Hi guys, quick story on my friend -- Jose -- landing multiple job offers, and one from his dream company:
If you want to skip the story to my advice & how I helped him, halfway through is where the bullet-points begin.
*End of 1st semester for MBAs at BYU:\*
I was in a room with a couple classmates.
We had returned after securing full-time jobs with our respective summer internship companies. A Q&A was arranged for us to advise first year MBAs on the DOs and DON’Ts during an internship.
Just as the session was closing, a hand rose from the back row of the seats. There was a guy from Brazil who hesitantly said,
“Ruchika, I have applied to dozens of companies. My resume keeps getting rejected. I don’t think I can ever get an offer.”
I don’t know what got into me – I exclaimed, “if you think that way, you probably never will.”
The room fell silent.
I had challenged some random guy who I had never seen before. It might have been a bit weird, but I really meant what I said.
I continued.
“I am sorry if my comment seemed off, but the reality is this. I will be happy to meet with you and chat about what is causing you to believe so.”
If you asked me then, I would have never thought that he would actually approach me to speak.
But to my pleasant surprise, he came to me and introduced himself as Jose (changed his name for Reddit)! Let me stop here – his very act of keeping his ego aside told me he had something in him to make him super successful in the future.
*Next week:\*
We met and I loved to do mock interviews at the time.
After a 10-15 min mock interview, I couldn’t believe my ears. This guy was eloquent, bold, and very authentic in his stories (read: STAR stories). He was very charismatic and I wondered why he felt so hopeless in his search.
The mock interview ended, and I asked him, “So tell me, Jose - How would you rate yourself from 1-10 on your performance?”
Jose said, “umm... a 4 or a 5. I haven’t been practicing my stories for a while since I haven’t been getting any interview calls. I need to practice much more, I know.” Jose had announced his verdict.
He felt like his English needed more work, and was unconfident in his own abilities.
I was shocked and saddened by Jose’s perception of himself because he had actually expressed himself very well, it was all in his head.
MY INTERVIEW COMMENTS THAT HELPED JOSE LAND HIS DREAM JOB:
I went on to tell him how I felt about his interview preparedness. Here were some of my comments. I arranged them in a takeaway style for you.
- Interviewers can tell if you’re being fake.
- Jose was very authentic in his conversation. He was not trying to be over the top or appear super polished. He spoke from his heart. He told me stories (read: STAR stories) of how he came to admire business from a very young age when he started to help his dad in his business.
Authentic and sincere conversations win many times over fluff.
- Interviewers are not watching for every “ah” & “umm.”
- As long as you’re articulate and can develop a sincere connection with the interviewer. Jose spoke really well. By that, I don’t mean he spoke like a robot or was flawless in his speech or choice of words. But he did a great job in expressing what he wanted to say with emotions that made me time-travel to when he was a child. Boom, I was sold!
It’s not about what you say, but how you make them (interviewers) feel.
- Interviews appreciate vulnerability.
- The world can be evil. It has taught us to control self-expression to a point where we have lost the human touch. Is it so awkward to admit we made a mistake? Is it easy to always be at our best when things are hurting inside? Do we need to fake it till we make it always? Jose was vulnerable. When I asked him a question to which he didn’t have a well thought of answer, he simply admitted he needed time to think over it. He said, “Oh! Interesting. I’m sorry but I never thought about this. Please give me a few seconds to think over this.”
Try to be vulnerable in your approach. You’ll be surprised how it puts the interviewer on the back foot and makes them empathize with you.
- Interviewers are not watching the clock.
- We are often advised to keep our stories succinct and crisp. I agree. But, when being succinct leads us to disconnect from the person (interviewer) in the room and makes us sound monotonous and artificial in our approach, we should question if the advice is 100% correct. Jose didn’t feel he had practiced enough (well, enough is so subjective). Yet, I never felt he was going long. He did a great job in keeping me meaningfully engaged in his stories.
Listen to everyone around you, but only do what feels right for you in a particular moment.
WHAT HE WORKED ON:
I really wanted to help Jose – not with his interview practice, but with his mindset. I saw he had everything in him to crush the interview. But he couldn’t do it without a winner’s mindset. He wouldn’t be himself in the interview room till he was stuck in his mind. Interviewers are humans. They can pick up non-verbal gestures easily. I didn’t want him to keep getting rejected because he came across as under confident and helpless. I wanted him to stay true to himself! He was awesome and I wanted him to believe he was!
Over the next several sessions, I mentored him to take control of his mindset. He was a rockstar and I wanted to drill that into him. Through our 1:1 mock interview sessions, I provided him with feedback on his body language, his tone, how he walked into the room, and how he needed to get comfortable with that uncomfortable silence between questions. I also worked with him on his elevator pitch and in bringing more impact in his stories. Overall, I wanted to work on his mindset more than on his interviewing skills. I knew once I was able to accomplish that, Jose would be able to do the rest.
YAY!:
The proof is in the pudding -- over the next few weeks, he was on a roll!
He received Product Marketing Manager and Product Manager interviews and offers from companies like Dell, Microsoft, and Amazon.
Jose ended up receiving not one, but several offers from Fortune 100 companies! And to add an amazing cherry on top of all this, he ultimately landed an offer from his dream company.
I’m super proud of him, and I hope this story will inspire you and help on your journey to landing a dream job for YOU.
Cause you deserve it.
If you have any questions, feel free to comment them and I'll try to comment back.
~ Ruchika (GOTR)
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