Digging for Meaning in Job Candidate Responses

While interviewing candidates for employment, how often do you receive a common, seemingly “right” response to a question, only to learn later that the answer had hidden a deeper meaning?

When Right Doesn’t Ring True

Interviewers frequently develop “magic bullet” questions that they believe are litmus tests for gaining foolproof information that will assure a correct hiring decision. But here lies the rub: Job candidates often give practiced, trumped up, pat answers to carefully chosen, yet very predictable employment interview questions.

If you think you’ve heard these responses before, you are correct. Programmed answers to interview questions are readily accessible within books and blogs for job-seekers, or in well-intended advice shared by career counselors, friends or family.

To an untrained interviewer’s ear these answers sound reasonable. Precisely because they are familiar replies, they carry the feel of the conventional. On the surface they sound right, but could these answers be masking undisclosed meanings?  

Here are some common refrains and potential alternative meanings:

“I’m keeping my options open.” 

Can mean….

“I can’t make a decision about my own future, but I’m willing to directly affect yours .... I lack self-confidence regarding my employability, but I don’t want you to find out .... I can talk anyone into hiring me, so I’ll hold out for the highest bidder .... I go through life ‘playing not to lose’ so I can do the same for you, if you let me run (your company, your department).”

“I’m seeking challenge and opportunity.” 

May mean….

“I stayed in that boring job for so long out of inertia—so now that I’m laid off I’d like my next job to be more interesting…. All of the self-help books said I should answer this way…. I am deflecting your question.”

“Money is less important than opportunity.” 

Could mean….

“The first one who mentions dollars loses and I don’t want that to be me…. I’m willing to take my time chatting with you about a job that may not be right for me… .I don’t have a clue what I am really worth.”

“I left because my boss and I had philosophical differences.”  

Possible meaning….

“We had differences over my expense account, my work ethic (go ahead—you fill in the blank from the last time you coached a cover story for a departed employee).”

“I’m flexible and open to what discipline, industry, market or technology (fill in the blank) I work in.” Might mean…

“I have no definite career plan, you decide for me…. I got by ok in the last place I worked, so I figure I can survive here too…. Perhaps you may be gullible enough not to probe any further on this question if I say it with a smile.”

The Answer is in the Digging

These provoking examples are not intended to suggest that all candidates will set out to trick interviewers. Unfortunately, in many instances, the candidates you interview are misled into thinking that it is wise to reply with stock statements.

Don’t come down too hard on people who offer planned responses. You can help job candidates by asking them to speak more frankly, or to offer you an example of what they mean by their answers. Then listen well and continue to dig until you fully comprehend the meaning behind the answer. You’ll discern more completely and make better decisions than you would by simply accepting trite answers to your favorite questions.

*Image courtesy of Photography by BJWOK at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Unconventional Advice for Career Managers

“Get out there and network,” is well-meaning cheerleading that’s often bestowed on job seekers.

The concept of networking is just one example of conventional wisdom directed at meeting immediate needs. This advice is typically aimed at the seeker who wants a fish rather than a fishing guide. It fits for someone who unfortunately favors a work life in safe waters rather than in the bold oceans of unmet opportunities.

Go ahead and take the “quick fix” route if you are just seeking a job. If you’d rather manage your career than seek a job, I’ve got four unconventional pieces of advice to help you reframe this concept:

Don’t Network.
As an executive selection consultant, my business is all about making friends and establishing trust so that we can openly discuss client needs. While some may call this “networking”, I beg to differ. I call it “friend building." There is far too much “palms up” behavior in networking. These are actions you would never use with someone you know well.  Instead, people managing their careers engage friends naturally. The good news is that you know how to do this. There’s no need to consult a book or attend a seminar to learn how to cultivate comfortable friendships. It comes naturally. Keep this in mind the next time someone tells you to network: Friends refer friends, but are slow to refer stranger networkers.

Don’t Interview.
Job seekers consider interviews to be exceptional, uncomfortable and out-of-the ordinary challenges.  These individuals presume that they will be judged (and seldom positively), rather than welcomed. Ironically, these uncomfortable folks may be the same people who normally function very well in other business meetings, whether they are intended for collaborative analysis, joint problem solving or for all kinds of other routine job-related activities. 

In contrast, career managers are comfortable auditioning their “on-the-job” behavior.  When meeting new people they assume they are already desired team members – valued colleagues – and they treat everyone in a positive way. Even if the ultimate decision is not to work together they will have made new friends. Career managers prefer auditions where they “show their stuff” rather than interviews where they are judged.

Don’t look for job openings.
Job openings have rigidly pre-ordained specifications (often inaccurate in predicting successful on-the-job performance), multiple candidates, formal screening processes, etc. But when career managers are managing their futures they can be introduced to hiring executives well in advance of approvals or announcements of criteria-defining openings.

Career managers directly approach the organizations that are expected to need them. Sometimes through an introduction, they might very well discover receptive executives determined to build a solution around them and their desired career paths, at a time when a decision to recruit was only a vague prospect.

Avoid cold-calling recruiters.
There are many value-added benefits associated with an investment in a recruiter’s services; yet not all employers exclusively use these services as their first step.  Career managers are better off meeting, calling or writing recruiters because their target employers have referred them on to the recruiter. Approaching recruiters when they do not have a correlating search in progress dilutes career managers’ activities.  People are better off meeting their potential employers through their own initiative rather than by hoping for a broker to represent them.

Playing by the typical rules can work for job seekers. For those who’d prefer to convert their job search into career management, I’d suggest reframing this conventional wisdom.

*photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net