How to select employees and Presidents

Presidential Candidate Ties

During the 30+ years that I hired employees I learned a couple of things.  You need to make an evaluation quickly.  Resume's went into the 'reject' or 'look again' piles after about 90 seconds...sorry.  Interviews that took a while were good.  Candidates need to ask questions that show they understand organizations and business relationships.  Without treading into the forbidden topics (gender, age, gender preference, race, marital status, children, etc.) you need to find out how they communicate, what they like to do in their work (e.g. management styles appreciated) and a bit about their personal life.  Musicians were typically good hires in technology.  Heavy metal fans were not.

You do spend a few brain cells determining how they fit in.  If it looks like they slept in their clothes it's not going to work.  My clothing guideline once hired was "don't stink," "don't wear clothes with holes" and "try not to wear the same thing every day."  I had to change the last qualification once I began hiring bicycle commuters.

Tassel Shoe

Odd questions are good.  Good employees need to be able to field those questions when dealing with a manager who like to run the bases backwards.  I also make a point of glancing at shoes if the candidates were male.  I never had good luck with employees who had shoes with tassels.  That included subordinates, peers and my supervisors.

It's been a contentious decade in Washington and the ongoing election run has left me watching the debates, following Twitter and Facebook feeds and having many personal conversations, too...like the old days when we talked to each other in person or on the photo...retro dialogue.

That brings this to the point.  The debates and images are all from the waist up, and with modesty panels on the seating provisions the tassel shoe criteria is off (or under) the table.  Yes, this is about male candidates, not because there are not qualified female candidate but because it's late at night, I'm trying to be serious and clever and I'll have to re-think this tomorrow.

It's down to ties.  Some of the candidates have official photos where the tie is just not snugged up.  I can see part of the button underneath.  My employees rarely wore ties but for a photo you should really check that.  I used photos for the candidates that were one of the first three yielded by a Google search.  These might not be the tie styles that each wears but it is what people are seeing.

One of the candidates, were I interviewing him, would have heard what I rarely said just two minutes into an interview.  "I think I've seen enough."  That tie should be obvious.  There is also another boldly patterned tie and a solid color tie that would have led to rejection.  The brighter red tie with the small pattern was just too bright..also a reject.  The purple tie person would have been asked back for a second interview.  My suspicion is that he'd have worn the same purple striped tie a second time and that would have led to rejection.  First time, interesting.  Second time...don't you have any other ties?

I do like ties but hope to never wear another one in this life.

The red white and blue tie was nice with a good balance and confidence about it.  Actually it was the best tie.  He also had nice hair (not that that influenced me).  The red patterned tie and blue patterned tie would have also been asked for a second interview.  From my Google search I know that the blue patterned tie must be the guy's favorite; it shows up all the time.  Perhaps he buys them in bulk, getting a good deal.  That would be a good sign.

For me it's down to three candidates without considering their party or shoes.  Later I'll find some similar meaningful approach to selecting female candidates.