Or, “I’m definitely going to submit you.”
How many times have you heard these words during your job search?
I’ve heard many transitioning executives tell me they were hopeful they would be chosen for a position because the hiring manager, HR leader, recruiter (fill in the blank) told them this. However, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard it hasn’t worked out, because they are too numerous to mention.
I recently spoke with a very good friend of mine who is in transition and he said those same words to me. Without trying to make him feel badly about his chances, I wanted to push him to not believe these words, but to assume he hadn’t heard them and to figure out what he could do next to make sure his candidacy continued in the process. He is supposed to be hearing from the head of sales and marketing, according to the internal recruiter, and is waiting for that call, which I really hope will come.
In a previous blog, I wrote about “leaving it all on the field” and making sure we’re “playing our ‘A’ game.” Even if we hear these words, we can’t rest on them and assume that all will be ok. In fact, in my opinion, we need to assume that there are 20 resumes that the recruiter sent to the hiring manager, and while our resume might look great, there might be one thing or another that disqualifies us from contention, or one thing or another that makes 5 other candidates slightly better than us. In either case, we can expect to either not get the hoped for call, or to get a call saying, “We really liked you, but we found others that had a little more of the relevant experience we’re looking for in this position.” How many times have we all heard that one too?
My suggestion to my friend was to write a special report and send it to the head of sales and marketing, acknowledging the internal recruiter in the process. He could say he had given a lot of thought about their needs, and had done significant research on the industry since this will be the industry he joins (make sure you can back up what you claim), and he wanted to share his perspectives with the hiring manager, and was looking forward to the next step. His concern was that this could look like he was going around the internal recruiter, which is valid. I said I would send it through her to the hiring manager, and leverage her in the process – it will only make her recommendation of him that much stronger and make her look like a hero.
I have heard this similar story too many times. Let’s make this a discussion and have others submit their ideas for handling this challenge. If we can get a laundry list of ideas out to our readers, they can employ some the next time they hear these words.
Thank you for participating.