On September 12, 2011, it was my pleasure to give a presentation for the National Introducing Brokers Association, “Grow Your Business by Hiring the Right People.” The response to my program has been gratifying and quite positive. Most remarked on the clarity of the message, especially the relevance and impact of the case studies involving real people and business situations. I derived immense satisfaction from offering these remarks, which reflect my more than 25 years advising financial institutions on human resources practices.
The interview process, for example, is fraught with psychological issues. It is important to remember that the interview is a two-sided meeting. As the employer you are interviewing the candidate to determine if the candidate is the right person for your company. The candidate, at the same time, is interviewing you to determine if this is the right company for them.
I once refused a job offer because one of the people who interviewed me was especially rude during the meeting. The logistics of our seating was very poor and not conducive to a conversation. We were diagonal from each other, so that eye contact was not good. The person interviewing me was the president of the company. He was reading a huge paper binder, that I later found out was the daily customer equity run. He had a quote machine in front of him and would occasionally put numbers into the machine, sometimes grimacing.
I was shocked when I got the job offer. I thought he was bored with my conversation. I never expected to hear from him again. I turned the offer down. The company asked why. I initially avoided answering it, but they asked again, and I told them the president was rude to me during the interview. One month later the company called me with a second offer, which I took. I would not be directly reporting to the president and we would not be in the same office suite.
The futures industry is a small world where your competitor can also be your customer. Today you may interview someone as a candidate and down the road this person may be an important decision maker in your business life. Today’s enemy could be tomorrow’s boss. Don’t burn bridges; it is another good reason to take the interview process seriously.
Pat Lunkes / Parkway Consulting
Pat Lunkes is Founder and President of Parkway. Parkway is a Chicago-based human resources consulting firm, with a broad client base encompassing the financial services industry (including asset classes in futures, equities, options), FCM’s, Broker Dealers, Introducing Brokers, CTA’s, proprietary trading, venture capital, and exchanges. If you wish to contact Pat Lunkes please send an email to: pat@parkwayconsulting.com