My Interview Strategies landed me an amazing role with a great company!

It might sound mighty funny, and from my perspective writing this last phrase out it did indeed sound funny. But by living my Interview Strategies I landed a fantastic job with a great high potential company that has an excellent mission statement. All through practicing what I teach my clients here – Interview Strategies that work.

I prepared my stories, projected Intellectual Humility, asked smart questions and was conversational. In short, I practiced my own Interview Strategies and succeeded.

In fact, not only did I land one offer and one job, but I got multiple simultaneous job offers with roles of Director & Staff levels!

In January I was laid off from my Staff level role at my last company. A casualty of changing economic conditions that put pressure on companies to cut expenses and start to be profitable. Or more profitable in the case of Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Intel… etc etc.

The first two months of this year were very tough – very few responses to my resume and LinkedIn profile. I could count on one hand how many recruiter & hiring manager contacts I received through that time. But as February turned into March, the email and phone started to heat up a bit.

Compared to the last three years, the bar has been raised for candidates. Not only did they look for me to have the hard skill set and soft skills but I found that I needed to be way higher than their bar. More often than not I was so over qualified for a role that the employer passed on me. They knew that I saw their job as a temporary thing. That I would jump ship the moment someone elsse reached out with a better more appropriately leveled role.

Dozens of rejection emails in my inbox for lower level roles that I would have been very happy to take.

I did get through a number of screens, then full loops. Some 5-6 employers went with another candidate for the reason of “better fit”. What had me feeling more optimistic is that instead of an impersonal email the recruiter actually took the time to call and review the decision with me. That is a positive sign since it really does mean you were a highly ranked candidate. A much needed ego boost that helped drive me forward.

By the time I got into May, I had three offers for full time employment – two Director level roles and a Staff level. Plus a Lead level contract gig with the largest employer in the region. The result was I was able to use all these offers to negotiate better terms even in this economy!

I can point explicitly to my Interview Strategies for my success. They got me all the way to the final round in 70% of all the companies I phone screened with in the last three months.

The role I took – Staff Engineering Program Manager – was a better fit for me personally and professionally. This company is doing far more exciting work and pushing the technology envelope more than the other two, Yeah, the other offers were Director level roles. But the personal and professional growth potential was limited. With my chosen role I get to learn an entirely new area of technology for myself. Which opens a whole new set of doors not only at this company but also going forward in my career.

I received a compensation package that was very attractive especially given the employment situation today. They matched my old salary in cash equivalents, and a stock grant plan that would take me over the top.

Plus, they really wanted me as all of the people who were part of my interview loops made the effort to reach out, congratulate me and welcome me onboard. You generally don’t get that kind of personal investment at Facebook, Amazon, Google, etc…

So to close this out, there is a lot to be said for Intellectual Humility, being Conversational, asking questions, writing stories, etc… Positivity in the face of stress wins every time. Book your coaching sessions today!