10 Good Reasons Why I Won't Hire You

There comes a time in your career where you just have to expand. That’s my advice. I’ve given that little no-brainer out since I started leading seminars years ago. I decided it’s time to take my own advice. At the urging of several clients of two of my organizations, Organization of Legal Professionals and The Paralegal Knowledge Institute, I decided that I would tackle the interesting, rewarding and what-I-think-is-fun natural expansion to continuing legal education – career coaching. Yep, I wanted to get into muddy waters, roll up my Neiman Marcus sleeves and dive right in.

Clients started coming and I haven’t even quite finished the web pages about the new divisions, Career Rx. Someone must have a lot of faith in me and I sure do appreciate that. My focus is career strategy (where do I go from here?); resume evaluation; interviewing techniques and solutions for on-the-job situations. I’ve been a CEO, written 10 books on legal careers, co-founded three associations, have umpteen years in the legal field in executive level positions. Heck, I should put this experience to good use.

When I got into it, I had an Is-that-true? moment. People had no clue why they weren’t being hired. I would hear lots of complaints and heartbreaking stories. However, I also saw through some whining such as “there are no jobs out there”; I’m entry-level and no one wants to give me a break,”; “It’s pure age-discrimination, through and through”. Then, sympathetic LinkedIn and Facebook colleagues (many out of work), would chime in with empathetic support such as, “You’re right, there’s….” which only serves to enable the victimized candidate.

My evolving practice shows me there is not as many “no-jobs-age-discrimination-no-one-wants-entry-level" problems as people think. Some of these candidates weren’t destined to get a job if the market had a job for everyone including Batman, Superman, Cat Woman and Heidi from the Swiss Alps. The funny thing is, no one thinks they’re doing anything wrong. After all, they wrote a "great" resume and cover letter, wore their Sunday Best and gave ‘em hell during the interview. Someone needs to break the news. Problem is: people who don’t get jobs think the advice does not apply to them. It’s for someone else.

Truth is: they wrote a resume that wasn't very good, did not highlight their skills as related to the applied for job, had a boiler-plate cover letter, interviewed terribly and their "Sunday Best" belonged at a football game.

Here’s why I wouldn’t hire you:

1. You have no current additional training.

There are no webinars, courses, seminars or anything else on your resume showing that you have kept your skills up-to-date. How am I supposed to trust your knowledge? Is your current firm involved in professional training, training, training? I doubt it. Do you think you know everything you need to know to do your job? If so, you need to be president and even then, a little training wouldn't hurt.

2. I looked up your professional profile on LinkedIn and your Facebook page before I thought about inviting you for an interview.

You may think that employers are checking Facebook to see if you’re that 20 year-old posting pictures of you and your buddies wildly drunk at a party. Not quite. I saw where you got into a public argument on your FB page with Sally over some petty little thing. I saw how you escalated it into the War of Words. Did I think you were a leader? Hmmm….I wasn’t particularly fond of the fact that you encouraged your FB friends to jump in and defend you. Not my idea of a leader. Here’s an indication of what may show up on the job. No thanks.

Oh, and BTW, LinkedIn showed me different dates and firms than what’s on your resume. You profile didn’t seem to be updated, either. No thanks, once again.

5. I couldn’t get a word in edgewise during the interview. I figured you had a hearing problem, so I didn’t usher you out.

No one talks over the interviewer. Really, they don’t.

6. You refused to follow directions when asked to send your resume.

Don’t respond by saying, “check my LinkedIn profile” when I asked you to send a resume. I don’t care what the magazine articles tell you. I am not going to go through each candidate’s LinkedIn profile, make notes, try and cut and paste and incur all that extra work. What makes you so special that you think it’s ok to go against instructions? Then, you kept calling to see if I got your email and asking when was I going to schedule an interview. Annoying, really annoying. What this clearly says is, “This person cannot follow directions and wants to do things his way.” No thanks.

7. Your answers sounded rehearsed, routine and repetitious.

I heard no enthusiasm for the field, you had no idea of the outside world other than your last position, no real desire for the job, and no knowledge in what we’re doing. Your answers to why you left your last and prior positions were: “For a better challenge” or “I was recruited away” or “for more money”. Yuck! Mr. Creativity over here. Can we get just a little more honest?

8. You were not relating to the job I had to offer.

Whatever it was that you wanted, I sure wasn’t the person who was going to give it to you. Your answers were so far off base, I thought you dropped in to the wrong interview. You knew nothing about my organization, me nor the job. You spent most of the interview talking about your talent and experience that had no relevance to the job.

9. You interview badly.

I shouldn’t have asked you in after that ridiculous phone interview. When am I going to learn? Never second guess your gut feeling. It’s based on experience. I am sure you walked out of the interview thinking you aced it. Now I understand the phrase, “Ignorance is bliss.”

10. Your grammar was so bad, it was embarrassing.

It’s hard to believe you went all the way through college. On second thought, I’d better check that fact first. I also have no issue that English is your second language. I wish I could speak more than one. However, ESL or not, your written grammar made no sense and it’s my reputation at stake. Any usage of bad grammar and incorrect wording is going to reflect on me – not you. I’m not taking the risk because I have a soft spot somewhere in my heart and I like you. No way.