First impressions

You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Something to think about, isn’t it? Every time I do a training seminar on interviewing new hires, I emphasis how important it is that your first impression of someone is a key factor in helping you to determine whether or not the person should be hired. Generally if I hire someone in spite of gnawing doubts lingering from my initial interview I end up regretting it.

One employee exemplified this phenomenon. One of our managers came in and told me how much he liked this guy he just interviewed and asked if he could hire him. Since his experience at hiring was limited, I told him to bring him in for another interview with me and I would interview him personally. The guy showed up for his interview with the president of the company wearing casual clothes, loafer shoes and no socks. He slouched in his chair and seemed cocky and arrogant. After the interview I suggested that we not hire him; However the new manager literally pleaded his case. Against my better judgment I agreed to let him hire him. Later his criminal check showed he had received a D.U.I.
I called him and his supervisor in to discuss this serious offense. He was again cocky and not remorseful at all, stating that he just had a little too much to drink at his bachelor party. In fact he laughed about it. I suggested that we let him go, but again the supervisor pleaded his case and won. Next he was on a job out of town with a crew of other employees and on the second or third day on the job, he did not show up and/or call in. He also had the rental car necessitating that the rest of them take cabs to work. The next day he finally called in and said his father had a heart attack. I told his supervisor, (this was not the same supervisor who hired him), that I did not believe his story and even if his father had actually endured a heart attack, he still should have called in; however after he talked with the supervisor again, the supervisor said he was sure that he was all right. Further he stated that all of the people that this guy had trained absolutely loved him. The guy kept missing days and so forth and I smelled a rat. I told his supervisor that I believed the guy had been in jail, possibly a DUI. He talked with him again and assured me that it was not the case.

To make the long story shorter, the guy had indeed been arrested but it was for rape. He had been accused of date rape using a drug. This guy who was married, allegedly went to a bar picked up some girl, spiked her drink with a drug and took her to his motel and raped her. (This made a great impression on our customer by the way, who heard about it on the radio and saw it in the newspaper). I personally fired this guy and no supervisor talked me out of it. I should have listened to my initial instincts about this guy, because I sensed something was wrong from the beginning.

Have you ever noticed how different that decent spiritual people are from those who are non- spiritual? I think that perhaps the biggest thing that I notice is what I call the “pride factor”. Normally it is a cocky, haughty prideful impression that can be easily detected. We would all do well to just be humble and give God whatever glory we can, for without Him we are nothing.

——————————-

Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction
and a haughty spirit before
a fall.


———————————-