How do you know when your high expectations are too high?
Posted by Cassandra | Filed under Career
I find hiring people really challenging. I’m not going to lie. I was trained as a journalist, not as a manager; and as such a small company run by mostly young people, we learn as we go. And that’s awesome!
But I find the whole process awkward, kind of like dating or interacting with babies or old people (yes, I’m one of those people).
I’m never quite sure how to act. If I play good cop, I feel like I’m being too nice and basically begging them to work for me even though I’m not entirely sure I want them to work for me. If I play bad cop, it’s even more awkward because I’m waiting for the moment when they say, “This is bullshit!” and walk out of the interview.
I’ve made the mistake of hiring someone who turned out to be completely different than they came across in their interview in the past, so this time around, I feel like I can’t trust my own good judgment. I’ve asked a few people for advice IRL and I’ve gotten some good feedback which I’m eager to employ as I start interviewing candidates this week or next, but I’m still a bit worried.
Because I’m really, really picky. If things aren’t done right, I go all OCD and have to fix them on my own time. After a few times of someone not picking up on the fact that they’re not meeting my standards, I tend to assume they’re incompetent. If they can’t spell or form a sentence that makes sense: incompetent. If they run into a problem and assume it can’t be done instead of figuring it out by, oh…I don’t know, Googling it: incompetent.
I discussed all this with some family and friends over the weekend, and many of them told me my expectations are too high; that not being grammatically correct is the way the world works now; that hiring young people means they’ll need a bit of hand-holding; that I’m setting myself up for failure because I’m never going to find that one perfect candidate.
But why would I hire someone onto my team who isn’t exactly what I’m looking for? Maybe large corporations can get by with slackers and illiterates, but fast-paced “small businesses” (my boss hates it when we’re referred to as a “small business,” but I can’t think of what else to call us) can fall apart within a very short period of time if one person isn’t carrying their weight. Businesses like ours thrive on superstar-ness, and I think everyone on the team right now is just that.
If you’re not a superstar, I don’t want you. Is that discrimination?
I know, I know…not the best “manager” here. But I’m working on it. Maybe. The truth is I want to be one of those terrifying editors who make people cry and realize their own incompetence by way of my overwhelming meanness.
OK. For real. How do you detect superstar-ness? I know a lot of you out there are superstars, so maybe you know the secret that I just haven’t been able to figure out yet?
P.S. I know this is my first blog post in ages, but I’m now trying the whole “write about anything and see what happens” strategy.
Photo credit: Shooting Stars by stefanvds
Tags: career path, TalentEgg, whining, workaholic
I'm a writer and editor just starting my career at 
March 25th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
I disagree that your expectations are too high, in fact when hiring someone for a position you need to have high expectations or at the very least an assurance that when the time comes they can meet your expectations. Hiring a person is all about finding the right person, and the right person would be the person who fits all your expectations however high they may be. Then again it may also be the person who comes closest to meeting your expectations as well, not everyone is amazing at everything right?
Just because the world works a certain way does not mean you should let it dictate your choices. Eventually someone will appear that will make the world shudder to a brief halt, and then you know you have the person you want!
Hope this helps! Good Luck.