The Interview Held Mid-Milking
I interview a job candidate in the Dublin parlor during evening milking and discover the cows have a hiring vote of their own.
We were short two hands the spring before last, and the owner told me to find somebody quick. I put out the word, and within a week I had three candidates lined up for interviews on a single afternoon. The only free hour I had was during evening milking, so I held the interviews in the parlor. It seemed efficient at the time.
The first candidate came in wearing a tie. He stood at the edge of the pit and started to give me his five-year plan. About two minutes in, a Holstein named Delphine turned her head and sneezed on his shirt. He kept going without a pause, which impressed me, but the tie never did recover and he left looking like someone who had been through weather.
The second candidate was a former welder with big hands and a quiet manner. She did well on the questions, and then Delphine leaned over and began to chew gently on her sleeve. She asked me if Delphine did that to everyone. I said only to those she liked. She smiled and let her finish. By the time Delphine was done, the candidate had a very damp sleeve and a new friend, and the entire herd had turned to watch.
The third candidate was a young graduate just out of the ag program at the college. She walked in, looked around, and without being asked picked up a teat dip cup and started helping. She did not say a word about her resume. By the end of the shift, the cows had settled down around her, and I had stopped taking notes. I hired her on the spot, with the herd's blessing.
I tell every new supervisor that story because it is the best hiring advice I know. Pay attention to how the cows treat them, because they know. The welder is on our night crew now, and she still comes back every Friday to be chewed on. For a good sense of how to prepare for an interview, there is a handy guide at ag jobs and careers pages, and for more yarns I keep farm.FM close.