What She Did Not Say Got Her The Job
I was listening to an interview recently which I thought was interesting. Actually, I was listening to a series of interviews, but one really captured my attention. Each of the people being interviewed had worked for a man whose name you would probably recognize. Each of the people related some personal memories and made some comments about what it was like to work for him.
The interview that stood out to me was with a person who was talking about a period of time when the man’s business interests were expanding. Because of this, there was a need for somebody to work in a very responsible and entirely new position. The lady who was hired to fill that position and who continued to fill it until the death of her boss told about the process that led to her being hired.
According to her, she had a very strong desire to work in this new, responsible, and demanding position. She also believed that she had the qualifications that would make her a viable candidate. Thankfully, for her and apparently for the organization, the man who became her boss agreed.
As this lady thought back over the decades to that hiring process, she attributed her success in getting a position she wanted, loved, and filled successfully for years to something that she did not say. According to her, when she met with her prospective boss, she never asked about vacation time, sick leave, holidays, or other “perks” that might be available to her should she be hired. As I heard her talk, it seemed that her focus during that meeting must have been on how she might benefit her prospective employer rather than how the employer could satisfy her.
I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Until I heard her comments, I had almost forgotten that people like her still exist.
Ok, I will admit that I’m being more than a little facetious with that last paragraph, but this woman’s attitude does sound almost foreign to some people today. The more popular thinking today seems to be tilted toward pleasing the employee more than producing for the employer. It is my understanding that some modern “workplaces” more closely resemble a playground for adults than a facility where production expectations and standards are both high. The “bottom line” seems to no longer be the bottom line. Rather the goal today seems to be a happy environment.
Sadly, it seems to me that this type of philosophy is not limited to workplaces. If I remember correctly, there used to be a time when young athletes worked hard to attract the attention of successful college coaches. These young athletes “with stars in their eyes” wanted to show those coaches what they could do to help the team. They were even willing to expend a lot of effort and make some significant sacrifices in the hopes of making contributions to a team that would give them an opportunity.
All too often, that no longer seems to be the case. Now, coaches fly all over the country (if not the world) almost “with their hats in their hands” trying to impress a teenager with how he or she can benefit from playing for a particular team. Very often, that “benefit” has a lot less to do with an education than it does with dollar signs. It has less to do with learning the value of teamwork than it does with making the “brand” of the athlete more attractive.
Parents, are you paying attention? Has your home been affected by this new way of looking at things? Have things like honor, respect, responsibility, and expectations gone the way of the horse and buggy in your home? Have they been replaced by an overriding desire to make sure that the children are entertained and happy? If those things happen to be the case, you may want to consider the interview I heard.
You see, the type of thinking represented by the remarks I heard during that interview may seem very “quaint” to a lot of people. Before we “laugh off” that type of thinking though, we might want to consider that it provided for her a rewarding career, the respect of her boss and coworkers, wonderful memories, and a lot of other positive things.
Maybe all of us could benefit from thinking more about service to others rather than thinking about having others serve us!
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AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
