Criticisim too much not enough

gerrycollins

Recently I have been to two interviews for roles which I am ultimately perfect for having done the same role for about 8 years.

One role I was not fully sure I would get it for reasons beyond my experience(distance, long story, bad pun) however towards the end of the first interview I commented that I had visited the place of work a supermarket and with that I was asked loads of questions about changes etc I would make so on so forth from my visual inspection of the shop. I did not think I came across too critical because in fact the shop was very well organised etc. I got positive feedback and a consideration if another role came up.

When I didnt get the above role I wasnt dissappointed overall so when another similar role with a dfferent shop came along I spent a full day studying the shop and doing SWOT's and doing a self mystery shopper activity.

When it came to interview and during which I commented about visiting the shop, not what I did, again I was asked to critique the shop. Now the difference here was that even from the off the shop was poorly operated and disorganised and that was only from a front door perspective. There were glowing mistakes and errors and as I called them school boy errors relating to the grocery trade. As the interview went on I felt I was maybe too critical to the point of insulting the organisation however I constantly remined them that I was no way perfect myself but the head of operations agreeded with me and said the location needed an overall "fresh pair of eyes" needless to say I didnt get the role which surprised many

sorry for the long winded but at what point during an interview are you not critical enough showing that you have not got a keen eye or too critical to be insulting when the issues raised are as plain as the nose on your face?

Welease

As with most things... it will depend (imho)..

It's easy to be critical, fixing the problem is more complicated.. and I assume they are not hiring you to point out their failings ... while being critical are you being constructive about what is wrong?, how you would change it?, and the benefits of doing so? Did you give good examples..
Are you correct? I have had plenty of junior staff over the years tell me something is wrong or stupid.. it's not, they just don't understand the bigger picture.. and their criticism just displays a lack of deeper understanding of the situation, not a technical insight into a problem that is beyond other staffs understanding.
How did you phrase the criticism? Know-it-alls or abrupt phrasing can get many people's backs up. It may sounds good to point out every problem in a direct manner, but if you lose the trust/respect of those who you are talking to.. then you probably just made a bad situation worse..

And it's worth remembering.. there may be a lot more qualified people around who were also going for the job.. you failure to land these jobs may not be an indication of anything personal or professional about you.. there are just lots of very experienced people going for roles atm..

Best of luck.

Edit - I meant to say.. The "schoolboy errors" comment is where I would consider you maybe overstepped the line language wise. The interviewer could think you were arrogant and prone to personalising problems which is never good.. I would suggest listing the areas for improvement and how/why they should be done without resorting to what some could consider as petty insults.

gerrycollins

Welease wrote: »

As with most things... it will depend (imho)..

It's easy to be critical, fixing the problem is more complicated.. and I assume they are not hiring you to point out their failings ... while being critical are you being constructive about what is wrong?, how you would change it?, and the benefits of doing so? Did you give good examples..
Are you correct? I have had plenty of junior staff over the years tell me something is wrong or stupid.. it's not, they just don't understand the bigger picture.. and their criticism just displays a lack of deeper understanding of the situation, not a technical insight into a problem that is beyond other staffs understanding.
How did you phrase the criticism? Know-it-alls or abrupt phrasing can get many people's backs up. It may sounds good to point out every problem in a direct manner, but if you lose the trust/respect of those who you are talking to.. then you probably just made a bad situation worse..

And it's worth remembering.. there may be a lot more qualified people around who were also going for the job.. you failure to land these jobs may not be an indication of anything personal or professional about you.. there are just lots of very experienced people going for roles atm..

Best of luck.

Edit - I meant to say.. The "schoolboy errors" comment is where I would consider you maybe overstepped the line language wise. The interviewer could think you were arrogant and prone to personalising problems which is never good.. I would suggest listing the areas for improvement and how/why they should be done without resorting to what some could consider as petty insults.

the examples I gave were day to day stuff really and would be rectified by anyone with an eye for detail. I did give some options that I would use to fix these issues.

there were one or two bigger issues and again I said that a starting from scratch approach with these issue were the only way as nit pcking various issues within the bigger picture would not work in the long run.

I pointed out 5 issues big and small and in my experience the best way to highlight these issues was the straight forward way without an attitude becasue if one of my peers came in they would see the same issues without even having to look for them.

fair enough on the school boy errors comment

tks

Welease

gerrycollins wrote: »

the examples I gave were day to day stuff really and would be rectified by anyone with an eye for detail. I did give some options that I would use to fix these issues.

there were one or two bigger issues and again I said that a starting from scratch approach with these issue were the only way as nit pcking various issues within the bigger picture would not work in the long run.

I pointed out 5 issues big and small and in my experience the best way to highlight these issues was the straight forward way without an attitude becasue if one of my peers came in they would see the same issues without even having to look for them.

fair enough on the school boy errors comment

tks

Sounds like you were not too far off the mark then.. It just might be that unfortunately there were better suited people..

One final point which might be worth mentioning.. And this will very much depend on the seniority of the role etc.. but sometimes when people believe they are fixing the problem they are only addressing a symptom not the problem.. (and I have no details on the questions, issues or your answers, so this is not a personal comment just a general comment )

As an example... (and I don't work in retail so it's likely a poor example).. if the problem you raised was promotional material being in the wrong place (i.e. at the back of the store).. That is not in itself the problem.. the problem is that the staff don't understand the value of the advertisement/marketing, the strategy and importance of those to the results of the company.. The symptom is that they just shove the branded material in any available space because they have been told to display it.

If you propose the solution is to move the material.. You haven't actually fixed the problem.. and in 2-3 months the same issue will likely occur again.. (and if a shop has lots of similar problems this may be a good indicator of a lack of understanding)..
A better solution may be to understand that this is a training/coaching issue, and that the relevant staff need to understand the intent of the material, how it works and how best to utilise it within their particular store.. Given an understanding of how this works, they are far less likely to make the same mistake in the future, and would hopefully spot other oppportunities.

If you made a "school boy error" comment and your solution was a) I wouldnt be so impressed, and may just consider you arrogant.. If you made the comment and your solution was b) I would probably not dwell on the poor choice of words ..

But as I say.. with very little detail on what was said in the interview it's difficult to be specific.

gerrycollins

Welease wrote: »

As an example... (and I don't work in retail so it's likely a poor example).. if the problem you raised was promotional material being in the wrong place (i.e. at the back of the store).. That is not in itself the problem.. the problem is that the staff don't understand the value of the advertisement/marketing, the strategy and importance of those to the results of the company.. The symptom is that they just shove the branded material in any available space because they have been told to display it.

If you propose the solution is to move the material.. You haven't actually fixed the problem.. and in 2-3 months the same issue will likely occur again.. (and if a shop has lots of similar problems this may be a good indicator of a lack of understanding)..
A better solution may be to understand that this is a training/coaching issue, and that the relevant staff need to understand the intent of the material, how it works and how best to utilise it within their particular store.. Given an understanding of how this works, they are far less likely to make the same mistake in the future, and would hopefully spot other oppportunities.

on the point you raise, one of the issues I highlighted did have a simple and straight forward conclusion to prevent it happeneing again however I said that because the issue was probably never addressed before(underlying issues) it would take a serious amount of re training of certain people to make sure that this simple (very very simple) issue would not arise agian.

Also in the same issue one of the interviewers seemed to take offence that I brought this subject area up as it was a bone of contention within the company. I merely stated that if there was an issue with this specific area then that was for the company to fix/change however the problem that I saw in this area would reproduce around the store and that was the bigger issue.

I hopefully never come across arrogrant however I dont know the other person from adam so I dont really know what way they are going to take to me. I always tell it like it is and hold no punches if asked to.