Business

As an Employee Will You Be High Maintenance?

Published

3 years ago

November 20, 2021

Nick Kossovan

There are two types of interviews I conduct:

Interviews where I’m post-vetting, and giving my approval, a candidate a member of my team has interviewed and would like to hire. I’m part of the check and balance aspect of the hiring process.
Interviews where the candidate will be reporting directly to me. When conducting such interviews, my goal is to determine whether the candidate fits me, my team and will be viewed by my boss as a good hire.

Whichever interview I’m conducting I have a question in the back of my head: Will this person be high maintenance?

Regarding job hunting and your career trajectory, here’s something to keep in mind: Being likeable supersedes your skills and experience. Equally important is coming across as someone who’s not difficult to work with, who won’t upset the current team dynamics and who won’t take up too much of management’s time.

Reflect on the interviews you thought you “nailed” yet didn’t get hired. While there are infinite possible reasons why you didn’t get hired, the two most likely are (a) you weren’t deemed a fit, or (b) you were seen as someone who’d be high maintenance—you were judged to be someone who’d bring issues, such as absenteeism, lateness, drama, into the workplace.

Besides selling your skills and experience during an interview pay attention to presenting yourself as someone your interviewer can see themselves working with, with as few issues as possible.

Candidates will tell me all kinds of things, which I assume is their attempt at being personable. Unfortunately, many times, even though they have the skills and experience I’m looking for and would be a good fit, they tell me things that make me think they’ll be high maintenance, the most common being:

“I hate my job,” or “I dislike my boss.”

An interview is not a venting session! Bad-mouthing your ex-employer, or current, makes you come across as being immature. In several instances, after some probing, I determined it was a sense of entitlement (The biggest turn-off of all.) that was skewing the candidate’s judgement of their job and/or boss.

You know you’ll be asked why you’re looking for a new job or why you applied job, therefore have a brief answer ready. “Now that I have my CPA, I’m ready to take on more accounting responsibilities with a larger company such as MomCorp,” or “The pandemic hit the hospitality industry extremely hard. Understandably Kellerman’s Resort had to lay off over 80% of its staff, which I was part of.”

“What’s the salary?” or “‘What do your perks and benefits look like?”

When you ask questions regarding salary, perks (“Will I get a discount in Leftorium’s stores?), benefits or how many paid sick days, and vacation days you’ll get, your interviewer will rightfully assume your priority is what you can get from the company, not what you can contribute to the company’s success, and you’ll max out your sick days.

Focus on selling yourself and the skills you’d bring to the role. Let your interviewer bring up compensation.

Offering unnecessary personal details.

It never ceases to amaze me the unsolicited personal details candidates will tell me. It’s my experience such candidates tend to cause drama.

Once I conducted a “formality vetting” interview, in which my team leader sat in. On the candidate’s resume, I noticed they lived in a part of Toronto I was familiar with and asked, “Do you ever go to Sneaky Dees?” It turned out the candidate was a musician who often played Sneaky Dees upstairs venue. For 20 minutes, he told me his “Sneaky Dees” stories, offering TMI (Too Much Information), which was to his detriment. Afterwards, I turned to my team leader, who’d interviewed this candidate for 45 minutes. I said, “You’d be surprised at what people will say to an interested stranger.”

Never offer personal details that are irrelevant to your ability to perform the job you’re interviewing for. I don’t need to know about your messy divorce or financial struggles, or medical history. (Unless you need medical accommodation.) Likewise, avoid sharing your personal views on politics or religion.

Getting hired today requires more than selling your skills, experience and being judged you’ll be a fit. You need to show that you’re easy to work with and will not upset the current work environment. You’ll not be doing your job search any favours if you appear to be someone who’ll be high maintenance.

______________________________________________________________

Nick Kossovan, a well-seasoned veteran of the corporate landscape, offers advice on searching for a job. You can send him your questions at artoffindingwork@gmail.com.

Business

Roots sees room for expansion in activewear, reports $5.2M Q2 loss and sales drop

Published

17 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Roots Corp. may have built its brand on all things comfy and cosy, but its CEO says activewear is now “really becoming a core part” of the brand.

The category, which at Roots spans leggings, tracksuits, sports bras and bike shorts, has seen such sustained double-digit growth that Meghan Roach plans to make it a key part of the business’ future.

“It’s an area … you will see us continue to expand upon,” she told analysts on a Friday call.

The Toronto-based retailer’s push into activewear has taken shape over many years and included several turns as the official designer and supplier of Team Canada’s Olympic uniform.

But consumers have had plenty of choice when it comes to workout gear and other apparel suited to their sporting needs. On top of the slew of athletic brands like Nike and Adidas, shoppers have also gravitated toward Lululemon Athletica Inc., Alo and Vuori, ramping up competition in the activewear category.

Roach feels Roots’ toehold in the category stems from the fit, feel and following its merchandise has cultivated.

“Our product really resonates with (shoppers) because you can wear it through multiple different use cases and occasions,” she said.

“We’ve been seeing customers come back again and again for some of these core products in our activewear collection.”

Her remarks came the same day as Roots revealed it lost $5.2 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of $5.3 million in the same quarter last year.

The company said the second-quarter loss amounted to 13 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Aug. 3, the same as a year earlier.

In presenting the results, Roach reminded analysts that the first half of the year is usually “seasonally small,” representing just 30 per cent of the company’s annual sales.

Sales for the second quarter totalled $47.7 million, down from $49.4 million in the same quarter last year.

The move lower came as direct-to-consumer sales amounted to $36.4 million, down from $37.1 million a year earlier, as comparable sales edged down 0.2 per cent.

The numbers reflect the fact that Roots continued to grapple with inventory challenges in the company’s Cooper fleece line that first cropped up in its previous quarter.

Roots recently began to use artificial intelligence to assist with daily inventory replenishments and said more tools helping with allocation will go live in the next quarter.

Beyond that time period, the company intends to keep exploring AI and renovate more of its stores.

It will also re-evaluate its design ranks.

Roots announced Friday that chief product officer Karuna Scheinfeld has stepped down.

Rather than fill the role, the company plans to hire senior level design talent with international experience in the outdoor and activewear sectors who will take on tasks previously done by the chief product officer.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:ROOT)

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Business

Talks on today over HandyDART strike affecting vulnerable people in Metro Vancouver

Published

2 days ago

September 12, 2024

Anne Joseph

VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, are set to resume today as a strike that has stopped most services drags into a second week.

No timeline has been set for the length of the negotiations, but Joe McCann, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they are willing to stay there as long as it takes, even if talks drag on all night.

About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people unable to navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last Tuesday, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.

Hundreds of drivers rallied outside TransLink’s head office earlier this week, calling for the transportation provider to intervene in the dispute with Transdev, which was contracted to oversee HandyDART service.

Transdev said earlier this week that it will provide a reply to the union’s latest proposal on Thursday.

A statement from the company said it “strongly believes” that their employees deserve fair wages, and that a fair contract “must balance the needs of their employees, clients and taxpayers.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.

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Business

Transat AT reports $39.9M Q3 loss compared with $57.3M profit a year earlier

Published

2 days ago

September 12, 2024

Anne Joseph

MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.

The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.

The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.

Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.

On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.

Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRZ)

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