Claire is a self-employed accountant whose problem lay in the fact that she appointed for aptitude not attitude. She was attracted by an applicant’s CV and experience, and overrode the fact that she was often hiring people who couldn’t or wouldn’t work to her – or with her.
It can be tempting to appoint an applicant whose qualifications impresses you at interview, but whose personality just doesn’t fit with the role.
I helped Claire by:
– supporting her to recognise that she was appointing on initial rapport, not on the long-term needs of a business relationship.
– rewriting her job specification and then gathering a whole new layer of criteria around the personality she needed in an assistant.
– creating an action interview that tested candidates for their interpersonal styles and whether they could work with Claire.
– encouraging Claire to take charge immediately during the interview and so establish the hierarchy from the start.
– acting as an independent observer during the interview to check the relationship between Claire and her potential employee and warn her against unwise appointments.
Claire appointed – and she and her assistant are still working happily together.
Want to explore how I could help? Please email me with a brief outline of your situation and I’ll get back to you. If I feel I could help, we can arrange for an initial coaching session to explore how we would work together. I’d be delighted to hear from you.