In "The History Boys," a play by Alan Bennett, Douglas Hector explains to his student how, once in a while, you read something that is so close to your own thinking, it makes you feel as if a friend extended a hand towards you. Beautiful!
Sometimes, it happens with online reading as well.
Like this article, written for The Ladders by Dan Coughlin, Understand the Mind of the Interviewer. I really appreciated his applying fundamental concepts to a particular issue. It targets the job search process, yet it addresses business behavior topics I frequently discuss, namely the importance of:
- understanding people's motivations,
- treating everyone you meet with equal respect,
- keeping professional demeanor at all times.
Mr. Coughlin's assessment of the interviewing process is applicable to any form of "bargaining." Whether you are selling your professional skills and qualifications for a job position, or pitching a TV series idea, or promoting an improvement in your organization – the behavioral principles are the same. And there are important conditions to keep in mind:
- you are on somebody else's turf,
- you may interact with people who are not directly involved in the selection,
- in the first rounds you encounter people who decide whether you can go on the next stage or not,
- if you get recommended, you meet the final decision-makers.
Because you are on somebody else's territory, you don't know who can observe you. When you drive through the security gate on the way in or out, you may be seen on a camera, for example. So you'd better keep your professional armor on at all times. Don't miss that garbage can in front the building, when you throw the soda bottle on your way in – the woman having a smoke nearby might be the HR Manager.
Many people loose their creditability by saying or doing something in the reception area. Doormen, assistants, secretaries may have their own impact on your case. Once, I interviewed someone: by the time he walked into my office, I already knew that he was snappy and rude with the receptionist. Did I hire him?
The actual decision-makers who have the power to either recommend you for the next round or to hire you (buy from you, option your script, adapt your improvement proposal) are motivated to make the choice by their own sets of reasons. Your task is to understand what those motivations are and to try to accommodate them.
The two most important stimuli are the interviewer's reputation and professional advancement. If there is a possibility that an HR manager will look foolish for passing your candidature to a CFO, she will never do it. On the other hand, if a creative exec reading a script thinks that showing it to the executive producer will boost his status, he will be running to his boss like an olympic athlete.
Understand what the person sitting opposite from you wants and bring the ability to fulfill that need forward. That's the trick.
The Frustrated CFO 