Lawrence Siulagi

In a New York Times interview with Anne Mulcahy, Xerox Corporation CEO and responsible for bringing the company back from the financial brink, she talks about qualities she looks for in a job candidate which is refreshing and more true than ever in this competitive job market.

Q. When you’re assessing a job candidate, do you have one or two acid-test questions?

A. They have more to do with behavior and culture than they do with competence and expertise. Generally speaking, the people you talk to have the competence and expertise. That’s how they got to the interview. So then the most important aspect is whether it’s a good fit. And so I always ask the question, why are they choosing us, not so much why we should choose them. I really want to hear about what they could do for the company and why they think it would be a place they could be successful.

It’s a little bit of a test. Have they done their homework? Do they understand the place? Do they aspire to the kind of value system and culture we have here? I’ve learned that it’s probably the biggest success or failure indication, as well, about whether people are a good fit with the culture.

Q. Do you find yourself looking for certain qualities in a candidate more than you did several years ago?

A. Adaptability and flexibility. One of the things that is mind-boggling right now is how much we have to change all the time. For anybody who’s into comfort and structure, it gets harder and harder to feel satisfied in the company. It’s almost like you have to embrace a lot of ambiguity and be adaptable and not get into the rigidness or expectation-setting that I think there used to be 10 years ago, when you could kind of plot it out and define where you were going to go.

I think it’s a lot more fluid right now. It has to be. The people who really do the best are those who actually sense it, enjoy it almost, that lack of definition around their roles and what they can contribute.

Q. And how do you get a sense of whether a person has that quality?

A. Part of it’s from their experience. I think seeing how much breadth someone’s had, and their appetite for not just vertical career ladders, but their appetite for what I call the horizontal experiences, where it wasn’t always just about a title or the next layer up. And that there was this desire to learn new things, to kind of grab onto things that were maybe even somewhat nontraditional.

Those kinds of experiences I think bode well for someone who’s going to be open and adaptive in this job environment.

Okay, so I have this habit of making chocolate chip dough every Friday night and the appreciation has extended to friends of family (mostly my daughters’ friends). Everyone has there own chocolate chip recipe but here’s one I’ve made over the years that is tried and true. I deviate from this recipe from time to time because every recipe can stand some improvement.

For those in other parts of the world, please see my UK version with milliliters, ounces, celsius and such.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies by L. Siulagi

• 2 sticks butter (or 1 butter + 1 quality  margarine) at room temperature
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tbsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups quality white flour
• 1 cup white pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (or bicarbonate to you Brits)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup hand-broken pecans
• 2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Farenheit placing a wire rack in the upper third of the oven. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, mix the butter until it is fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Beat in sugars for an extra 5 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla until well mixed. Now put away the mixer (clean the beaters, of course).

In a smaller bowl, mix flours, baking soda and salt together. Fold flour mixture into large bowl with a strong spatula or wooden spoon. Try not to over-stir. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans.

On an ungreased baking sheet, use a big spoon or a 1/4-cup measure, to scoop the dough into 12 cookies. Bake on the upper rack for 11-12 minutes or until it the edges are brown and the tops are not glossy. You might want to let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for a minute or two before you place them on a wire rack.

Serve them warm and enjoy with a big glass of milk. You can refrigerate the dough or even make the batter a day ahead because cookie dough always tastes better when baked after one day in the refrigerator.