Be honest with each interviewee, even if the job they're applying for involves milking a cow. Otherwise don't be surprised when they say "I didn't sign on for this."
It seems like common sense: when hiring employees, don't promise the moon if you can't deliver. But it's astounding how many hiring managers fail in this simple respect.
Here's the dangerous formula: a hiring manager is desperate to fill a position. A prospective employee is desperate for a job. Both are on their best behavior during the interview, and in the hurried high of finding a perfect match, the manager blurts out promises: no night shifts. This job requires minimal paperwork. Not lies: more like hopeful stretchings-of-the-truth. She's thinking she's pretty sure she already has enough staff for the night shift. Two hours of paperwork a day isn't a lot.
But when it comes right down to it, these hasty and secondary assertions are often deal-breakers. The employee leaves, disgruntled and disillusioned: you said no paperwork, yet it feels like all I do. You said no nights, yet I've been filling in for a month due to staffing issues. You said two shifts a week was fine, and I'm sorry half the staff has quit, but my circumstances have remained the same.
It's a two-way street, with prospective employees doing some of the same--blurting out that they don't mind working overtime when the reason they're job-hunting in the first place is for more free time. And it's understandable: unwillingness to appear flexible on either part could scare the other person off.
But when you think about it, the impulse makes no sense. Do you truly want a candidate who balks at paperwork, when that's a huge part of the task-list? Do you look forward to the conflict that will arise when the night shifts show up on the schedule? Yet it happens, because in the panic of a candidate search you begin to believe that no one will ever be perfect, and you'd better find someone good enough. Or at least, you know, breathing.
The reality is, somewhere out there is a person who doesn't mind paperwork. (I promise. I don't mind paperwork.) A person who prefers the night shift. And you'll never find him until you start asking for what you really want. And promising what you can really deliver. It will save everyone a lot of time, effort, and frustration in the long run.
And employees, that goes for you, too.
