what do you want to talk to me about?

by Alison Green on November 17, 2010

I’m doing a webinar over here soon, because I love webinars and am sort of becoming obsessed with them. It’s going to be either free or very low-cost. You’re going to be able to win things. Things from Apple. But the question is, what do you want the topic to be?

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{ 26 comments }

{ 26 comments… read them below }

  1. Brian Tate Asmussen*

    I think you should do a webinar on what is the best way to interview future talent. May of us managers think we are doing a good job interviewing, but are we really? It would be great to get a list of 5-10 must have questions to ask every candidate we interview. Should managers use situational interview questions? Behavioral interview questions? A combination of both? How should we interview the future leaders of our organizations?

  2. andreaunplugged*

    A webinar about good interviewing practices would be great. Or one about doing performance evaluations…since I've been putting off doing my employees' evaluations for a couple weeks now.

  3. Anonymous*

    Would you do something for people who are first time managers? It would be great to give them the benefit of your hindsight and wisdom now so they will know how to deal with the hard stuff later.

    Like what you think are the most common rookie mistakes and how to overcome them.

    Or maybe something on cautionary tales – like hiring horror stories – and what we can learn from them.

  4. Deirdre*

    I like the interviewing thought too. One area that I am not seeing candidates do well is ask good questions, assess the employer (this is very important too) and demonstrate confidence in KSAs.

    It might be nice to do a combined – 10 things every hiring manager should ask and 10 things every candidate should ask.

  5. Anonymous*

    I'd like to see some advice on post-interview procedure. What is the best way to handle receiving and negotiating an offer? Particularly for entry level in the gov/non-profit fields.

    Thanks!

  6. Chuck*

    May I suggest a webinar on helping convicted felons in their job search? It is coming upon the holiday season and those folks can have the hardest time finding employment.

    And, the benefit to others is that many of us need to know how to find a job when there's a skeleton in our closet.

    Perhaps is might encourage some managers to consider felons for employment w/o summarily dismissing them?

    Just a suggestion…

  7. Interviewer*

    Performance evaluations, and how to give tough feedback to people who can't take criticism. When it's good stuff, it's easy. When it's simple things like "proof your work product" some people get defensive, loud, angry, upset, emotional, paranoid, make a billion excuses, shift blame, etc. So yeah, how to handle those people.

  8. Erica*

    Love the idea of interviewing future talent. With definite focus on getting other people on board with technique and strategy as opposed to "I go with my gut!"

  9. Anonymous*

    How to manage passive-aggressive, particularly those whose work performance is great (but whose social/conflict resolution skills are not).

  10. David O'Neal*

    I like the idea of doing something for first time managers. Even old pros might learn something new…

  11. Ask a Manager*

    Wow — I am (pleasantly) surprised and gratified by how many of the suggestions are for topics on the manager side, rather than the employee side. I'd love to be answering more of those questions, but probably 90%+ of the mail I receive is from the employee side. Where have you guys been, just waiting for a webinar?

  12. Anonymous*

    Perhaps a webinar on "How to be the best employee?" I know it's broad…

    But I think it relates to EVERYONE. I read this blog and while the horror stories give me my daily does of schaundenfreude, I sometimes have a hard time finding a good take-away from each post that can be applied to me. How can I do a better job at my job? What do you like to see in your employees? What are warning signs of a bad employee? Etc.

  13. Kat*

    Perhaps you can include a segment on how to address a 1 year gap in your resume, if that period of unemployment is due to treatment and recovery from a serious illness.

  15. Anonymous*

    I would like to see a webinar on planning future talent needs, and how to incorporate current staff. The suggestions on handling passive-aggressive employees would also be great, particularly if you could address these issues in both small and large business model.

  16. Naama*

    Learning management tips actually makes me a better employee, and learning how to conduct an interview from the hiring manager's perspective makes me better at interviewing as an applicant — it's a matter of knowing what the manager's looking for and giving them that.

  17. Stephen*

    I tried to hire a person who'd been in prison once. I didn't even get to interview him because my boss gave an immediate NO.

    Then we find out 3 months later that 3 of our current employees were stealing from the company, I still wonder to this day if that ex-con would have worked out better than the supposedly 'honest' people.

    In relation to the actual topic.. I would love to see interviewing practices and the first-time manager topic… I've been a supervisor for a long time, but I still don't feel comfortable (or is that just me?)

  18. Anonymous*

    There's already tons of material out there on how to interview. How about something interesting and relevant to the times like how to efficiently screen through the hundreds of resumes I get. Or how to select the best fit when your overwhelmed with great candidates. Or the always relevant how to suceed under a crappy manager.

  19. Anonymous*

    How to manage up! I'm now in my second company where the manager doesn't want to handle anything (from performance reviews to discipline to policy-setting).

  21. Dawn*

    I'd love to see something on making the transition from middle management to senior management. Future talent planning would be great, also.

  22. Stephen*

    To anonymous at 12:11.

    There IS tons of stuff out there on interviewing, but almost all of it is based from the prospective employee side, not the manager side.

  24. Ann*

    It's my observation that many people do not get what they need when they begin a job. I think it could be of great interest to both employers and employees to hear you talk about how to create the foundation for working together. For instance, I have never had a boss go over the job description with me. Few have told me in advance how they wanted to be kept informed about my work, or how I would be evaluated. I think that, too often, we leave things for employees to figure out on their own, and then are disappointed when they don't meet our expectations.

  25. Hamzah*

    I would love to see a webinar on how new managers can pick talented, not only talented but also how can we choose the right people for the right job, basically how to search for the right person to do the right job. I can find talented people and recognize it but i'm just not sure if that talent is what I want for the job.

  26. The Seasick Mermaid*

    AAM, I think the reason 90% of your mail is from the employee's viewpoint is that your "About Me" says that's your preference: So if you're not sure what the hell your manager is thinking, or how to ask for a raise, or whether you might be in danger of getting fired, or how to act in a second interview … ask away.

    I'd like to know how best to manage up for those of us in positions that affect large parts of the organization, even though were in one place on the org chart (because they have to put us somewhere). On a related note, lots of educational and nonprofit organizations are going through tremendous change, both with budget and retirements. Cutting budgets or reorganizing does change culture. How do we survive and help contribute to a positive culture change during the chaos? What are the signs that we should stick around or run?

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