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JEREMY CLARKE, from page 1
conflict, reduced team cohesion, reduced morale, bitterness, drama, stress, etc. It gets worse. As mentioned, the narcissist is driven by an unrelenting need for admiration and validation. So much so that they can’t set any vision on the best interests of the firm, and so they tend to make self-serving and poor strategic choices. Perhaps most toxic, the narcissist believes everyone should carry the same opinions they do, and if you don’t, you’re some breed of idiot. They are relentlessly dogmatic and condescending creatures who are unwilling to consider new ideas that do not originate from them. They stifle and suppress every climate of innovation, and they militantly resist any personal feedback or constructive criticism. Truth be told, despite all their dogma, condescending behavior, and outward confidence, the narcissist is haunted (consciously or subconsciously) by a fragile ego and an unstable self-image that is highly sensitive to criticism or perceived slights. Their inflated self-image is ultimately a defense mechanism deployed as a means of avoiding confronting their own secretly known flaws and insecurities. HOW TO SPOT A NARCISSIST. Spotting a narcissist in a job interview is not easy. Like I said, they can be incredibly personable, captivating people. But there are tell-tale signs and cues that if carefully observed and calculated can effectively remove all that charming and deceptive veneer. Here are my four go-to cues to keep an eye out for during the interview: 1. Loud self-promotion. Narcissists love to talk about themselves (no surprise there), often with elevated volume and exaggerated speech related to their own achievements and abilities. They may even dominate the interview with anecdotal stories of their personal successes (usually eliminating any reference to their former failures). 2. Laser self-focus. In my experience, narcissists will usually show very minimal interest in the firm beyond how it benefits them (their advancement, compensation, benefits). Their questions about the firm’s history, values, mission, etc., will be few or gratuitous. Furthermore, the answers they give to your questions won’t usually express consideration for team-oriented contributions to previous successes or any kind of collaborative successes. Their focus is dominated by “I” toward their personal gains and individual achievements. 3. Name-dropping. This cue is virtually fail-proof. You show me a candidate who does a lot of name-dropping in an interview, or who boasts about some “prestigious” connection they have, and I’ll show you a classic narcissist looking to their affiliation with status symbols as some bizarre external validation. 4. Dogma and superiority. Another fail-proof cue. As mentioned, narcissists believe they have intellectually “arrived” on whatever their subject matter expertise is (regardless of what measure of expertise it might be) and that everyone around them is some breed of bumbling lesser-evolved idiot. Listen closely for opinions presented in condescending, overly animated tones and as unchallengeable truths. Don’t be charmed, don’t be fooled. A narcissist in any organization is a nightmare and a culture killer. Avoid them at all costs. No matter how affable and charismatic the candidate may be, keep your guard up and your eyes peeled by knowing these four reliable cues and by asking the kinds of probing questions that can remove the veneer and dig deeper into the candidate’s true experiences, motivations, and attitudes. Jeremy Clarke is chief operations officer at Zweig Group and the CEO of Emissary Recruiting Solutions. Contact him at jclarke@zweiggroup.com .
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