Date: November 18, 2021 Wave to all my fellow readers and writers!
I am not able to write an article last night because I've prioritized the completion of my mandatory trainings and self-evaluation.
I am actually on vacation leave the entire week because the firm has mandated all of its employees to take 5 consecutive holidays. This is their way to make sure that all of its employees have sufficient time off from work.
I once became part of the hiring process in my previous and in my current job.
While some of the interviewer focuses on the technical skills of their interviewee, I am more interested with the candidate's attitude.
Why focus on attitude than the technical skills?
For me, technical skills are something that can be developed and can be learned over period of time.
There are lots of resources available online which we can use to learn new skills and enhance our technical knowledge.
Also, in our team, there are readily available documents and training materials being offered to our new joiners. There are training recordings we have prepared for our newbies.
That's what I told to my manager when I endorsed one of our candidate who can be considered as still junior because his total years of experience is only 4 years.
I even told my manager that I am a living proof that technical skills is something that can be developed and acquired over time.
When I joined my current team, I don't have any basic knowledge about Windows applications. My previous work experiences are about Mainframe Jobs, Cobol, Natural, JCL, DB2, and unix. I have a little exposure with java and shell scripting as well.
Fortunately, I am able to pass the technical interview. During the technical interview, I told the interviewer the truth that I do not have basic knowledge on Windows Applications.
Instead of focusing on the knowledge that I don't have, what I did during the interview is, I have showcased my other knowledge which I can share with the team. And one of them is my knowledge about trade life cycle. And fortunately, it's one of the main criteria being looked for from the candidates. Luckily, my previous client in my previous work is a financial institution, hence, I've got a chance to be exposed in trading cycle and trading terminologies.
Apart from that, I showcased my team player attitude. I am a good team player. I always collaborate with others to enhance my skills and of course, to share my knowledge and experiences as well with others.
I also showcased on how I usually manage a specific situation. How will I prioritize one task over the other. And that's it! I've made my entry to my current team successfully!
Upon joining the team, I have zero knowledge in any Windows application. But as days, weeks, months, and years passed by, I am able to learn little by little.
Why am I sharing all of these? Because in my more than 13 years in the IT industry, I've met and worked with different types of employees. And some of them became the team's headache because of their attitudes.
Not a team player
There were few who are not open to change. They are not open to suggestions or opinion of others. They treated themselves as the team's number one all the time. They don't want to be the second!. They don't play as a team but more of just as individual which is not appropriate because we should work as a group and as a team.
Credit Grabber
I've also encountered some who always grabs the credit which supposedly be given to others. He always say "I" instead of "WE" when discussing about ateam achievements. But in times of mishaps or when he commited any mistake, he don't usually admit it but point his finger to someone else. He will do everything to save himself.
Lazy
Admit it or not, in a team, there is always this lazy person whom all he want is to let the diligent ones work hard while they are chillin and relaxing in a corner, reading manga, or playing mobile legends. They don't have sense or urgency most of time. They do not volunteer not unless they are the only available person to do the specific tasks. They are not willing to put extra effort to extend shift to be able to help the team achieve a specific deadline unless the manager made it mandatory.
As a closing remarks, I just want to say that number of winnings or number of failures doesn't define a person. It is ones attitude! It is the way how a person interact with others. It is the person's way to manage or handle a specific situation.
By the way, that person I interviewed has successfully passed my Manager's interview and he is now part of our team. Like me, He don't have background as well with Windows applications upon joining but he is currently performing well because he has good attitude!
I tend to get lazy at times!