Administrative Assistant's Update

JUNE 2017 6 Are you trying to scare me? Intense, frank interview tests EA's mettle By George Pearson When Cheryl Westcott applied for a position as executive assistant to the executive vice-pres- ident of the Sorbara Group of Compa- nies last year, she felt her background and experience in construction would be a plus. Construction of houses, condo- miniums and commercial property is an important part of the corporate profi le of the Sorbara Group, based in Vaughan, Ontario. It is also involved in land development, commercial leasing and other activities. For Greg Tanzola, the executive vice-president of Sorbara, Westcott's more than 10 years of experience with construction-related fi rms, much of it related to project management, had strong appeal. He was also impressed with the dozen or more courses taken and certifi cations earned in construction, project man- agement and safety. But it wasn't the nature of the courses taken that made the deep- est impression on him. It was that Westcott had, on her own, reached out consistently over time to develop her skills. To Tanzola, the number of courses on her resume indicated that "this person has initiative, is self-motivated, is actually going to go beyond the regular requirement." He invited her in for an interview, curious to meet the applicant in person. He says he was impressed with what he perceived as Westcott's "feistiness and the ability to moti- vate," traits he describes as invaluable in getting the company's work done. Intrigued by his fi rst impressions, Tanzola brought Westcott back for a second, more comprehensive inter- view. "I just really wanted to know that what I was reading was right," he recalls. "I can read people pretty well, but she was actually confounding me a bit." He knew the traditional role of an EA and it was not the role he envi- sioned for his yet-to-be-hired EA. Trying a bring-it-on interview "I remember just really wanting to test [her ability to thrive in the non- traditional EA role], so I was giving a kind of bring-it-on type of interview, and she handled herself remarkably well. Because I thought I'm not going to go down this road if this person can't handle this kind of intensity and expectation." During this intense segment of the interview, Tanzola remembers with amusement, Westcott told him, "Are you trying to scare me? Because I re- ally want this job." "We're thriving together" That was a seminal moment in the in- terview, Tanzola says. "I thought this is really the right-type attitude I need here, so that just blew me away." Now, nine months later, Wescott, who grew up in Bolton, Ontario, says she loves her job at Sorbara. "They treat you like family here." Tanzola is delighted to have her as his EA. "We're thriving together," he says. "It's like I'm breaking the [stereo- typical EA] mold," Wescott says. "I think a lot of that has to do with my construction experience before; a lot of construction has to do with com- mon sense. "We [she and her boss] basically will bounce ideas off each other. He values my opinion, and this for me is a big deal because in construction my opinion was usually very minimal. . . . I'm giving him people advice, how to navigate through different things and he values it. That's the key here." An aha! moment for boss People advice was the crux of an aha! moment for Tanzola shortly after Wescott joined the company. She intercepted an email that she could see would upset him and told him, according to Tanzola, "I don't want you to respond, because if you respond now, you're going to blow up or do whatever; I want you to read about it and get back to this guy tomorrow." At that point, Tanzola says he realized "(1) this person gets me, (2) she's sticking out there to keep peace within the company to be productive and (3) she's really looking out for me in a big, big way. "I really appreciated that so much because I've worked with a lot of people over a lot of years and for someone who knew me maybe a couple months to kind of size me up, size up the situation, defuse the situ- ation and protect me from over-re- acting, I just felt that's loyalty, that's teamwork. "Wow, this is a special person; this is what I need, someone looking out for me, someone keeping things smooth and keeping me cool, and keeping things OK." 6 Credit: An Vino (Shutterstock) Greg Tanzola Cheryl Westcott

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