“If you don’t use me as a reference, you’re too dumb for them to want to hire you.”
– A former mentor of mine
In the past month, I’ve been asked to provide references for five or six former employees. It’s a great honor and gift to be asked, really. I often quote a guy who took me under his wing in the most formative years of my career. The quote above is from him, and he’d repeat the quote every single time I talked to him from 1988 on.
As I type this on Thursday night for posting on Friday the 13th, I realize I’ve been lucky again. I just completed filling out a reference form for a former employee, who’s looking at his dream job.
It got me thinking about the way we measure success, which got me thinking about two of my favorite questions from The Heston Group Sales Pro Interview Template.*
- Think of your best boss ever. What is the worst thing they would say about having to be your leader?
- Think of your worst boss ever? What is the best thing about you that even they would have to agree is true?
When you give an honest reference, you help the hirer and the hiree. You help yourself. You help the market. We can’t afford to take it lightly.
*If you’d like help with selecting the right sales talent you should have me help you implement a new approach to interviewing sales candidates. Just sayin’…
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