ted Learning Podcast

We often forget that an interview is a two way decision making process. Many interviewing Managers believe it’s their decision alone as to whether a candidate is successful and joins the team. The reality is that the candidate is effectively interviewing you too – does your business live up to their values – does it feel like a good place to work, are you flexible if that’s important to them? What are career progressions prospects?

If we start all interviews mindful that the candidate is also deciding if your business is right for them, we are beginning the process of a candidate focused interview. Also, it’s worth noting that more and more candidates not only research the company but the person interviewing them! So be prepared for your social footprint to be explored by people considering joining your business.

Even when you don’t manage to take a sick day, stress and worry can seriously impact your performance: we’re all less productive when we’re tense, distracted by worry, and lacking sleep. The statistics back this up; according to the Institute of Directors one in three employees admit that stress and anxiety hinder them from completing projects on time. The negative impact of stress on company culture is clear; studies have also shown that it damages employee retention and commitment to the company.

There’s a lot of self-help literature out there about how helping others is actually a good way to help yourself. One of our favourite mantras at ted Learning – one that is often forgotten in the workplace – works the other way around: ‘Doing the best by yourself in order that you can do your best by others’.

Managing yourself is surprisingly difficult. It’s easy to take the attitude that ‘where there’s a will there’s a way’; to assume that since you know you want to be successful, you can trust yourself to always  push your hardest to get there, without needing to think strategically about motivating yourself to work. As long as you make enough time, you tell yourself, and waste fewer hours on luxuries like, say, sleep, you can exceed everyone’s expectations.