A client of mine shared with me the experience of his recent job interview. Ken (not his real name) is a Ph.D. 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 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 chatted 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 are you to buy something that does NOT meet your specific needs? The hiring manager (the buyer, so to speak) 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 make them ‘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 job. Having achievements isn’t exclusive to metrics-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 accomplishments. I challenged him with, “You came in 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’s imperative that he have a resume that not only details his knowledge as a technician, but showcases 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 facing time with a decision maker, you now need to convey the person in that role to the decision maker’s ears. Too many of us view our achievements negatively shared under the misnomer of bragging. What a sad mistake!
** Are you bragging when you recommend a slick contractor who doesn’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 profited from a new action and want your friends to know about this discovery. Is it bragging?
Showing off implies conceit or arrogance… an elevation of oneself to belittle the other 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. Bragging is an opportunity to belittle the other person.
That’s not what happens when you share your job search accomplishments. Your stories of achievements convey your value. 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 needs of the employer. In the context of the job search, modesty can be seen as a weakness.
Certainly, 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?