A client of mine shared with me the experience of his recent job interview. Ken (not his real name) is a PhD scientist with an impressive job within the pharmaceutical industry. He sat in my office lamenting the fact that he didn’t get the job offer he expected.
From my first meeting with Ken as his career consultant, his resume needed little editing, reflecting the training he had received a few years earlier. He found out about this position through a recruiter and was scheduled for an interview fairly quickly. However, he did not receive the offer and came to me to inform me. Ken chattered in front of me in quiet disappointment. In my years as a coach, he was not prepared for his insightful conclusion on the matter…
“I think I was too modest,” he surmised.
YOU ARE A PRODUCT
What makes you buy that new dishwasher? Mower? Because? More specifically, how likely is it that you will buy something that does NOT meet your specific needs? The hiring manager (the buyer, if you will) is buying. Whatever the reason the marketing director, IT specialist, administrative assistant, or sales trainer left the company, for example, the company is now buying. What will cause them to ‘take it off the shelf’ and put it in that slot?
Because you are selling a product – You! – The resume should deliver on what the product has to offer in the form of an achievement-driven measurable results document. This is where many of us tend to struggle, especially if we are in a support position or process driven work. Having accomplishments isn’t exclusive to metric-based roles, like sales or marketing staff. A manufacturing technician once told me that he “didn’t do anything” when I asked him about his achievements. I challenged him with: “You came every day, you sat in a chair, they gave you a check, and you went home?”
Of course he DID something! Even though he was a very important part of the process (calibrating the production lines that make the product), every day he affected the company’s ability to impact the bottom line. It is imperative that you have a resume that not only details his knowledge as a technician, but shows his finesse, his ability to anticipate difficulty, his problem-solving skills in the face of that difficulty. How did he make the process better because he was there?
Once the resume opens the door to face time with a decision maker, it must now convey the person in that role to the ears of the decision maker. Too many of us see negative sharing of our achievements under the misnomer of bragging. What a sad mistake!
** Are you bluffing when you recommend a skilled contractor who won’t raise prices? (what a find!)
** Are you bragging when you encourage your friends to try that new restaurant where you ate so well?
** You have made a profit with a new action and you want your friends to know about this discovery. Is it bragging?
Showing off implies conceit or arrogance… an elevation of oneself to belittle another person. Look what I have; you don’t have it Look what I have; You don’t own it. Look what I do, you can’t do it. Showing off is an opportunity to put the other person down.
That’s not what happens when you share your job search accomplishments. Your achievement stories convey your worth. Your achievement stories say, “Look at how I’ve impacted companies throughout my career. I can do that for you.” That is, after all the end result. Employers hire people who effectively demonstrate their value in meeting the employer’s needs. In the context of job hunting, modesty can be seen as a weakness.
Indeed, there could be a number of factors that contributed to my client, Ken, not receiving the job offer. With what he had to offer in terms of an excellent resume that opened the door for him, his assessment of why he didn’t get the job is more than accurate: he was too modest!
And you? Would you hire yourself?
