I thought I was dying on Monday.  No kidding.  I don’t know why I feel compelled to tell a whole bunch of strangers this, but hey what the hell!  About 1:30 on Monday afternoon I thought that I was having a heart attack…like an honest to God heart attack…like I thought this was it, white light, I’m going to straight to hell, do not pass go, do not collect your $200.  Turns out that I just had a little too much to drink the week before, but more on that and my sadly-getting-older-piece-of-shit-body later.  This might be a little long to explain but…I ALMOST DIED!  Cut me some slack huh?

I’ve never been as scared as I was on Monday during the whole ordeal so I phoned a friend of mine who is a PA specializing in Cardiology (“friend” of mine…haha…anyway) and had to leave her a voicemail that she didn’t pick up until like 3 hours later (check your voicemail Ames).  She called back, we chatted, she made several suggestions and eased my fears for the night (she’s stupid badass at what she does).  I awoke the next morning and made a doctors appointment and…well this is where my point starts people…hang with me.

Old doctors suck!  They know they’re old and they know you know that they’re old and they don’t really give a flying fuck about you.  They care about two things, old muscle cars and golf.  And, I should probably reverse the order on that.  My appointment was at 3:00.  Now, I haven’t been to the doctor in like 7 years but the one thing I remembered was that you’re appointment time was always 30-40 minutes earlier than you were actually going to see the doctor.  That’s fine.  However, I walked into the main “room” at 4:00…an hour later than my appointment time.  I saw the doctor at 4:25…an hour and 25 minutes later than my SCHEDULED appointment time!   

Old doctor walks in, asks me to breathe deep a couple of times and then spends the next few minutes telling me that it’s nothing but heartburn and that I should take some of these free heartburn pills and all should be OK…oh and to stop smoking (no shit genius!).  He then writes a chicken scratch referral for me to get an upper GI scan and leaves the room without saying goodbye.  His PA then turns to me and says, “Well I guess you’re done”.  Really?  As my buddy Chris Marion used to say, “AH HELL NO!”

On a scale of One-to-Pissed…I was pissed!

I decided that this just wouldn’t stand and that I had been given old advice by an even older and more decrepit doctor.  So, I decided to call “The Man”…the aforementioned “friend’s” father…the best doctor I’ve ever known, CEO of a major healthcare system here in Atlanta and one of the baddest ass cardiologists of all space and time.  This guy is to medicine as a hobo is to box wine…he devours it!  He is, as we say, the shit!

All I had to do was speak to him on the phone.  That’s all.  A brief 20 minute conversation provided me with an actual diagnosis of an actual occurrence having nothing to do with heartburn whatsoever and, more importantly, putting my anxiety and stress in the back closet with my summer clothes.  This was a real doctor.  This guy cared.  This guy WANTED to help me…he WANTED to be a doctor.  He was kind, he listened and he diagnosed.  Talk about night and day!  Thank you kind sir!

Think about this scenario when you [tag]interview[/tag]!  You have every chance in the world to be the “good doctor” when you interview your [tag]candidates[/tag].  Let those other agencies be that old, golf-playing, balding, decrepit, I-don’t-really-give-a-crap doctor.

The reason I take so much time in trying to prep you for an interview (just as much as I prep my candidate) is because I know what attracts candidates.  Better yet, I know what attracts the BEST candidates.  Sometimes it’s all in the [tag]presentation[/tag].  You’d be so surprised how you come across to people in interviews sometimes.  And, it’s not your fault because you’re just not thinking about it.  You get busy; you’ve got deadlines…insert long laundry list of things that can take away your undivided attention here.

You have to prepare for interviews just like candidates.  As I’ve said a million times, they’re interviewing you just as much as you’re interviewing them.  They’re sizing you up against agencies A,B,C and D.  You DO have competition and you always will.  Candidates want to know the same things that I did on Monday.  They want to know what your agency can do to help them in career growth, what you can do to bandage the career scars that their present agency has inflicted upon them.  What can you do to help?  Why should they choose you? 

You already know the answers to the questions, but you have to make them believe what you’re saying.  They have to trust you.  People only buy from people they feel they can trust.  That’s just Sales 101 right there baby!  If you don’t know how to sell your agency or how to present yourself in an interview, ask me.  It’s what I do and I do it every single day!  I’m here to help.  Use me!

• Keep your [tag]appointment times[/tag]
• Have a process in place that runs smoothly (smoothly running schedules are nice!)
• Unless it’s a relo candidate, the interview really shouldn’t take more than ½ a day
• Have a prepared vision of your agency that you can readily share with the candidate
• Sell your agency, sell your agency, sell your agency
• Treat your candidate exactly how YOU would want to be treated if YOU were interviewing

Follow these steps and you too can become a professional interviewer!  Order now and you’ll also receive this handy set of stainless steel knives! 

~l

“Moooooon River!  Using the whole fist there doc?”

                                                                        Fletch