Interviewing Strategically for A TrueFit…Are You In-Step with your new colleagues?

Sometimes the problem is personality type. An organization might be a right match from a skills perspective, but the new employee’s style of working might not be compatible with those around them. At first everyone is willing to “try to make it work,” but over time the mismatch becomes noticeable.

A brilliant young woman got a job working for a consulting company. She was very good at what she did and certainly had the skills required for the position, but she kept getting the same comments on her performance review. “We like your work, but you’re a little too standoffish,” said one reviewer. “You’re a bit reserved,” said another, who then added, “You don’t even socialize well.”

The fact is, the woman is a bit of a nerd (and proud of it). Her friends are nerdy—they always have been. These are the people she likes to be around. Those she works with, however, aren’t like her. They enjoy more socializing both inside and outside the office. “When all my colleagues at my company go out to party, it’s not who I am,” she told me sadly. “So I’m working to change how I am.” I told her, “No. What you should be working at is changing jobs!”

Individuals like this woman accept jobs even though right from the beginning, they get the feeling they are out of step with everybody else.

Unhappy at work?

Recently I read an article highlighting seven key signs that you are unhappy at work. I had to pause and wonder why it would take anyone seven signs to realize that they were unhappy at work. Perhaps the clearest sign is that you hate getting up and heading to work every day and just in case you need a second, you cannot wait for your work day to end so you can leave your job. To my way of thinking the first sign is enough of a reason, but if you needed a little more reinforcement for those who just want to be extra sure go to the second sign. But dear lord anyone who is unhappy at their job doesn't need seven signs. Perhaps a shrink but not seven signs!

The more important question to ask yourself is whether there is a job that you can find where you will be happy every day and if there is how do you go about finding it? Before you can find all this out you have to figure out what this job must look like for you.

You see happiness or unhappiness always leads back to yourself and understanding the basics about yourself. Whether it be in work or in love, first we must understand who we are before we can go and find a job or a person who is compatible with us. When it comes to love many of us understand the things we like and don't like, what we will and won't do and usually have a clear understanding of the partner we are looking for and how we want to share our life. We've been brought up, taught and had numerous role models to follow in our understanding of finding the right partner. 

However, when it comes to finding the perfect job, that is our perfect fit we are most often completely unprepared.  Other than those lucky few who always knew what they wanted to be; a Doctor, Lawyer, Accountant or Engineers, I suspect like most people you had no clue what you were going to ending doing for employment let alone how to go about figuring that out. Does anyone ever remember discussing with their parents what they love about their job or whether they love it at all? My parents would have looked at me like I had grown a third head if I asked that question. 'What are you asking?, they would say, I work what does loving work have to do with work, work is work"

So you see, I thought exactly the same way for years until I came to a point in time after a very successful career in finance staring at the fact that I could not get a job anywhere let alone something that I thought I was a fit for. What I realized was that nobody out there had any idea of what I brought to the table, hell neither did I, I thought of myself in terms of what job titles I had held over my work life, not what I was a good fit for. So when faced with the prospect of unemployment with six kids I realized the old adage, "necessity is the mother of invention" 

So I quickly had to figure out what I was good at who out there needed what I was good at doing and who hopefully wanted me to work with them both in skills and personality. So before I could figure out who needed and wanted me, I had to figure who ‘me’ was and would anyone pay for me?. What kind of people would I work best with?

What I find truly remarkable is how long people will tolerate their own unhappiness at work. Even more incredible is that fact that they show absolutely no interest and take no initiative to change that. It's almost as if we have all been raised to believe that work and happiness are mutually exclusive terms.

NEWS FLASH folks, you don't need to be unhappy at work. But you do need to do some work to find that perfect situation for you and it starts with figuring out yourself so that when you are doing your job search you are searching in your target rich environment (TRE). You TRE is the place that needs you and your skills.

So, unhappy at work folks , it’s not going to change by sitting miserable at your desk. Last I checked life is not a dress rehearsal so get up off your duffs, make it your New Year’s resolution to put some serious effort into finding the right fit for you and as they say " Figure out what you love and get paid for doing it"

All that stands in the way of a happy job is "YOU and some hard WORK"

Tell Me About Yourself

"So tell me about yourself" These five simple words that have the capability of messing up your interview right from the start. This one question strikes fear, dry mouth, increased heart palpitations and not to mention unsightly sweat in all the wrong places in even the most capable applicants.

Where do you start? Do you go back to the early days? Are they really interested in “…it all started in a small town just outside of Waco Texas” or the more boring “I don't think you can read my resume so let me repeat everything that is written on it”. Which is akin to reading every slide in a presentation in case people can’t see or read. The third alternative is to just rattle on and on about how “I am the greatest thing since sliced bread and any company would be lucky to have me” speech. 

Well I know there is a much better alternative to the painful suggestions made by most recruiters. You see, when someone asks you tell them about yourself what they are really trying to do is answer a very simple set of questions in their mind:"What's in it for me to hire you?’ ‘What should I pay you for that will make me more money?’ And lastly, ‘Do I need your skills and if I so, do I like you enough to believe that you will be a good fit with everyone else that works here?" 

You see I believe that before you can answer any of these questions you need to be comfortable enough to understand exactly what are you good at, and what skills you possess that someone should pay you for. As you prepare for an interview ask yourself what kind of people you work best with and do they exist where you are applying? Secondly, is your conflict resolution style compatible with the firm you are hoping to be hired by? And lastly, if you could describe the perfect day of activities that you will be required to do does it match the job description? Seems simple enough, yes? Write it down, it will provide clarity. I have received countless feedback from those that I mentor despite how simple these questions seem they provide great clarity.  

Far too many people fall into the trap of describing themselves in terms of their CV or Resume, which in my opinion is nothing more than a trip itinerary of jobs. Seriously I always ask my clients and those I mentor, "Is that the single best document to describe who you are, what you are good at and why someone should hire you?" I sincerely doubt it and in all my years of asking the question nobody has ever said yes it is! But we still use the conventional resume...well I have a different I idea for you in how to revamp your resume and how to answer the dreaded question.  

In my book, "How to hire the perfect Employer", I outline how you can go about building your own infomercial so that when asked the question "Tell me about yourself" you will have rock solid pitch that will ensure that the employer will be able to figure out whether they need your skills and want you as in your personality and character.  So, for those that have not read the book, what does an infomercial look like? Let me share my infomercial with you, the one that I use every time I go on a pitch for new business. 

When asked the dreaded questions, I start by saying; "I am trusted advisor to CEOs, Department heads and managers of financial services organizations. I work with them in helping execute their plans by doing recruiting, consulting and coaching"I then continue to tell them that throughout my career I have hired over 900 people while I was at CIBC and BMO. I was responsible for numerous strategic initiatives both in their creation and execution. Lastly, I have mentored and coached numerous people that have gone on to great heights. I am collaborative in my conflict resolution style and the perfect day for me is doing all three of the above mentioned in my infomercial, working on finding good people, advising clients on how to improve their businesses and lastly but most importantly coaching people into finding the perfect fit in employment for them. 

The perfect employer for me is someone who is first and foremost seeking a trusted advisor with my background and experience. IF they are just looking for a Head Hunter to show them CV's then I direct them to the many other firms that do that for a living the way the client wants it done.With this clear understanding of my strengths and what I offer to each client I work with, I approach the dreaded ‘Tell me about yourself’ question with ease…. 
‘Let me tell you about myself, I am a trusted advisor to CEOs….”

An Interview with Janet Graham of babesonbaystreet.com

Last week I was honoured to be featured on babesonbaystreet.com, a wonderful blog founded by Janet Graham. Janet, who worked on Bay Street from the early 1980s until the mid 1990s, is passionate about telling the inspiring stories of women like herself --women who ventured into a work environment that was dominated by men, and were incredibly successful.

I had a great interview with Janet and this week she posted the first in a series of blog posts covering the highlights.

Here’s the first question and answer from the interview:

JG: What is your impression of the difference between the experience of a male and female in the securities industry today?

JB: “Well the best way I could probably put that would be that I found that women made better sales people and, in fact, the women that traded for me were extremely good at trading as well. I found that the essential difference between men and women was that women had a great ability to actually build friendships and relationships with their clients. If you think about it, at the end of the day, if we’re all selling pretty well the same commodity, what makes someone pick that button versus someone else’s button? I believe price is a red herring. People don’t do business on the basis of price. Women were far more adept at doing that, both with females and with males. Also, I think that a big difference was that they didn’t have the same sort of ego. Or if they did have the ego they were actually able to put it in check and they didn’t have that same sort of over-aggressive, competitive, “I have to win, you have to lose” mind set. They were more collaborative. They were more compromising in their approach to people.

I think that with some people competitiveness works well but if you take a broad cross-section of clients and people that you interact with in the industry, there’s no question that being more collaborative and more compromising makes you far more effective at what you do. All of the women that ever worked with me who I had hired or inherited were all extremely good at that. In fact, the only ones that weren’t very good at that were the women who weren’t being women, who were trying to be men, and I was like “don’t be like a man” because [men are] not very good at this. They’re not as good as you at doing this and bringing what being a woman brings to the table, to tell you the truth. But a few of them just couldn’t get that, right? They just couldn’t get that.”

JB: “I think the other thing about women that I think distinguishes them in the industry is that they, in general, think multi-dimensionally in terms of their interactions with people, whereas men are very linear in their relationships with people; it’s very sort of cut and dried. The best example I have about someone thinking like that is when I brought in the Dale Carnegie program for the entire trading floor because I wanted people to improve not just their presentation skills but their interpersonal skills with everybody in the room and outside it. And while everyone went to their Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday sessions, it was a woman who said, “hey, why don’t we invite our clients?” and she reached out and invited her clients. Can you imagine the impact of sixteen weeks of seeing your senior clients up there telling you their problems, their woes, their ups and their downs? In the end, who are they going to do business with? It’s that kind of thing that I think really highlights the difference between men and women.”

To read Janet’s own thoughts check out the full original post. You can read more about her story and philosophy here.