Interviewing for Strong Discretionary Habits with Joseph Hopkins of The IPRESTIGE Emerge Fund LLC

How to evaluate for good discretion in the hiring process. Discretion is defined by Merriam Webster as an “Ability to make responsible decisions”. This is a quality that all leaders expect from their people but as we know, this is not always the case. How do you interview to uncover good discretionary habits? 

Today’s Quote: 

"A sound discretion is not so much indicated by never making a mistake as by never repeating it." - Christian Nestell Bovee

I’m Rick Girard and welcome to the Hire Power Radio Show. We help Entrepreneurs and hiring managers to avoid costly hiring mistakes by identifying a specific problem and providing proven solutions to enable you to WIN the right hire. We share insights from top-performing rebel entrepreneurs, disruptors & industry experts.

 Like our guest today: Joseph Hopkins, Founder & Senior Managing Partner of The IPRESTIGE Emerge Fund, LLC

Joseph is a thought leader in AI, authentication and security technologies, He leads an innovative emerging technologies firm that serves as a proprietary first-mover advantage IP incubation model that concentrates on growth opportunities in digital identity protection, security and advance encryption technologies. 

Prior to Joseph’s AI and digital identity security work, he served in key executive management roles for Fortune 500 companies, including Kaiser Permanente, 3M, GSK, Allergan, and KPMG. He has hired Hundreds of people throughout his career. 

Which makes Joseph a perfect expert for today’s topic. Joseph, Welcome to the Hire Power Radio Show today! 

Today we are going to discuss

• Why it is important to Connect with people while adding value
• How to evaluate for good discretion in the hiring process

Connecting with people to add value

• Listening skills
• No one wants to hear about your problems
• Pick up on a person’s cadence
• What makes the person tick as a person
• Navigate how you engage as to their preference
  • If you miss the connection, you’ll never get it back
  • Pick up folks who miss the 9-5 mentality

Rick’s Input

• No one cares about the words coming out of your mouth
• While hiring it is critical to be more concerned about the other person than filling your role. 

How to evaluate “good discretion” 

• Trusting the gut, instincts
• Less tricky the older the person is
• More experience, the less risk 
• Interest or passion in the work
• Experience
• Clear signs around eye contact, body language, smile while talking, taking themselves too seriously, jovial. 
• Education - important to him. 
• Live your life based on what you have learned rather than the exceptions

The ingredients that keep people engaged in an 

• Balance of coolness and professionalism
• *Discretion - overly doing something can affect the relationship with the client
• The more the client is comfortable the successful the interaction will be. 

Rick’s Nuggets

• Opener “open to hearing about something career advancing”
• Don’t pitch your job, company or yourself
• Find out what’s happening with you?

Key Takeaways:

• Empirical stuff- education, background & skills
• Interpretative- talk to people that have worked with you. Subjective perspective
• His Gut instinct- in conjunction with the other two