Lighten up your Monday mood by watching these hilarious office pranks.
Lighten up your Monday mood by watching these hilarious office pranks.
2. A bear walks south for one kilometer, then it walks west for one kilometer, then it walks north for one kilometer and ends up at the same point from which it started. What color was the bear?
Answer below
3. An investor trading through a discount stock broker that charges $10.00 Dollars per transaction bought 200 shares of Vola Tile Corporation at $50.00 Dollars per share. The stock quickly increased in value by 50%, but then lost 40% of its value. The investor sold the stock. How much money did the investor gain or lose?
Answer below
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The Answer;
Answer 2: The bear was white because it was a polar bear. The only place on earth where a bear can go south, west and north equal distances and end up where it started is the North Pole.
Actually, the bear could go west two or five kilometers instead of one and it would not make any difference — the bear would be making a circle around the North Pole. East and West you travel along parallels which are circles equidistant from the poles. North and South you travel along meridians which are circles that cross both the north and the south poles.
Answer 3: The cost of 200 shares at $50.00 Dollars each is $10,000.00 Dollars.
The 50% gain on $10,000 is $5,000, making the new total $15,000.00 Dollars.
The 40% loss on $15,000 is $6,000, reducing the total amount to $9,000.00 Dollars.
This is a $1000.00 Dollar loss, plus $10 Dollars for the Buy transaction, and $10 Dollars for the Sell transaction.
The investor lost a total of $1020.00 Dollars.
Companies find it hard to attract and keep the top talent needed to staff a flexible office environment. Recruiting, a screening, and interviewing job candidate is an expensive process.
If only hiring good talent was as fun as easy as it appears in the movies, right? Imagine the stories of the best movie directors in Hollywood today, Quentin Tarantino and Paul T. Anderson, self-taught film directors. So how can a business find, recruit, hire employees that are good at what they do? Let’s see what we can learn from these two directors, and why they’re great at their craft…
1. Connect Talented Candidates With People That Recognize Tale
To often, good candidates with the right talent for the job are filtered out before making it to the interview.
Fortunately for Quentin Tarantino, the Reservoir Dogs script was handed to Harvey Keitel, who saved the movie after reading it. Keitel encouraged the project to be “green lit” by a movie studio.
Anderson has a similar story. Actor Phillip Baker Hall recognized writing talent in the script of Cigarettes and Coffee. The script was handed to him after meeting a production assistant- a young Paul Anderson- on the set of a PBS movie. Hall went on to star in the film, helping to give the budding director exposure and name recognition.
Talent and skills are appreciated and admired by other, building friendly rivalries. This brings out the best work from each participant, making talented hires a “must”. The winning test of a candidate is if their prior job history or work is admired buy other people in their profession.
Peers’ opinions are far more relevant to an applicant’s suitability than a dozen keywords filtered wielded by recruiters or Human Resource personnel.
2. The “OK” Employees Know The Job Well Enough; The Great Employees Know Everything About It
Anderson and Tarantino are famous “Grade A” students, drawing inspiration and ideas using their vast knowledge of cinema. Neither director graduated film school: Both were self-taught, yet continue to create incredible films.
Does your candidates know about the history of your business? What about the history of the profession they practice? What business trends does an applicant foresee that could affect your business? Who does the candidate admire professionally and why?
Questions such as these should be asked of any person seeking a role. Reject candidates who give “average” answers.
3. If A Person Wants To Be Elsewhere, Being The Smartest In The Room Won’t Help
Are your candidates genuinely excited about what they do? Do they genuinely care, or are they only applying for better paychecks?
Studies have shown incentives don’t necessarily motivate employees to do better work. So how do you motivate them?
If you’re Paul Anderson, knowing that others care about movies as much as he does is extremely important. In a similar vein, Tarantino believes that having quality people in his movies an absolute necessity.
Incidentally, be wary of judging a book by its cover: Being passionate about work is entirely different from being a glorified cheerleader: That’s a common mistake made when interviewing introverts. And, speaking of judging candidates superficially…
4. Embrace Eccentricities
Creative personalities can be eccentric, and can find the interview process daunting.
Anderson and Tarantino both have been known for the occasional eccentricity or oddity in their behavior or appearance. Anderson has a reputation for unkempt hair, and Tarantino is famous for his perpetually animated talking style. These types of behaviors and slightly ruffled mannerisms can be toxic during an interview.
Although requests are repeatedly made by companies to find “out of the box” thinkers, paradoxically they’re often removed by the process that businesses rely on to recruit them.
5. Use Strength To Eliminate Weakness
So what’s the best way to find a Tarantino or Anderson?
Using an effective HR department to actively recruit candidates—eliminating keyword-filtering recruiters—is a great first step. Afterwards, involving department managers and team members, in concert with the vetting procedures of HR, will give your organization a cast of “great characters.”
It all adds up to a timeless “box office smash,” that’s sure to fill seats in your organization for years to come.
There are countless films that highlight the glamorous (and usually unrealistic) lives of people with fast-paced jobs. Stockbrokers, salespeople, realtors, even accountants. All of these professions have had their time in the cinematic limelight. Recruiters? Not so much. There are, however, a few films that do highlight recruiters in ways that give the profession its due. Here are four films that feature recruiters in some capacity, from the corporate world to the crime world to the military world, and the lessons that come with them.
1. Headhunters
Headhunters is a Norwegian film that enjoyed a lot of critical acclaim, and one of its stars is Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, the man famous for portraying Jamie Lannister on Game of Thrones. The story revolves around Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie), one of Norway’s most successful recruiters who finds himself helping Coster-Waldau’s character, the slick Clas Greve, find a job at a successful GPS technologies company. The flipside of the plot is that Brown is an art thief who targets his high-profile recruits and takes their prized paintings. Brown and Greve enjoy lunch and a game of squash to talk more about the job, and it is here where the plot takes a sharp turn away from recruiting. Brown’s success as a recruiter stems from his charm and connections with big-name companies, but his failure lies in the fact that his charm is disingenuous, and Greve picks up on that. The takeaway from Headhunters? Don’t try to trick (or steal prized art from) your candidates.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpOrx5az7Fg
2. Sexy Beast (2000)
Movies that deal with crime almost always involve a seedy character trying to rope in a former criminal gone straight for one last crime. Sexy Beast, a British heist movie, features ex-con and expert safecracker Gary “Gal” Dove, played by Ray Winstone, who is targeted by Don Logan (Ben Kingsley), an old criminal associate, to join a bank heist headed up by a formidable crime lord (Ian McShane). Don Logan is more or less the crime lord’s recruiter, doing whatever it takes to land the right person for the job. Unfortunately, Logan is also an unhinged sociopath whose efforts to enlist Gal involve threats, barrages of insults, and attempts to woo Gal’s friend’s wife. Eventually, Gal, his wife, and his friends end up killing Logan after Logan attacks Gal in a hate-fueled rage. Gal actually winds up performing the job to quell suspicion in the wake of the murder, so at least Logan accomplishes his goal, even if it does cost him his life. The takeaway from Sexy Beast? Don’t be too aggressive in pursuing your candidates.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99ihhUR8lkI
This financial success from earlier this year has the word “recruit” in its title, so its relevance speaks for itself. While the Jack Ryan franchise has never featured any kind of recruiter from the staffing world, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit does involve an entertaining recruiting process. Jack Ryan, played by Chris Pine, has an MBA from the London School of Economics and experience with the Marines, so his unique skillset attracts the attention of Thomas Harper, played by Kevin Costner, who is a high-ranking CIA officer working in counter terrorism. While Ryan recovers from a military injury, Harper tracks him down and gets Ryan’s full attention when Harper says to him, “I’m in the CIA.” It is a ridiculous moment that is heightened by Ryan’s incredulousness, but Harper’s recruiting strategy is sound. He doesn’t even need to describe the position to Ryan; he just sells him on the CIA brand. When the two do talk, Harper mentions how he enjoyed Ryan’s thesis from his MBA studies and how invaluable Ryan’s education is. Ryan is sold even further, respecting the fact that Harper does not just see him solely as a military asset, and he opts to work undercover for Harper as a compliance officer. The takeaway from Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit? Always be knowledgeable of the depth of a candidate’s prior experiences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9KAnx4EvaE
This might be the only film out there that truly zeroes in on a staffing company’s actual process, albeit there are a few flaws with it. Mila Kunis plays Jamie Rellis, an executive recruiter who tracks down Dylan Harper, played by Justin Timberlake, for a creative role with GQ, the popular men’s magazine. Jamie goes about her recruiting in a rather unorthodox way (but perfect for the movies) in that in her effort to convince Dylan to move from Los Angeles to New York City, she takes him out in the big city to show Dylan how great it is to be a New Yorker. Of course, Dylan is convinced because Jamie makes NYC look amazing. Anything to land that commission check, right? Jamie’s recruitment of Dylan leads to a friendship and then a casual romance, so the business side of things ends pretty quickly. There is one crucial moment later in the film that revolves around Jamie’s commission, because Dylan hints at possibly leaving his new job at GQ before his contract ends, which would mean less money for Jamie. It all works out in the end, because it is a lighthearted romantic comedy, but that does not mean there is not a lesson to be learned. The takeaway from Friends with Benefits? Don’t let your candidates get away with too much, because your commission may be at risk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJS-wWqVAyk
Hollywood has not figured out yet how to make a blockbuster based solely on the staffing industry, and it does not seem like The Wolf of Recruitment will be coming out any time soon. For now, check out these movies and have fun trying to think up the next great recruiting archetype.
Recruiters work with people all day every day. Between reaching out to candidates about job opportunities, phone screen potential hires and meeting with clients, a recruiter is constantly have a conversation or building a relationship with someone. Through all of these meetings, candidate placements and interviews, a few comical and crazy things are bound to occur, some so ridiculous you may not even believe them to be true, which is why you should let the Zero Fee Recruiter team weed out all the crazy people for you, before you begin building relationships with prospective candidates. Here are three stories:
I’m going to try to sum up the incredibleness of this as best as possible. I had a candidate a few years ago fly into Minnesota from Michigan for a final on-site “formality” interview. Pretty much if he just showed up and didn’t thoroughly embarrass himself, he was getting the job. Well, let’s just say he more than thoroughly embarrassed himself and left without an offer, but rather a trail of unforgettable calamities.
Let’s call the candidate Dorf to protect his innocence Dorf started out by meeting the hiring manager at the airport. The hiring manager told Dorf to look for someone in Chicago Bears gear (he was in the heart of Minnesota so he should have been easily identifiable). Dorf walked right past the manager and proceeded to slam into the glass door of the airport face first. He turned around not more than ten feet from the manager in Bears gear and called him to ask where he was, to which the manager replied, “I’m right in front of you.” The events of horror for Dorf were only getting started.
The interview did not start off much better. An employee at the company accidentally had opened the door to the conference room he was interviewing in and Dorf yelled, “HEY GET OUT OF HERE!!!!” and startled the poor young woman. The other employees were horrified.
After the first part of the interview was completed Dorf and the interviewees went to a different room to meet with other managers. As Dorf walked past an empty office one of the employees asked another where the employee was and Dorf chimed in, “He’s probably doing nothing as always.” Dorf has never even met this person.
If you can believe it things actually got worse. When asked what his life goal was Dorf replied, “To sit on the couch, do nothing and have my wife wait on me.” When asked how he deals with conflict Dorf replied, “Hide under my desk and wait for it to fix itself.” I could go on and on with unforgettable quotes, but I think you get the picture.
Needless to say he was not hired, if you can believe it. From that day forward any screw up at the company is known as a “Dorfism.” We did receive a pretty entertaining e-mail from the hiring manager, which summed things up:
Flying a guy to interview for a position…$850
Breakfast, lunch & dinner…$120
Watching the fool walk into a Plexiglass wall…PRICELESS!
Once, I was working with a candidate who went to a third interview with a company for a full time position. She was sitting with the CIO and when he asked her how she felt about the company and the position. She answered, “I am so excited I could just wet myself.” She was very surprised she did not get the job.
I have been recruiting for a while now, so I have my share of crazy stories. A few Friday’s ago, however, something happened that has never happened to me before. If it didn’t actually happen to me, I don’t think I would be able to believe the story even happened at all.
I submitted a candidate’s resume to a client’s position who was currently working, but wasn’t happy in his present role. He was looking to get back to his hometown, which happened to be five hours away. Despite the candidate living a five-hour drive away, the client requested a face-to-face interview, which made things a little more complicated. The candidate wanted to take the in-person interview on either a Monday or a Friday, so he could ask for a long weekend and would be able to make the long drive to see his potential employer face to face. I was able to secure an interview time for him on a Friday afternoon, which worked great, as he could leave Thursday, drive the five hours, get a good night’s sleep, and arrive to the interview without being rushed.
Well, the interview came and went on Friday afternoon. The candidate called in and said that everything went well and wanted to know if we had any feedback. Here is where things get funky. The client sent us an email regarding the candidate, detailing the post interview activities. When the candidate left his interview, he drove the wrong way in the parking lot and crashed into the manager’s car. Not only did he crash a car, but also when the police arrived, they found him to be operating the car with fraudulent license plates, and no insurance. A tow truck came and took the car away. The kicker is that the candidate called me after everything had happened and told me that he thought the interview went very well. As you can imagine, he didn’t get the job.
Recruiting today is not an easy task. Between working with both clients and candidates to set expectations, understand their needs and match the right people with the right opportunities, recruiters must be agile, resourceful, patient and – not least of all – able to work well under pressure. It’s a wonder how some recruiters have enough time in the day to meet these challenges and make it home in time to watch “Grey’s Anatomy.”
So how do they do it? They’ve mastered the following seven habits to set themselves up for success.
Recruiters, tell us: What habits have you developed that help you find success in working with clients and candidates?