Hiring Committees--Lessons Learned

One of the select appointments that I enjoyed most during my years in the PTA was sitting on the school district’s hiring committees. I served on many. I learned much from the interaction and consensus building of the group. I also came to understand that which makes an interviewee palatable or not.

And on two separate occasions I found myself on a committee that included the former high school principal John Okulski. Mr. Okulski was a people person. He was an excellent judge of a candidate’s character. His background as a guidance counselor served him well. John was skilled at putting the interviewee at ease which enabled him to ask his two favorite questions: What is your greatest strength? To be followed by What is your greatest weakness?

It was this principal’s belief that self-understanding was the key to success no matter what position was offered.

And upon thought I would say that everyone’s greatest strength is always their greatest weakness.

When my middle daughter was around two or three years old I left the iron on and specifically told her not to touch it. I explained that it was hot and that she could get burned.

Minutes later I saw her holding her hand in apparent pain. I examined her hand and asked did you touch the iron? And she shook her head no, but said apologetically Yes Mommy.

It was a defining moment. My sweet little girl was, and has always been, incapable of pulling off a lie. It is one of the things I have always loved most in her—an inescapable conscience.

Briana’s honesty is her greatest asset. It is what holds her friendships together and gained her the respect of her workmates. It is what makes her so endearing. It is also why she didn’t get away with much as a teenager.

Sometimes honesty can be a flaw. I learned through my hiring committee experience that in this life one needs to tip-toe around the truth from time to time. Sometimes one needs to embellish reality—especially in the job interview process. If a candidate did not know the answer to a question, answering honestly with I don’t know didn’t get them passed on to the next level. The best answers always sounded like I would have to do some research on that before I would feel comfortable answering your question with precision or certainty.

And while John Oksulski’s loose management style was his greatest weakness, it in fact was his greatest strength. By not micromanaging and not viewing policies as absolute the culture at the high school under his reign was cohesive-enough and collectively fair. Morale was high. Teachers were free to be creative and students benefited from his belief in individually tailored educational practices.

And my ability to recognize the simultaneous existence of polar forces in all things is my biggest asset and my biggest flaw. The Chinese call it ying and yang. The Sophists call it dialectics. But my children would just call it Mom being annoying.