Red Flags During the Interview Process
Companies complain all the time that it is very hard to find great web and marketing analytics talent. This is true, but it is equally true that it is very hard to find a great company to work for.
My team works with some of the largest, best brands in the world, as well as some really cool little start-ups that few people have heard of. Regardless, we have learned to recognize red flags during the recruiting process and thought we would share them.
One that you can spot early in the process is the job that has been posted online over and over again for many months or years at a time. For example, there has been a web analyst job open at Hilton Hotels since my daughter was born - coming up on two years ago. There has been another one open at Charles Schwab for almost as long. If you are Schwab and you can’t fill a web analyst job in San Francisco for over a year, something is VERY wrong and it is not just a bad HR person. Same for Sears Holdings - there has been a Manager of Web Analytics position open there for about two years. TWO YEARS!
When you interview, ask how long the position has been open. Everyone knows it is hard to find good web analysts, but it shouldn’t take a year. Big things are broken at the company when a search goes on this long.
On the other hand, some very good companies have terrible recruiting processes.
Merkle is a perfect example. They are a great marketing analytics firm with a strong brand, very smart people and they do top-notch work for their clients. They called and asked for our help with 12 searches (red flag). This firm has a great brand, so we invested a ton of time telling their story in the marketplace and ultimately sent them great candidates - nearly 20 of them. Then we waited. And waited. Our 20 candidates called us every few days for feedback. We waited three to four weeks to get any information. Not surprisingly, the feedback that we ultimately got did not make sense.
One HR person there actually said, “I haven’t heard anything on him. To be on the safe side let’s just tell him that we are going to pass.” HOW IS THAT THE SAFE SIDE???
So let’s say that another red flag is delayed and/or unintelligible feedback.
More on this subject in future posts - have to get back to work now…
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