Do You Trust Me?

Job interviews are WEIRD. 

We put two strangers in a room (or a zoom room) where one is supposed to judge the other. And, in 30 minutes or an hour or whatever, make all these sweeping conclusions. Almost always, job interviews are weird for the interviewee and the interviewer.

You know what really breaks through weird? Trust.

You'll hear lots about the importance of "SELLING" yourself during an interview or "CONVINCING" them that you're the best. And, when my clients go into an interview I don't want them doing ANY of that.

Rather than selling oneself, the greater opportunity is to build trust in that weird interview room. During a job interview the one that builds the most trust wins.

What's the best way to build trust? Vulnerability. Let all your competitors talk about how flawless and perfect they are while you offer fearless vulnerability from a place of service. During a job interview the more your focus revolves around serving them versus making yourself look good, you win.  

Anybody that's ever been in an interviewer seat knows firsthand that during an interview, there's a lot at stake. While asking questions of the candidate out loud, on the inside interviewers are often asking themselves questions like: 

"How can I know the person in front of me isn't a disaster? Can I trust them?"

"If I hire this person and they turn out to be a disaster, how upset will my boss be at me? How can I make sure THAT doesn't happen?" 

"If I hire this person and they turn out to be a disaster, how much of their work will I then have to take on even though I'm already swamped? 

So many organizations have tried to safeguard against hiring the wrong people by investing in systems and processes in the hope of better quantifying applicants so they can be more easily compared. 

That's been a disaster because humans can't be quantified.

At the end of the day the thing that still matters more than everything is one human asking about another: can I trust them?

Win their trust; get hired.