WTF? -you might be saying- That’s the most stupid, counter intuitive and bizarre piece of advice I’ve read on the internet and BTW, I’m getting out of here in case what this guy says is contagious.
But wait, give me a second to explain myself.
As a full disclaimer, today I’m going totally off script. I’m writing something that I may regret tomorrow. So don’t crucify me for this post. Thank you.
I’ll start this story by telling you why some people become popular, are loved by millions and followed in flocks.
Shocking revelations to follow.
Once I present you with the following image, you’ll wonder why on Earth you’ve never thought about it, but now that you have it right before your eyes you won’t help but acknowledging that what’s evident is undeniable.
- The iPhone Packaging and its identical twin: Justin Bieber
As you can see, the similarities are startling: identical twins.
What the iPhone packaging and Justin Bieber have in common is that they are both highly crafted pieces of marketing.
Justin Bieber jumped to fame because he was a cute little kiddo with an amazing and precocious musical talent. Is that what made him remain at the top of the charts and front pages for the past few years? No way.
Is his music revolutionary? Hell no, it’s more of the same teen pop we’ve been listening (tolerating?) since the 80s.
Today, he’s just an action figure that when squeezed, plays sounds created at the music factory. And yet, he is still a cash cow.
Does he portray an unique “feel”? Maybe so because if he lived on Mars and you didn’t have a telescope you could still recognize him from an AU (astronomical unit)… but to me -and possibly you, smart and thinking reader- he looks just like any other cookie cutter “Backstreet Boy”.
That’s what sells. The product Justin Bieber was crafted to match a stereotype targeted to a specific population -girls that cry and scream when product is on sight- just like the iPhone was crafted and targeted for gadget ogling geeks -and not so geeks-.
What does this have to do with you and your job hunt?
That’s what you need to achieve: (no man, not girls screaming at the sight of you, you wouldn’t want to generate that reaction on a recruiter) the stereotype of a successful young/old/middle aged professional.
Recruiters have no way of knowing for a fact that you are awesome at meeting deadlines, that your retention skills have no match and that you put Michael Jordan to shame in terms of teamplay. They simply have no time nor the means to do that. Instead, they rely on their wits and 45 minutes to figure you out and decide whether you are a good fit for the job.
Listing all those skills on your resume is not enough either. In fact, it’s pointless. Anyone can -and everyone- tag themselves as result oriented, with excellent communication skills and proactive… actually, I could list Wolverine’s list of super powers and few would notice.
Recruiters skip through that useless list of cliches and focus on other areas of your resume and most importantly, the person sitting right in front of them, you.
You may say that a behavioral or situational interview questionnaire may tap into those areas, but if you are at least a little experienced in job interviews and know your game, by now, you may have already come up with answers and stories for the scenarios that could be presented to you. Unluckily, well prepared fellow, decisions are not usually made by our rational side, as much as we would like to believe it.
Now, look at the two pictures below and with a hand on your heart and just using your gut feeling tell me: which guy would you hire?
It’s the same guy -me-. Same ideas and brainpower, same values and skills but contrary to what the popular saying tells you: there isn’t more than meets the eye. At least when it takes to job interviews, packaging is everything and if your packaging doesn’t meet the industry standards, there’s a likely chance that you’ll be thrown to the defective product container. Let me tell you a fresh story:
2 months ago I had an interview at a Fortune 100 -there’s no happy ending in this story but I came out with a neat moral-.
After I was told I didn’t get the job I asked about the reason I got booted from the process. I would have expected something like “you are overqualified” or “you lack X or Y skill”… even a “you make women scream and cry like Justin Bieber” would have worked -at least for my ego-. But no. I did not get the job because I was wearing my best suit and I didn’t go to the interview wearing elegant-sport attire so they inferred that I wasn’t a good match for the company’s culture. Whaaat?! Yeah, bear with me.
Yesterday I met with Viviana Rek, the owner of an Expat Coaching consulting company who’s been walking me through the re-adaptation to my country -I spent the last 4 years in the US- and helping me target my job search. Talking to her, I couldn’t help but ask: what’s with the suit?
She told me that suits are not the norm anymore in this realm -except for law firms, financial institutions and a handful more places-.
Viviana also commented to me that big corporations that hire mostly Generation Y, usually possess a tribe mentality: if you belong to X social stratus, if you went to Y high school or you played Z sport during college, that can tremendously increase your chances of being hired.
Moreover, studies have proven [1,2] that physical attractiveness can be a decisive factor for being hired or rejected, so if you possess a generous gene pool, you stand a better chance of getting the job. BTW, now you know why Lindsay Lohan still gets gigs despite…well… everything but her looks.
Blink, blink… bye, bye
These are unconscious decisions made by the recruiter, snap seconds after he or she met you, as Malcolm Gladwell posits in his book “Blink: the power of thinking without thinking” or Ori Brafman’s Sway: the irresistible pull of irrational behavior -both of them must read books-.
In Argentina, how you dress matters A LOT, specially which brands you choose -that was my first reverse-cultural shock-. Frivolous or shallow as it may sound, in Rome dress as Romans dress.
Obviously -I don’t know why I’m clarifying the obvious-, this will not apply to every culture on this side of the galaxy. The message is “be mindful, very mindful of cultural, and specially, micro cultural particularities when researching for your job interview”. Something as simple as the dress code can leave you empty handed and paralyzed in a shock of disbelief.
If you want to boost your chances of being hired, don’t raise any red flags by making yourself difficult to decode. Let the message you send to the recruiter be easy enough to be understandable in his or her own “cultural” terms. Once hired, you’ll have plenty of time to display your real skills, no matter how you look like.
Do as the pros do, do as Justin does, become the stereotype: and make it easy for recruiters to get identified with you.
Your turn
Okay, I know I’ve said some controversial things and tomorrow when I wake up I may not even recognize myself in the text -hopefully I will in the mirror otherwise I’m in deep psychiatric trouble-. More than ever, I’m dying to know your thoughts about what I just wrote.
[1]-Hosoda, M., Stone-Romero, E. F., & Coats, G. (2003). The effects of physical attractiveness on job-related outcomes: A meta-analysis of experimental studies. Personnel Psychology, 56(2), 431–462.-
[2] Langlois, J. H., Kalakanis, L., Rubenstein, A. J., Larson, A., Hallam, M., & Smoot, M. (2000). Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 126(3), 390–423.
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Article by Fernando
The guy in charge of this blog - husband, Psychologist, former Manager, Blogger, Job Coach, Recruiter and Information Junkie. Yes, I am all that.
Fernando has written 237 awesome articles for us at FT Careers Blog
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
You know you make a lot of sense. Depending on the position for example who looks better on an interview for a machinist position, a person dressed in a suit or someone with a plaid shirt and jeans with scraped up hands. Recruiters have to work harder to find the right candidate when everyone looks the same in an interview. It’s easier to pick the right candidate when you come into the interview already looking like the other employees.
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The problem with the suit is, it seems forced. It makes you look like you’re dead if you don’t get the job. Though, if the company was from the Fortune 100, i admit i’d wear one too. And they should know this. They could have just told you afterwards to come in to work more casual. It was a stupid reason to not hire someone.
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Twitter: ftarnogol
January 6, 2012 at 12:36 pm
I´ll do some research on the suit situation. Post to follow within the next few weeks, hopefully.
Twitter: thedankeller
January 8, 2012 at 1:18 pm
You are going a little against the grain here but not entirely off the wall. As a recruiter I can actually agree with a lot of what you said. The “fit” is important and they company has a gen y culture they will be looking for folks who fit in. Ie.. look, talk, think like them. Sometimes in the interview process you need to find out what exactly they are looking for and then mold yourself into that during the interviews. It is a bit like acting, like you said, once you get the job you can be yourself.
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Twitter: IoanaLazarov
January 8, 2012 at 8:27 pm
Hello Dan,
Thank you for a very intriguing comment.
One wonders where the danger posits when hiring more of the same. While some shared values and personal characteristics are favorable to the productivity and profit of the hiring company, lacking variation and variety can be detrimental.
If we all look the same, talk the same, work the same, think the same… stagnation will set in lightning fast. Not to mention, not being able to cater to the multicultural and divers client base.
One can only resume that the Hiring Psychology is fundamentally flawed, reason why so many companies and organization are lacking an edge in the 21st century business platform.
It all starts with the biased or discriminatory hiring process?
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It is important for us to learn how we could market ourselves to employers in order for us to get our desired job. Yet sometimes, this could be a difficult thing for us to do. Being predictable is something that we need to have as always.
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What a another great sense article Fernando, the most crucial part when you are applying a job is that the company will going to interview you. By the way you are more looking good in the second picture. :)
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Twitter: ftarnogol
January 14, 2012 at 11:35 am
LOL thanks, Nicholle!I would’ve gotten worried if you thought otherwise :P
I used to admire my brother because he’s really good on marketing himself. Now, he got a new job who offered more better than his previous job. Anyway, he has all the credentials anyway.
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February 6, 2012 at 5:21 am
What a great post! I’ve just bumped into it and found it concrete and useful, very straight to the point. With your tips and some tricks I’ve heard during the webinars organized by http://blog.ivyexec.com I’m sure I’ll easily go through job search. Thanks once again!
A job offer is more often forthcoming to the candidate who is prepared, positive and with a great attitude than the more highly qualified applicant who bungled the interview questions, fails to assure the interviewer they can do the job, does not dress for success and doesn’t ask for the job. Employers want to hire positive people. People who look upon problems as opportunities. Who spend more time on solutions than complaining about the hand they were dealt.
Twitter: IoanaLazarov
February 9, 2012 at 6:05 pm
Hello Ashley,
Thank you for your comment, very intriguing and interesting insight. :)
As per general advice within the career niche, it is often recommended not to complain, badmouth or shade any negative light on any of the following: one’s previous employer, manager, colleague, etc., or the hiring process (what other companies are currently interviewing the present candidate, the length or amount of time since job-hunting has commenced – not to ooze “desperation”, etc.).
However, given that the average interview lasts between 30 to 45 minutes (unless one interviews for Google who use up to 29 interviews before granting an offer) and within the first 5 minutes (subjective and biased) judgements on the candidate are already placed, how would an accurate idea about the levels of positivity a candidate displays on an average day – away from the pressures of interviewing conditions – occur?
Additionally, are the “overqualified” applicants more frequently perceived as aloofs who “bungled the interview questions, fail to assure the interviewer they can do the job, do not dress for success and do not ask for the job”?
We would love to further hear your thoughts on the hiring process! :)
Thank you once again.
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Job hiring are currently changing and I’m glad to read your blog. Are we going on sports attire for job interviews now?
There are tips on how to get a job but it’s hard to have an interview as a blogger. Pressure of time and take a deeper look on facts about your profile ratings. In which true information is fast and accurate does employer want to hear.
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