Top 5 behaviors of 2009: “If you don’t like how I will work, go back to your country”

My old office had a major advantage, which I admit that I did not exploit enough: A wonderful garden located in the back of it. At the beginning of the summer it was blooming, with the wonderful smells of flowers invading in the conference room. "Mr Ilias, these are the cvs of the candidates for today's interviews". I opened the folder and took in my hands the cvs of 8 persons. "A cv", I thought, "a simple paper for some people, but very few realize how important it is… A progress of a lifetime described in few lines… and these lines can change someone's future". "Reports" were attached on every cv. They were describing to me why this candidate could be exactly who I am searching for…

Although I do not respect the majority of the Human Resources companies, I always work with couple of them, hoping to save time, money and energy. If the company is serious, you know that at least three quarters of the candidates

will come to the interview, usually a bit prepared. Don't laugh, this is very important. In the past we even reached the level of scheduling 2 interviews in the same time and another 2 every 15 minutes because we were sure that the candidates would not appear. This day I was supposed to interview 9 candidates, after almost one year of refusing to play the "hiring" game.

The "wound" of 2008 experience was still fresh… when I tried my luck through internet and Human Resources companies… and I ended up with more than 1.200 cvs, invited 200 candidates out of whom about 40 appeared for the interview. I hired 7 but 4 resigned when they realized that they really had to work and I had to stop with the other 3, who were nice people but not who I was looking for… My mistake…

"I can do the work that you want". "But you don't know anything about it". "Exactly for this I will do it"

Most of the candidates that day were women. The first one was really determined to work for my company, just that she did not want to know what it was all about… I tried my best, but the reply was always the same: "I can do it". In the end I smiled and asked her "But you don't know anything at all about this job, how are you going to do it?" "Exactly for this reason I will do it. Don't you offer trainings?" "I do, although…" "No, I want the job. All people deserve a chance. When do I start?" (She didn't start…)

I was very interested in another candidate, who wanted to leave from her job at that moment, as the company was "shrinking". She knew all about Real Estate and all the other tasks I was interested in assigning. She informed me that her salary was cut to half and that she needed the money so as to support her family. Looks like this family remained not supported, as she decided not to go on for the second interview… "we don't have so much work where I am now and I love the people, I can not just leave". The spirit of 2008 was still alive…

"If you don't like how I will work, go back to your country"

Then I met someone really amusing. I don't know who… forced her to search for job, but it was obvious that her idea about working was not exactly the same with mine. I thought I was supposed to interview her, but I had fallen on a… patriot! She was asking me plenty of questions, trying to identify my opinion about Romania and Romanians. She was also suspicious if we pay the salaries and social contributions on time (thank God, we do). In the end, I decided to interrupt and ask her some questions too. She had been "restructured" from her old work, as it was one of the first hit by the Real Estate crisis. But this company was famous for lazy people receiving huge salaries, producing almost… nothing.

Knowing all these, I dared to ask her "ok, you say you will work. What happens if you won't work, or if I don't like the result of your work?" "Youuuuu? Not to like my wooooork? This is impossible! I am a professional of very high standards. If you can not recognize this, then this is YOUUUUUUR problem, not mine. And if you don't like my work, go back to your country, you are not good to do business here, in Romania. Businessmen like you, we have plenty and better ones".

After the interview she also sent me an email, accusing me for several things, mainly for not recognizing for how great all Romanians are. In the same time she was informing me about 25 – 30 defaults that I have (she should take a number and wait in the queue), starting ofcourse with the fact that I am Greek, the mistakes of Fanariotes during the 18^th century and several others until today etc.

Miracle! Only one did not appear!

The rest of the candidates were… normal! What a surprise… which became even bigger when I realized that only one of the candidates did not appear (miracle). I finally chose two candidates, who are still my colleagues today.

Why don't I describe the normal behavior? Because (thank God) I am not so desperate (yet), considering the obvious stuff as very important. The described "different" behavior was typical during 2006 – 2008, but it surprised me to come across it also in 2009, a difficult year for most of the people. I wonder… is there anyone out there who still did not learn from the mistakes of the past?