How to Spot a Nightmare Candidate

Interviewing candidates can be a scary proposition for many. Not everyone is trained to analyze all aspects of a candidate’s background and abilities, and to see through their resume to who they really are.

Agencies can help. They can do the legwork and simplify the recruiting process for you. However, not all agencies are created equal. You, the hiring manager, need to be keen to learn how to hire and what to look for too or you may have an agency send you three “top candidates” that could be an absolute nightmare for you!

In the spirit of the season, for example:

Candidate #1: Freddy Krueger

·       A  strategic thinker who can take the heat!

·       Has very clear motivations, and he seems to keep his emotions in-check

·       Tends to show a lack of empathy for others

·       Is driven to meet his goals even at the expense of others when they are most vulnerable

·       Not a team player and may take joy in the failures of others and may relentlessly torment them about it

·       Very process-focused and takes painstaking pleasure in the details

·       His Myers-Briggs results show that he:

o   has an attractive personality type that people dream about

o   commands attention and can make people listen

o   is extroverted and playful with others

o   is an intelligent problem solver no matter what the heat of the moment

o   is very pragmatic and logical thinker who uses factual analysis to slash through tasks

o   tends to exploit weaknesses in others for his own gain

o   is very creative and innovative in how he defines his work

o   believes that the chase is just as important as the destination

o   shows signs of fluctuating energy levels that make him unproductive for extended periods of time

Candidate #2: Jason Voorhees

·       A real get-it-done kind of person who you can count on to keep coming back!

·       Lacks effective communication skills and has a challenging time explaining what he wants

·       Tends to mask his emotions and play the victim

·       Spends little time on strategy and details, and more just aggressively executing the tasks at hand

·       May have tendencies to be obsessive with his actions due to past traumas

·       Extreme focus on the task at hand and nothing will slow him down from accomplishing the goal

·       His Myers-Briggs results show he:

o   is introverted and does well on his own rather than in teams

o   has complicated ambitions that he at times doesn’t fully understand

o   has a very methodical and systematic approach to his job

o   is not a procrastinator and prefers to just get the job done right the first time

o   tends to have tunnel vision that causes him to stop thinking and become reckless at times

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Candidate #3: Michael Myers

·       Productive to the point you’d think he was a machine!

·       Very uncommunicative to the point of being catatonic

·       Hard to decipher what really motivates him, but he is almost impossible to stop once he puts his mind to something

·       Has a primitive and obsessive intelligence

·       Has a bizarre and dark sense of humour that he uses on others

·       Anti-social and tends to hold grudges

·       His Myers-Briggs results she he:

o   has signs of lacking strategic awareness and just goes for it

o   seems to rely on intuition over factual judgements

o   has unrealistic goals and a singular thought process that can limit his upward mobility

o   is very structured and task oriented, and can be very pragmatic with how he finishes his tasks

As you can see, hiring can be a horror story. Don’t let it put a shiver down your spine. Let SJS help!

SJS Recruiting is a boutique recruitment agency offering quality services, a personal touch, and guaranteed performance … that won’t scare you!