Nosce te ipsum, especially when interviewing
For those who read this regularly, you may know that when it comes to interviewing and hiring, I’m an advocate of knowing your strengths, not dwelling on what you cannot do.
Questioning someone to tease out their weaknesses is often a waste, as a smart interviewer will reverse it to show a weakness as a strength. Such interview banter often becomes a wink-and-nod exchange rather than insight towards fit. (The best answer I have heard when asked of a weakness is “overpacking”.)
[framed_box]
In the most recent NYT Corner Office column, 18 April, George Hu, Salesforce’s COO, was asked about hiring:
Q. How do you hire?
A. I ask “why” a lot, to learn what motivated people to make the decisions they made throughout their career. I also tend to have a bias toward people who have been in an organization for more than five or six years. We say inside Salesforce that if you spent two years doing something, you spent two years doing nothing, because there’s just not that much you can do in that time frame.
I also spend a lot of time forcing people to prioritize things. I’ll ask people what they think are the most important traits to be successful in the role they’re interviewing for, and then prioritize them for me. And I’ll ask them why they prioritize them that way. If they do that well, I know they’re going to fit in our culture.
Q. What other career advice do you give people?
A. One is, really know yourself well. A question I ask people in interviews is, “How would you describe who you are, in the core of your DNA, in one word?” People often struggle with that. The most common response I get is, “Do you really mean one word?” So know who you are, and really understand what you’re exceptional at.”
(Here is the link for the entire interview)
[/framed_box]
I bolded his last answer, as it encapsulates what to think about, especially when interviewing a C level interviewer. Know thy core strength, and say so. One word may be a bit pithy, but it should be a clear and succinct reply, not a ramble..
We are all known for something we do better than others, most of the time. If you’re really not sure (which I doubt if you’ve been in the game long enough), ask others who do you know you and can give objective input.
But most important is to be proud of whatever you’re strong at, and don’t harp on what you are not strongest at; no one has yet been hired based on weaknesses..
We often have many interests, but only a couple of true strengths for which you will make your mark–which is more than enough. That doesn’t guarantee you’ll get hired, but does guarantee you’ll be clearer about what you want and where you’ll fit.
Written by Neal Horwitz, President of Henry Hale Maguire
