where you needed a number but your device was gone?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/fashion/29Noticed.html

Now I am not saying a computer is bad, I am not saying typing is bad (my handwriting is terrible to read, doctors writing), but a computer is simply a tool, and like all tools if they are used incorrectly the results are also going to be incorrect.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/03/things-you-cant-remember_n_6999796.html

Do we have to have the extremes we have right now where we are always plugged in, where everything has to be electronic? Your kids become zombies in video games and tablets due to screen addiction?

 

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/06/screen-addiction-is-taking-a-toll-on-children/

Young people on a date spend more time taking selfies and pictures of their food than talking and eating their food it seems.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/25/selfie-addiction-mental-illness_n_5022090.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Baukq9JhmYM

http://nypost.com/2014/12/16/first-date-selfies-are-now-a-thing/

Here are some things to try:

1.      Turn your phone off for a whole day and have fun (motorcycle rides can guarantee no phones)

2.      Carry a pen and paper

3.      Write phone numbers down first then put them in your phone

4.      If you are a student try handwritten notes for a semester and compare your grades

These are just thoughts, but I am sure others will add to this. I wish us all luck in this rapidly changing world, and I hope we never forget the basics.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam



Social Media Trolls

Definition - What does Troll mean?

A troll is a member of an Internet community who posts offensive, divisive and controversial comments https://www.techopedia.com/definition/429/troll

This is a new but very real phenomenon that can be very annoying, damaging, but also amusing.

There are people who build their whole reputation on tearing someone else down, and they often choose the same targets.

LinkedIn is a social media site designed for professionals but yet it is amazing how many negative trolls exist even in that professional forum, let alone Facebook, Instagram, twitter, etc.

 Looking around I believe I found some useful tips on how to deal with them (plus my own experience in dealing with them), and I hope they work for you.

·         http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-trolls/

·         http://curated-digital.com/how-to-deal-with-social-media-trolls/

·         http://www.cio.com/article/2935933/online-reputation-management/5-ways-to-handle-comment-trolls-on-social-media.html

Hope this is useful and good luck out there because yes there be trolls!

 

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam



Diversity on your campus

 

Diversity is not always about skin color and gender, especially on a college campus. Have you taken the time to assess the diversity of your faculty and staff?

It is an interesting exercise and you get to know more about the people around you.

Give it a try if you do not regularly do so.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam