This week, I’ve had Covid. Yes, Covid. Remember that? Apart from feeling quite rough, I’ve kinda enjoyed the retro nostalgia of it all. Not only have I been feeling uncharacteristically lethargic, I’ve also noticed a real brain-fog. Last week’s blog came at you after 90 minutes of drunken sleep, so let’s see how this one compares…
Tuesday saw/heard some car-crash radio with anti-abortionist Chris Luxon being interviewed by everyone’s favourite spikey-haired tosspot Mike Hosking about the resignation of Commerce Minister Andrew Bayly. Bayly apparently “placed a hand on the upper arm” of a staffer during a heated exchange. A hand sufficiently well placed to force his resignation. Luxon, who believes his daughter should give birth to a rapists baby, was asked live on air if he would have sacked Bayly had he not resigned, then proceeded to spend three whole minutes ducking and weaving around the question. Hosking, knowing he had hit paydirt, pushed the point as the PM sweated. Sweated to the point where I almost felt sorry for him until I remembered that I have a daughter and that a rich bald man should never tell her what to do with her reproductive organs.
Hosking, who’s politics and oratory skills are the same which made Nazism seem like a “great laugh” in the 1930s, is no doubt a master of his craft. A loathsome master, but a master none-the-less. Luxon on the other hand seemed at sea, adrift. This is mind-boggling given he would have received weeks of media training both in his former corporate career with Air New Zealand, and as he was groomed my John Key to take over the evil empire like some kind of egg-headed puppet. It does show you however that you can get a long way in politics without having an opinion. All the way in fact.
Asking, and answering, tough questions is certainly a skill-set to be developed. As recruiters, we certainly get many questions perceived as tough or awkward thrown our way – predominantly by clients. When we become candidates, we have our own tough questions to answer. Our 6 months with one firm. Our crap billings in FY24/25. Our decision to sleep with a married co-worker (you know who you are, and so do we). All of which take some verbal gymnastics to navigate. As recruiters, where our primary role is to assess clients, assess candidates, and match the two, asking tricky questions is what sets the good and the great apart.
In my experience, the easiest group to ask hard questions of is our clients. Maybe it’s because clients have had it up to the neck with sycophantic recruiters telling them about their “stellar reputation as a thought leader in the space“, that they respond fantastically well to tough questions. When I say tough, I don’t mean “Have you stopped beating your wife? Yes or no?”. I mean more like “why did the last person leave and what would they tell a close mate about your management style?”. Most hiring managers get a perverse kick out of these kind of questions. It’s like hot candlewax on the nipples to them. Try it.
Candidates can be a bit pricklier. However, they’re the ones that need to practice answering the hard questions most. Candidates often arrive in a fragile state of mind anyway, especially in this market. They’re either miserable in their role and may have an abusive boss, or you’ve headhunted them, persuaded them to sneak out of the office to meet you, and they sit there guiltily like they’re having an affair. Either way, when a jumped up 22 year old recruiter starts asking questions about a CFOs professional failures, egos can get bruised. These questions are vital for all parties however. If the recruiter isn’t asking them, the hiring manager will be. If the candidate isn’t practicing answering them, then they’ll fall to pieces when they are. If no one asks them, then the hire probably won’t work out. Asking tough questions is a skill that assesses top candidates. Answering tough questions is a skill that highlights top candidates. The best candidates I’ve ever represented are better at talking about their failures than their victories.
If you’re a candidate and want to truly prepare for an interview, do the following. Print out your CV, and pretend you have never seen it before. Then put yourself in the most grumpy and obnoxious mood possible. For me, I listen to Mike f*cking Hosking. Then interrogate your CV as much as humanly possible. Why did you only get a 2:2? Why no promotion in 6 years? Why are you looking to leave? Why are you so bloody useless???? Then practice answering these questions head-on, and don’t take three minutes trying to wriggle out of them.
That’s all for this week folks.
^SW
