On Careers

I suspect hiring managers everywhere could tell you exactly when the economy really imploded: Last fall, I started to see dramatic differences in the hiring process from the employer's side. Everyone knows how the recession has impacted job seekers--there are fewer jobs and lots more competition--but here's what it looks like from an employer's side.

• To no one's surprise, there are way more applicants for any job I post. Overwhelmingly so. I look at every single one, so the amount of time involved has gone way up.

• I'm seeing more high-quality applicants. Generally, after the initial rounds of screening and phone interviews, I end up with a pretty small group of candidates who I'm interested in doing final interviews with--typically no more than three or four. These days, the group doesn't narrow itself down like that; I'm often left with far more high-quality candidates than I can interview.

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I picked up the morning newspaper yesterday to find out that Brad Pitt is in town!!!! Yes, it was front page news, and everybody was so excited. Except for me. I honestly can't see what the big deal is. In my opinion, he always looks like he could use a shower, a haircut and a shave. I don't think his acting is all that great either.

I know, I know, I'm out of step with the rest of the females on the planet. I just don't see what they see, and I would never have cast him in his first movie role. I probably wouldn't notice him if I passed him on the street. (Which could happen--because he's in town! Or maybe he left already. I admit I'm not monitoring this situation closely.)

Now if you're wondering why this career advice column has suddenly become a Hollywood gossip column (albeit a lousy one), hold on. I can't see what is so great about a particular actor, but the casting agent that first hired him could see it. And that person was right. I wouldn't have chosen him and I would have been wrong--not in a moral sense, rather, in terms of making good business decisions. It was right to give Brad his first break. That decision has made a lot of people a lot of money.

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One of the toughest challenges a manager can face is also one aspect of the job that, at the start, often seems like it's going to be great--managing a friend. Contrary to what nearly everyone thinks when they’re first considering it, it’s really hard. Indeed, very few people come out of it with their friendship intact.

But for some reason, no one believes this at the beginning. Everyone thinks it will be different for them. If there are problems, you'll just talk through them. It'll be great. And it often is at first. But then you discover things like this:

• Suddenly you have to keep secrets from your friend. You're going to have access to information that you can't tell her about.

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In my work, people typically come to me when the pain of a job that doesn’t fit becomes greater than the discomfort they think they would experience making a change. That reluctance to commit to change has often kept them feeling frustrated and stuck for waaaaay longer than they need to.

Change can be uncomfortable, to be sure. Even painful at times. But it is almost never as bad as people project that it will be.

Why do they think it’s going to be so bad? Because when they look forward at the future, they see one big hairball of change. Every step, every unknown quantity, every fear of things both imagined and real, all clump together in one big mess. And people look at that giant cluster of gunk and say, “Uhhhh…no thanks.” It just feels too overwhelming and scary.

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