One of the industry folks was super-smart and insightful. Sadly. she knocked herself out of the running about halfway through the interview.”
To tell me one story that illustrated how she rolls
I told her to think about our five-person agency and what we need in marketing. and tell me a story from her career that would make it clear she belongs here. She told me a story about a 24-month intranet development project involving 60 people across functions and six or seven levels of organizational sign-offs.
I was nearly asleep by the time she finished. I think this lady really needs a big company atmosphere.” The job-seeker’s intranet story screamed “I don’t understand scrappy not-for-profits at all.” Lesson: In your written job-search communications and especially on an interview. keep your stories and questions relevant to the hiring manager’s issues.
Selling Yourself Short
A friend at a placement agency told me this story. Last summer she had a candidate on the short list of two finalists for a plum sales management job. She’d just gotten off the phone with the hiring manager. who said. “I have to sleep on it. but I think your guy Frank is getting the job tomorrow.” when Frank himself called her. “Don’t be mad at me.”
Letting Minor Adversity Vanquish You
“I am so frustrated with my job search.” said a man I met at the library. “I had an interview last week. and when I got there at 20 after 5. the front door was locked.” he said. “Did you go around to the back?” I asked. “Did you call or text HR or shop the hiring manager?” “No. I went home.” said the gentleman. “When I got home. there was a message telling me the front door would be locked and I should go around. but I had left home before that message arrived.”
“Did you reschedule?” I asked him. “No. I figured the opportunity was lost.” “Call them!” I said. He did. but they’d filled the job already. Lesson: Corporate hiring types are no different from anyone else; they make mistakes. On one job interview back in my 20s. I walked around the whole building looking for an open door for a 5:30 interview. and I finally walked across the loading dock to get in. Show your resourcefulness by rolling with the interview punches.
Sending a Generic Thank-You
I interviewed a brilliant young man for a business development role. “Look. Barry.” I said. “I want to make sure we’re on the same page. Over the next couple of days. send me an e-mail message and tell me what you heard today. It doesn’t need to be long. Just write a couple of paragraphs about what you see as our competitive situation and how you’d approach the assignment so that I know we’d be in sync.” Barry happily agreed. An hour later.
I got the generic post-interview thank-you e-mail from Barry. saying. “Dear Ms. Ryan. Thank you so much for chatting with me today. I’m crm and email marketing: powering your strategy with data excited about working for your company and know I’ll do a great job.” Today we would call that an epic fail in the showing-comprehension department. Lesson: Whether the hiring manager asks you to. or not. make sure your post-interview thank-you recaps the conversation in an intelligent way. pointing out what the company is up against and how you’re equipped to tackle those challenges.
Offering a (Doubly) Misguided Information Packet
A reader called me for advice. saying. “I’m aero leads targeting a product manager opening at Company X. I’m going to a trade show where they’ll be exhibiting.” We talked about visiting the company’s booth and chatting up employees. A week later she called again. “I visited the booth but everyone was busy. so I left a packet for the sales manager.”