Hello world! Like
most of you I’m a big fan of figure skating…
Just kidding. The Today Show and
NBC in general are big promoters of figure skating which means that for two
weeks every four years I am subjected to intense information dissemination
about the sport. As an aside – I asked
my wife last night if anyone would really remember Nancy Kerrigan if someone hadn’t
hit her with a tire iron. I vote no –
please feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts on this burning
question. Anyway,as I was being force fed figure skating news
yesterday I caught the reaction of budding figure skating star, Ashley Wagner
and her reaction to a poor score from the judges:
 |
| I think the internet is calling this her "angry face"... |
To make it even better the camera’s caught her on video to
loudly yelling something that sounded like pull hit… This got me thinking about how someone reacts
can really determine the narrative and perceptions that others have. For instance, because of her response she
became an internet meme. Perhaps she can
ride this so far that she gets a picture with the president:
 |
| Sometimes a bad reaction can make you good famous, I doubt this look would fly in an interview though. |
But more likely she will be remembered as the swearing
figure skater that didn’t act like she had been there. Had she controlled her emotional response,
she most likely could have allowed the figure skating commentators rush to her
defense for being screwed out of a higher score and then when she came back to
succeed later in the games would be America’s next sweetheart.
When you are in an interview there are many situations where
your reaction is equally judged. Below
are a couple of them and how you can manage your reaction:
1. Describing being
fired
There are two primary reactions to describing a firing in an
interview. The first one is
evasion. This is the absolute worst as
you try to put a positive spin on it and refuse to answer any more
questions. Usually you start by saying
that it was a mutual decision (it isn’t mutual if someone fires you and then
you say I quit. This statement is
usually followed by questions with vague answers like – it just wasn’t working
out. The second is ownership. Here you state that you were let go, that it
didn’t work for very specific reasons,
and then followed by why this makes you a better employee or
candidate. The key here is that your
specific reasons need to be about you not about how the company failed you.
2. Describing a bad
boss or company
Here is another tricky situation with two emotional
reactions. The first is pure and total
honesty – not the best policy here. This
is similar to Ashley Wagner’s reaction -
it’s just ugly. People who do this
usually start with the relevant information and then move on to every little
thing wrong including how they would clip their nails at their desk. No matter how true all of this is it makes
you look tacky. Instead try the gracious
reaction. Describe how good the company
was for you first. After that, talk
about how that even though you gained so much that you found that you outgrew
the organization and that over time your philosophies grew out of sync. If they ask about philosophy – just describe
yours. Say “I really believe in doing
things in an ethical, detail oriented, legal, customer focused way and that the
environment was making it difficult to do so.
Remember, the interview is all about you and not about your crappy
boss.
3. Handling long term
unemployment
So… long term employment happens. One of the biggest challenges I face in my career
is helping people with long term employment issues. The reason – employed people can ‘t seem to
understand how this can happen. Here’s
the deal – it does happen and in some cases for some people it is like the
world has conspired against them. Just
like everything else you can react in two ways.
The first is the pity party. This
is when a potential employer ask why you have been unemployed for so long and
you respond by describing in great detail how you have:
· Come in second for every job you have interviewed for
· Applied to 4,632 job postings
· Found that it is just wrong that nobody ever calls you back or responds individually to your resume (it’s just so impersonal)
· Found this to be really tough financially
· Started to feel kind of depressed
As you can see, this subject is absolutely toxic. Any prolonged discussion about it will make
you look like a sad sack in the eyes of the employed (not fair but it is true).
Additionally, it makes them uncomfortable.
Instead you need to appear
confident and positive. In this
situation, you need to practice and come up with a short statement that will
get you through it and help you move on.
It should sound something like this; “It’s been really tough out there,
however, I’ve been keeping up with industry information on the internet while I’ve
been working at the zoo part time and I’m really excited to talk about this
position and how I can help you guys move forward”. This does three things:
· It tells them that you have a plan and haven ‘t forgotten everything that you learned
· It tells them that you acknowledge that you were unemployed and gives them an out to move on
The last part is really important. Employers don’t like uncomfortable
conversations either. If you give them
an out then they will avoid it.
So there you go! What do you think? Email me with questions or comments at sthompson@insurance-csg.com. Also feel free to leave your thoughts about
my Nancy Kerrigan question in the comments section below!
Check out
some of my recent articles on the blog here:
No comments:
Post a Comment