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Job Interview
Column This interview question will help you find the kind of person you want to hire
How to find successful and high-performing workers…
11.00am, 28 Dec 2014
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MOST JOB INTERVIEWS tend to focus on how a given candidate will perform in the office, but it might be just as useful to ask interviewees what they will do once they no longer have to work.
In a post on LinkedIn, Taproot Foundation founder Aaron Hurst explains that asking a job candidate, “How would you describe your ideal retirement,” can give you valuable insight into how a person thinks about work — a crucial determinant of whether that person will be a fit for your company.
According to Hurst, the question will help you figure out which of three groups a person falls into in terms of their attitude toward working:
1. The TGIF Crowd: This group sees work as a means to an end — nothing more, nothing less. They’re always looking forward to the weekend and would almost definitely quit their jobs if they won the lottery.
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2.The Status-Seekers: These people see work as a way of gaining social status and prestige. They’re working to give themselves a positive identity and to show their peers how well they’re doing.
3. The Purpose-Driven Employees: These people find work meaningful in and of itself, and see their careers as a way of creating good in the world. They can’t stand the idea of not working.
Hurst writes that this third group tends to be the most successful and highest-performing workers, making them the sort of people you want to look for.
“My goal is to build a team of loyal, collaborative, innovative, high performers with high well-being,” he writes. “That is why this question has risen to the top of my interview list.”
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My daughter is six now, i can still remember driving her home from Holles Street and being nervous behind the wheel for the first time since i learned to drive back in the early 90′s. i was there when she spoke her first words and took her first steps, now i’m barred from her room as “Its not for boys”. Its amazing how they grow and mature and develop their own personality’s in front of your eyes, its hard work but i wouldn’t change it for ANYTHING. Being a Dad is the coolest thing in the world.
Ah Rick, you have set up a new twitter account for the sole purpose of trolling and you claim John Meade’s life must have been pretty lame prior to having children. You poor silly boy.
I agree, but after only after the fact..Before I had kids I thought no way,I’m not ready,I’ve so much stuff I need to do first,my life will be over when I have kids,am I even sure I want to be with this woman for the rest of my life,I’m not cut out for that responsibility etc etc. now I have two I couldn’t imagine life without them. Even though they can be right little w@nkers at times…
By the time my daughter was your daughter’s age I was out in Spain with her and flying back with just the two of us.
The only one that needs to do the weaning is you man. You don’t need women. Trust me, if you want to make the missus jealous and have HER doing all the housework instead of you, all you have to do is become the real primary parent. It’ll drive herself crazy if you are fully independent with the baby. Bonkers. Trust me, I’m further on down that road than you are as a the stay at home to a 2.5 year old.
When you reach true autonomy, she’ll get so jealous, guilty, and feel so useless, she’ll try to compensate by doing ALL the housework ALL the time.
OK Imogen. Clearly, (to me at least) I was joking. Maybe it was too subtle, or brash, and I should have added loads of smiley faces and reversed the genders in parts in my post. Then you may have viewed it differently. I know my partner would have found it funny, so perhaps it didn’t translate here.
“Yeah because every woman wants a guy that makes her feel useless.”
Therein lies the rub. It’s not a question of trying to make someone feel useless. It can happen anyway for a period of time when traditional roles are reversed, or when the mother goes back to work
At the exact point the author is at above with childrearing, I was there too, as was my partner in the recent past. I wasn’t trying to dismiss him at all, I was trying to encourage him. Granted, it was a poor attempt and very insensitive.
The author’s wife has just gone back to work post maternity. A lot of women feel guilty about that. For me, as a stay at home father, it took me years before having a child to mentally prepare for the reversal of traditional roles and get my head around it.
Perhaps I found the article almost funny in parts because I’m so hands on at this point. Perhaps I was also reacting to the author’s reality, where he seems to consider himself via the article and IMO , a third party almost to mother and child. That’s why I wanted to include him. He’s her father and not secondary.
But IMO this article was written by someone that considers himself outside the loop of mother and child, If I wanted to hear about his wife’s experience, I can read about womens experience of going back to work or motherhood everywhere and all over the net.
I saw the picture of Caitlin before I read the article, and the first thing I thought when I saw the red cheeks was ‘she’s teething’.
‘First time dad’, should be about the author’s experience, including his wife’s of course – that’s all part of it. But I wanted to hear about how he was feeling in particular and not how others were. Just my 2 cents.
I got it Niall. Lighten up everyone FFS, he was messing! It’s Friday night. Y’all get so precious about stuff. It’s a lighthearted article and he meant no offence.
I saw the pic and thought, yep, she’s teething! I’d know those hot, red cheeks a mile away and be reaching for the Teetha!
Stop trying to make me feel jealous and worthless, I’m not going to clean your gaff for you man no matter how hard you try to be the primary commenter in this relationship.
What a great read. Having a 4 month old daughter ourselves I can completely relate to this. Every time she is off or the least bit cranky its blamed on the dreaded teeth !! Having kids is such a learning curve that no ammount of book reading, internet researching can prepare you for but having said that its a totally worthwhile experience :)
Used to think like that, after having our first 7 months ago I’m gutted I waited so long and can’t wait to get started on the second. Total life changer but absolutely brilliant.
Really can’t stand people who go on as if there the only people on earth to procreate… I’ve 2 kids myself and I love them dearly.
But lads seriously, I don’t really care if your kid farts, belched or coughed. That’s what they’re meant to do.
Get over it.
I want to hear from you when they’re 16 and coming in wrecking the gap.
Goodnight.
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