My strangest recruiting moment recently was when I had to pre-screen a prospective candidate for one of my major clients and prep them for an interview.
Per her resume, she had everything our client was looking for, an impressive education from an Ivey league University with an advanced degree along with a pretty fast track career pathway working for many of the top tier companies in her industry. So here is the set up, we had already scheduled a prescreen in advance and confirmed via phone and email and she was already aware we had 30-45 minutes tops to complete this phone screen.
Well the phone rings and she answers as if she is sleepy, when I ask her if this is still a good time, she takes a couple of seconds or did it turn into minutes to reply? With every question I asked her and believe me I explained myself very thoroughly she would have another question for me. If I asked for ONE example she would provide FIVE. She would sway away from the topic at hand and start talking about traffic and events in the news. She would shock me at times because she would give great answers but then offset it with some crazy response. Half way into the screening process I realized we were already on the phone for over 30 minutes, mind you it was already 6:30 pm my time and I told her we needed to get this done or I could not move her along for the next step with the client. She apologized and said “ok I will just answer the questions”. “Thank the lord” I said to myself, but sure enough the next question she continued with her shenanigans and even started giving me health advice and talking about her health problems.
Boy oh boy I thought this phone call would never end. The entire time I was thinking she must really be good at her job because how has she lasted in all these top tier companies? Does she talk people to death? Is this how she makes her quota? Before our call ended I think I reminded her at least 2 more times that we needed to get this done and I had to leave to pick up my child but it did not seem to faze her much. I hope I never get anyone on the phone like this again, but I’m sure there are people who just don’t know when to stop and talk themselves right out of a job. GEEZ!!!
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I just returned from a wonderful trip to Myrtle Beach, SC…what a great place to go! You should try it some time. For families, I recommend Dunes Village Resort. OK, enough promoting those guys though they definitely deserve it. 
While at the beach I thought I would “stay on top of things” and bring my work laptop. At first it seemed like a good thing to do because I could keep up with projects and my colleagues but as the week moved on it almost felt like I never left the workplace. It was still pretty relaxing but answering emails, interviewing candidates , making calls all makes it seem like your butt is still in the seat.
Now don’t get me wrong, it is a nice luxury to not have to come back to 100+ emails etc but the price you pay is not really being able to “let go”, “let your hair down” and have that “Calgone Take Me Away Moment”. Also, most clients and candidates appreciate the extra effort, especially when you are on PTO. 
