The
Secret Job-Hunting Strategy
In today’s market, job
hunting has become so ruthless that you have to be on top of your game. Taking advantages
of small things can provide you with an edge. (Be sure to printout and review the Checklist.)
There is one item, however, that will consistently turn the tide in your favor.
The ultimate deciding factor
in job hunting situations is what I call the likeability factor. If the interviewers don’t like you, your
chances of being selected drop to zero. At this juncture, you might be telling
yourself, “Well that is only common sense,” or “I already knew that.”
Not so fast. Yes, you most
likely suspected that, but how high
up on your self-awareness scale do you place it? When the likeability factor is
the utmost thought carried with you when walking into interviews, you are
going to win them over. If not, candidates with half your qualifications, but are more likeable
will snatch up the offers.
To pull this into
prospective, suppose a potential employer has five candidates to choose from.
Assume the candidates meet the minimum qualifications. When the employer has to
make the ultimate hiring decision, the candidate with the highest likeability factor has the greatest chance of being selected. Liking consistently
trumps qualifications and experience.
Caution
1:
Do not confuse likeability with happy talk and overly bubbly behaviors. That can quickly become annoying. The
trick to likeability is to imagine what type of individuals you admire most,
and emulate those types of behavior.
Caution
2:
Do not cross the line and become phony
or not real. To be likeable does not imply you temporarily transform yourself. This
is why employers have a 90-day probation period.[1] To
borrow a phrase from Shakespeare, to thy
own self be true.
Caution
3:
Positive conscious and subconscious attitudes generate positive results.
Negative conscious and subconscious attitudes generate negative results.
The best advice before
walking into any job interview is to create a positive likeable mindset. Remind
yourself that your top priority is to
create a likeable impression or chemistry.
It also helps to tell yourself that you are going to like the interviewer(s) no matter how outrageous the questions.
This type of mindset generate more satisfying and productive interviews.
[1] Many employers today only hire from Temp agencies
prior to making a job offer simply to avoid making a serious hiring mistake.