Evaluating Character

There are candidates who present themselves and proclaim that they have a passion about a particular cause that makes them uniquely qualified because of the insights that passion caused them to discover. For the most part, this is a very real facet of gaining knowledge and expertise. It supplements knowledge of the primary discipline that, in turn, creates the ability to forecast consequences of one act compared with another on future outcomes.

Sometimes the interview will aid in discovering the candidate’s growing interest in their passion and how it’s applicable to the work they seek. Some will be insightful and bring this interest into the conversation at some strategic time. Caution needs to be used if the added awareness and qualification for the position is couched on this passion and not direct experience.

Sometimes this “passion” is fleeting; it exists only for the sake of gaining a better position over the competition. One sign of a fleeting passion is the inability to have a detailed conversation about it as it relates to the position, the work, the overall direction of the company and its target. Or there may be detailed knowledge. The false passion is more like a moving target as discussion of it evolves in relation to the position – or anything else. Scrutiny comes into play to discern whether the knowledge is tantamount to merely parroting marketplace rhetoric. One with real passion will be able to offer unique insights; they have ideas that are more than the typical hyperbole.

We all have biases of one type or another. It’s important to be aware of them and to admit to them so that those biases can be put aside when making critical decisions, especially about hiring qualified talent. That’s why evaluating a candidate who professes a special interest that makes them more qualified than others needs special care.

Melania Trump’s passion about children, especially abused children, became a matter for closer scrutiny and an example of necessary care when evaluating a candidate. Because of her association with an unpopular, high-profile figure (not to mention some very public gaffes), she does not have the usual adoring audience. In fact, her background shows behavior that’s been quite the opposite of the reaction that is usually expected of someone in her position.

We look at the woman who is noted as having a favorable university education. A rare quality is that she speaks seven foreign languages. She is noted as having a strong interest in art, architecture, and design. On paper, it’s expected that she would be the one making decisions about her destiny and being very outspoken in that area. Yet, the public gaffes that follow and haunt her show she has poor discretion and depends on others to do her speech writing.

She has declared FLOTUS causes that are vogue since the late days of the campaign only to abandon one for something else that seems to be taking public attention by storm and then abandoning that cause as well. Does this FLOTUS have a cause, a passion?

There is a consistency in her behavior. Using recent audio clips of statements she’s made, we find she is noted for her defense of her controversial husband with the averment, “while her husband is fair and treats everyone equally, he will ‘punch back ten times harder’ if he is attacked.” Perhaps that defense was pulled from a statement her husband made a year earlier.

Those who speculated about her refusal to move into the White House in January. She made a campaign declaration that she wears the color of the place where she lives. Many thought that meant she eagerly looked forward living in the White House. After hearing one fabricated-sounding excuse after another for keeping her distance from her husband’s new domicile for five months, speculation rose that she may be suffering from abuse and wanted to keep the distance for whatever reason could be manufactured.

In May, the President and his wife took their first official trip outside of the United States. In the initial days of the trip, the relationship showed strain. It wasn’t until the flight that brought the couple home to the White House that the tension dissipated. Uncharacteristic of previous behavior, she seemed animated and happy, even in the presence of her husband. That was also the day when Melania’s interest in fostering her FLOTUS cause was announced, care for children of abuse.

Attention to children of abuse seems like a legitimate cause. The speculation about the atmosphere in the First Family home points to the possibility that this is the cause that will endure. However, the reasoning for her absence from the home evaporated when it was reported that she had Secret Service escort her son to and from school while she stayed in the Trump Tower penthouse alone. Yet she seemed to blossom when in the company of abused children in foreign countries.

The legitimacy of her cause to support abuse victims also wears thin when we hear that campaign support of her husband repeated in speeches after the inauguration and as more damaging headlines emerge about the leadership abilities of her husband. “. . . he will ‘punch back ten times harder’ if he is attacked.” Has Melania developed Stockholm Syndrome and it’s being evidenced by way of this repeated statement in his defense?

This candidate is stellar on paper. But once the background investigation begins, the visage falls apart. Perhaps the abused children cause is yet another cause du jour.

Resources:

• What Are Employers Looking For? Skills and Qualifications
• Resume Interests Examples: Resume Hobbies and Interests Examples and Tips
• Melania Trump: Donald will punch back ten times harder – video, Reuters (April 5, 2016)
• Melania Trump stands by her man saying: If Donald is attacked, he will hit back 10 times harder!, IWB (April 5, 2016)
• Trump Warns GOPers: ‘Anybody Who Hits Me, We’re Gonna Hit 10 Times Harder’, Fox News Insider (November 3, 2015)
• Melania Trump refuses to change one thing about her style now that she’s in the White House, Hannah Kramer, AOL.com (Jan 26th 2017)
• Melania Trump’s Miserable As First Lady:Refuses To Move Into White House, Samantha Wilson, Hollywood Lit (February 15, 2017)
• Melania and Barron Trump Allegedly Won’t Live In the White House, Sammy Nickalls, Esquire.com (Nov 20, 2016)
• Melania Refuses to Move to White House Until 1 Thing Is Done, Libs Outraged, Mad World News (November 21, 2016)
• Melania Trump Refuses To Move Into White House? No Signs She’ll Leave Trump Tower,
  Sophie Radvan, Hollywood Lit (April 23, 2017)

• Trump Announces Cause Melania Will Be Championing As First Lady, Randy DeSoto, Western Journalism (February 16, 2017)
• Melania Trump pledges to combat cyber-bullying as first lady, Eliza Collins, USA TODAY (Nov. 3, 2016)
• What’s up with Melania Trump’s cyber bullying campaign? It’s’a work in progress’, Maria Puente, USA TODAY (May 10, 2017)
• Michelle Ruined School Lunches. Now, Melania is Calling For The End Of… [VIDEO], Terresa Monroe-Hamilton, Right Wing News (31 Mar, 2017)
• Melania Trump Nailed Her First Foreign Trip as First Lady, Kate Andersen Brower, Cosmopolitan Magazine (May 30, 2017)

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