Why Did He Hire Me?

Why Did He Hire Me?


In Crazy Like A Fox I was hired during a job interview that lasted no more than twenty minutes. When you read that posting, did you ask yourself, why did Wes get hired that easily?

If you didn't, believe me, I did ask that question of myself many times, but strangely enough, I did not ask it until years later. At the end of the interview, I was too young, perhaps too confident, and certainly too inexperienced at looking for a job to think it was unusual. Now I mentor people needing help in finding a job and realize just how strange that interview with Mr. X was.

The world was different then, certainly the culture in the Middle-West was. When I walked into Mr. X's office, all he knew about me was what he had been told by the professor at the Illinois Institute Of Technology.

He did ask me where I was working at the time, and how long I had been at the job, but he did not ask me why I was looking for a different position. I did not furnish him with a resume, I had never written one at that time in my life, and I did not fill out the company standard employment application until two weeks after I started work. The application was one sheet of paper.

I realize now that Mr. X made a gut decision based on the professor's recommendation and the perception that formed in his mind when I walked into his office. He was a man of few words and, at that time, so was I. I remember that I did nothing to sell myself into the position because I was quite happy with my present job and did not want to move away from the house we had just finished building with our own hands. Yet, when I left his office I had a job that was mine to take or refuse and it included a salary, greater than the sum of Amy's and mine. I respected, but did not like Mr. X, and was neutral about the General Manager I would "report" to. We took the job for three reasons: The challenge, the small town environment, and the salary, in that order of importance.

The challenge was to "put the plant in the black" and "you can't spend more than $50.00 on a single purchase order." I did not learn until the end of the third week on the job, that my salary of $600.00 per month was $100.00 more than the General Manager's.

I tell you this because you will be looking for a position or be looking for someone to fill an important position at some time and this may give you a bit of perspective.

To give you some additional perspective, the year was 1953, any man my age had served in uniform, and a weeks supply of groceries for we three, cost $30.00 including ample quantities of meat and some beer. $600.00 was a very good salary.

Would you have hired me?

Why do you think, Mr. X hired me?

Have you had a hiring experience similar to mine?

Wes Zimmerman

Wes Zimmerman on LinkedIn