Why I hired you

Good Monday morning,

Over the past two weeks we've done an "interview" with the fictional character Betty Boss regarding all the reasons she didn't hire you for the job (and we also watched a valiant US team compete in the world's pastime and lose, heartbreakingly, to Ghana in overtime. Go USA!)

This week, I'd like to tell you what you can do about it (the job search, not the soccer.)

Betty shared the reasons she didn't hire you:

• I never saw your resume,
• Your resume didn't grab me,
• The interview was a nice chat,
• You never said you wanted this job,
• I heard back from somebody else first,
• I'm looking to build out the team with a variety of perspectives,
• I'm looking for somebody with a different industry background,
• We haven't had success with profiles similar to yours in our organization,
• I'm looking for somebody with more / less experience.

Those in bold you can control; those in italics, you can't.

You control your resume, your interview and your process.

The goal of the resume is to get the interview.

The goal of the interview is to get to the offer.

And the goal of your process is to generate as many offers as possible.

If you want to have your resume, your interviews, and your process be successful, you need to have a conscious, well-thought-out, deliberate strategy. If you don't have a deliberate strategy, you might as well just let your teenage son run your job hunt for you.

Because "no strategy" is a sure-fire way to have "no control" over the outcome.

Your strategy in putting together a resume is to have the people on the other side of the table decide to call you up and invite you in for an interview. In order to have a successful strategy, you need to write a resume that understands what those people on the other side of the table are looking for, why they behave the way they do, and what will make them pick up the phone.

At TheLadders, there are two ways for you to accomplish this.

First, we've put together a wealth of great information and advice on resumes. You can see all of the advice here on our News & Advice tab, and you should especially check out this series of articles on how technology interacts with your resume when you send it to hiring companies.
Click here to read the full PDF package.

Alternatively, if you don't want the hassle of learning all these rules yourself, we'll write your resume for you. Sign up here to get an assessment and critique of your resume (free for Premium subscribers.)

Your interview strategy must be to have the hiring manager and every person you meet leave the room with the feeling that you can do the job.

An interview is not a chit-chat, a social call, or a time to suck up. It is a face-to-face meeting in which you show that you understand the hiring managers' needs and what the company is hoping to achieve by filling this position, and then explain, using specific examples from your past experience, why you meet those needs and will enable the company to achieve its desired outcome.

I've covered this topic many times before, and you can find all of my advice on our site under "Marc's newsletters." Most recently, in February of this year, I covered "How do others ace their interviews?" with my best advice on how you can... ace your interview. (For further reading and material, please see the "Interviews" section of our News & Advice tab.)

Finally, your process is also under your control. And your strategy here must be to not give in, slow down, or ease up until you are actually sitting at your new desk at your new place of work.

I can't tell you how many times over the years we've seen professionals get distracted by their own success. Flush with the adrenaline that comes from a great interview, elated with the verbal commitment that an offer is forthcoming, excited about the fantastic package that HR promises is on the way, the distracted professional fails to follow up on all the other opportunities they are working on.

And that is a shame. Because until an interview leads to an offer, it is written down on paper, and you and the company have both signed the document, your success in your job search is only intermediate, a step along the way, and not the final success itself.

And that distracted professional, who lets the success of one step in the process divert their attention away from all of their other opportunities, too often finds that the offer never materializes in the way which they had hoped.

And then they come back to us, disappointed and with one or two months of time gone by and their other opportunities dried up or filled by some other candidate.

So I can not possibly advise more strongly...

Until you are sitting at your new desk, do not get distracted, and do not let up in your effort!

In regards to those things that are out of your control, I have just one answer for all of them.

And, no, the answer is not "have a strong argument to talk them out of their viewpoint." That can work in rare cases, but if the person with whom you are interviewing has made a reasoned decision to hire a different array of skills and experience for the role, it is pointless, fruitless, useless, to try to change their mind.

Because when these types of roadblocks have been agreed to by the group of people with whom you are interviewing, it is highly unlikely that you, an outsider, are going to persuade the group to change its mind. You won't have the time, the face-time, the credibility, or the institutional knowledge to make a persuasive case.

Your strategy for your job hunt, therefore, must include finding out as soon as possible if there are any roadblocks for a particular position.

In sales, this is called "qualifying the lead." And what it means for you is that you'll need to ask about company culture, the types of people who are successful there, and the particular requirements or desires for the position itself.

What does that look like? It looks like asking these questions of the HR person, the recruiter, the hiring manager, and the other people you interview:

"Who's been successful here? Who hasn't? Why?"

"What type of industry / functional / skills-based experience and background are you looking for in the person who will fill this position? How do you assess my experience in comparison?"

"My background is primarily in such-and-such, why do you think that will be, or won't be, a good fit for the position?"

"In my career, I've primarily enjoyed working with big / small / growing / independent / private / public / family-run companies. If that?s the case, how successful will I be at your firm?"

"What types of attributes are common to the people who are considered heroes at your company? What types of attributes are common to the promising people you hired but who then flamed out and failed or left? As I?m considering whether or not I'd be successful here, how should I think about the experiences of the heroes and the flame-outs?"

"What is your reward system? Is it a star system / team-oriented / equity-based / bonus-based / "attaboy!"-based? Why is that your reward system? What is the hoped-for purpose of it, and what actually happens when you put it into practice? What are the positives and negatives of your reward system, and if you could change any one thing, what would it be?"

The goal of all these questions is for you to listen. Listening is actually the most important skill in interviews. You want to listen to what people tell you, because that is really the only way that you are going to get a more accurate picture of what it's really like to work at the company, and whether or not you will be a fit and be successful there.

And when you are listening, listen for roadblocks. Listen for the things they desire, but which you do not now have. Determine as quickly as possible if those roadblocks mean there is little chance for your successful candidacy for the position. And if so, politely bow out of the running, and focus your time on more productive opportunities.

That's really the only way to handle the things that are out of your control...

So, in summary, our interviews with Betty Boss told us about all the reasons that bosses don't hire you. For those things within your control, have a well-developed strategy and stick to it through to the end. For those things out of your control, realize and accept that they are out of your control, and search for greener pastures.

That's how you can make your interview with Betty Boss conclude with a job offer.

Thanks, Readers, and have a great week before the big holiday weekend!

Warmest regards,

Marc Cenedella, Founder & CEO, TheLadders.com

Follow me on Twitter here.