Job Interview Secret, you haven’t heard this one before

the job interview secret. . .shhhhh

Sharing the job interview secret

Here is the job interview secret: I don’t care if you can do this job, how qualified you are, or what school you go to. I care about making the hiring manager’s life easier and your ability to articulate this during an interview.

Candidates often say, “I can do this job,” “I can be successful at this job,” and the classic “This is the perfect job for me.”  I understand where candidates are coming from, but this mentality keeps them out of the running.  Trying to fit yourself and your skill set into the job description is only half the battle.  I would say it is only 1/3 of the battle.  Most candidates focus on two things:

1. “I” and “Me”  (as stated in the first sentence above)
2. Trying to prove that they can fulfill or meet the JOB DESCRIPTION requirements.

Only focusing on these two points is a sure way to end the interview process.

What is the goal?

At this stage in the search, this job isn’t about you, the candidate.  It is all about the company and, more importantly, the hiring manager.  (When we begin negotiating the job offer, we can shift the focus to “us,” but while interviewing, the focus is on the hiring manager’s needs. )

The job interview secret is proving that you can make the hiring manager’s job easier.   This is a very different mentality:

(Job Description) + (communicating that your skill set matches the job description) ≠   job.

(Job Description)  + (communicating that your skill set matches the job description) + (how you will make the hiring manager’s job easier) = job.

Whether they are qualified or not, the candidate that does this the most effectively wins.

The background

The hiring manager explains the job specifications to HR.  HR, in turn, “interprets” these requirements into something politically correct for the viewing public.  Usually, these interpretations sound the same, regardless of the industry or the position.  Buzzwords are very generic and very safe.

The rub:  It is not unusual that the Hiring Manager doesn’t realize they are trying to hire someone to make their job easier.  Their mentality is that they are hiring someone to fill a “position.”  The job description tells us what the hiring manager THINKS will fill a position.  Between the candidate trying to fill a Job Description and a Hiring Manager trying to fill a position, both sides are missing the point.  It is subtle, but it is literally two ships passing each other in the night.

Think of the job description differently

Each bullet point is a description of how THE HIRING MANAGER’S LIFE is going to be EASIER.

We are not being hired to be analysts, cashiers, or truck drivers. Although that may be the position we are interviewing for, the hiring manager is ultimately looking for someone to make their life easier.

The job interview secret is that the job interview process is all about the hiring manager.

Communication skills separate a qualified candidate from a candidate who will be hired.  It isn’t the candidate most qualified to do the job that wins.  The candidate who can communicate with the hiring manager most effectively on the topic of “how the hiring manager’s job is going to be easier” will be the one who is hired.  Making their professional life easier is a given.  Making their personal lives easier is the cherry on the ice cream sundae. Not worrying about the job during personal time is making life easier. 

The priority

You are being hired to make your manager/hiring manager’s job EASIER.   You are not being hired to earn benefits, earn a paycheck, and not for consideration of your career.  The number one thing a hiring manager is looking for is someone to help them solve their problems (the hiring manager, not yours).    They don’t want to baby you, build you up, or worry about your drama.  They want you to solve their problems. If most managers had their way, you would never have to interact.  If you were going to pay someone, wouldn’t this be what you would want?  When you pay someone to paint your house, you don’t expect to babysit the job. Make my life easier biatches!

When interviewing people, I find most candidates don’t “own” the interview.  They allow the interviewers to own them.  They allow the hiring manager to hold 100% of the control.  It should be a 50/50 give-and-take. It is better if you, the candidate, do 75-80% of the talking.  If you aren’t doing the talking, you are not proving how you have made your prior managers’ lives easier and how you will make your new manager’s life easier.

The million-dollar question that you won’t hear

This approach may be a little awkward for some.  Yes, it would be easier if the hiring manager asked you, “How can you make my life easier?”  But this question leads to sexual harassment lawsuits, so the way they get around this is that they ask the usual:  tell me about yourself, tell me about your experience, and tell me about your weakness.

Many candidates are so focused on answering these generic questions that they miss the hidden point, the job interview secret.   That hidden point is to prove with examples how you, the candidate, will make the hiring manager’s life easier.   There is a big difference in mentality here.

This is one reason I like to hear a candidate talk about how “we” will be able to do this or “we” could do that.  It tells me they are vested and already thinking that “we” are a team.  The candidate is here to help the hiring manager.  It is a subtle difference, but it will get the hiring manager into a different headspace.

What are you most qualified to do?

Yes, it would be best to focus on proving that you are the most qualified candidate for the position.  However, what you should be doing is focusing on proving that you are the one most qualified to make your manager’s job easier.  You must communicate how you can help this hiring manager succeed in a bigger, better, faster fashion.

If you were the hiring manager, would you hire Candidate 1 or Candidate 2?

1. “I have the skills that you listed in your job description.”
2. “I have the skills you are looking for per the job description, and I will use them to help you become bigger, better, and faster.”  My goal is NOT to take your position, my goal Ms. Hiring manager is to make you succeed and look good.

Ass Backward

For anyone that thinks this is ass backward, remember when you are hired, your goals will inevitably wrap up into the hiring manager’s goals.  Your manager’s goals will wrap up with department goals?  Make them look good!!!

Some questions to focus the conversation on how you and the hiring manager will be working as a team.

• What interested you in this company?

I like this question because it shows interest in the hiring manager.  You are trying to get to know them and their relationship to the company.  A great starting point for a common point of interest.  It also sets the tone for the following to be asked :

• What keeps you up at night?  What are your pain points?
• What problems are you working on right now?

Just make sure you answer the question with something intelligent.  Just sitting there nodding your head in agreement when you hear their response will just reinforce their easy decision.
See you at the after party,
HRNasty

nasty: an unreal maneuver of incredible technique, something that is ridiculously good, tricky, and manipulative but with a result that can’t help but be admired, a phrase used to describe someone good at something. “He has a nasty forkball”.

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