Have you ever had a job interview with someone and you came out of it thinking:
“She just rubbed me the wrong way.”
From the perspective of making a hiring decision, what exactly does that mean?
Well, if I feel someone rubs me the wrong way, I feel there is something about them—maybe something that I can’t specifically identify—that causes me to think less of them.
Here are some examples:
- I went over the importance of certain company policies and asked the person what he thought about this. His response gave me the idea that these policies weren’t very important to him.
- When I told the prospect about the company’s goals, her response seemed a bit condescending.
- The person was dressed way too casually.
- The person didn’t seem genuinely interested in getting the job.
- The person looked at his watch several times during the interview.
I imagine there are other things you may have observed along these lines.
And then there’s that vague feeling you might get about someone. You can’t really put your finger on anything the person said or did, but you just feel…well…that the person rubbed you the wrong way.
So what we do about these perceptions and feelings we have about this candidate?
Well, if you’re the business owner, you have a few options here:
You can disregard your “feelings” about the prospect and go ahead and hire them solely on the merits of their skills and experience. They may turn out to be a great fit and you’re able to put this interview well behind you.
You can decide that you don’t want someone working for you who is going to make that kind of a bad, first impression.
If the person is well qualified in other ways, you can have one of your staff do a fresh interview and then compare notes.
Yes, this tip is a very subjective one.
If your prospect rubs you the wrong way and you don’t have a very specific cause for this, then maybe you’re experiencing a “clash of personalities.”
Maybe you had a very bad experience with someone similar to this person and that earlier experience is affecting your judgement now.
Whatever the case may be, if your prospect has good qualifications for the position, I’d recommend persisting some to see if you really do have the right candidate.
