Potential employees scared off

Workers are on the march ― or hope to be in 2014.

 

Four in five North American employees plan to look for a new job next year, according to a Right Management poll.

 

So how will you, a business owner or corporate manager, hire away the best and brightest for your business?

 

A lot depends on how you and others act during the interview process.

 

Take Lisa, who turned down a radio job in a great location all because of the manager conducting the interview.

 

The company put her up at a swanky hotel where she felt more welcome than at the company itself. Here's what she says about the hiring manager:

 

"He was late for all our appointments, including a tour of the radio station and city and then dinner. He was also quick to tell me they were basically looking for a 'hot chick' to add to the all-male rock station."

 

She declined the offer.

 

Beth, a mechanical engineer with credentials in high demand, flew to an East Coast company to interview with six people. The morning of the interviews, the hiring manager who was scheduled to pick her up at her hotel at 7:30 never showed up.

 

"At 7:45, I panicked. I ran through all the scenarios. Wrong hotel? Wrong time?" She ended up driving herself to the company in the rain during rush hour in a large, unfamiliar metro area.

 

Halfway through her first interview with the hiring manager who left her standing in the rain, he stopped and said, "I was supposed to pick you up this morning, wasn't I?"

 

"As if this wasn't awkward enough, now I felt compelled to relieve him of any guilt and said, 'It was no trouble, really.' " But she thought: "What kind of screwed-up company is this? They make really complicated technical machinery, yet they can't even remember to pick me up? This place is not right. I sure was not feeling the love."

 

She declined their offer: "I wrote them off as dysfunctional."

 

Sometimes, an employed job hunter's decision not to jump ship is about sticking with the familiar. That's especially true when the job seeker doesn't have the kind of information to know what he or she would be getting into.

 

A European worker, who asked not to be named, had two recent Skype interviews with the hiring manager and her manager at an American company.

 

No in-person meetings were arranged. He felt a positive connection with them via Skype but says, "I would have loved to see their offices.

 

"I believe a company's and leader's office reflects their culture. You can see people in their work environment. Do they look happy, motivated, sad? Small talk with the administrative assistant and how they welcome you can be really useful, as well."

 

He received a job offer. Although he was tempted, he turned it down.

 

Part of the reason was that his current employer gave him the chance at the same time to work on a new project with a promotion and better salary.

 

Remember that while you, the employer, are watching for clues to find the best and brightest employees, would-be workers are doing the same, wondering, "Are you the best company to work for?"