Some people are specially good at selling themselves during job interviews and -are also capable of- maintaining the expectations set during it, once they get hired. But there’s a group out there that once they are hands on with the job, they miserably fail to keep up with the expectations they generated during the interview process.
Do you remember when you first fell for you girlfriend/fiancee/wife? Do you recall the things you use to do to trap her in your spider web? An then, do you remember when you stopped doing all those things? Here’s my story.
Yesterday marked my second anniversary with María. Exactly 2 years ago, I stopped jogging. From May 2008 until that August, I used to take every opportunity to jog around our neighborhood with her. The day we started dating, that stopped. Of course she takes every opportunity to bring that up whether in private or during social venues. She still doesn’t believe me when I tell her that I used to jog before meeting her. What is hard to explain is why I stopped, but that’s a completely different story.
A friend of mine once told his new girlfriend that he had 6000 acres (500 ha) of farmland. She found out the truth, but it was too late. They got married a few months after that. She used to make fun of it (him) whenever my friends and I hung out with them. That was until they got divorced.
Thing is, we do whatever it takes to get the girl but once we achieve our goal, we lay to rest. We fail to recognize that conquering the lady is only 50 percent of the equation. The other 50 is keeping up the hard work to make the relationship work.
The same concept applies to our jobs. We go in in full throttle, make an impact at the interview, get hired… and soon after it, the truth gets unveiled. Turns out you weren’t that proactive meteorite that once crashed into the HR office, you never meet deadlines, you are always late for work. OK, that may not be you, or it may.
There is a factor considered in some of the most recognized personality tests (such as NEO-PIR or MMPI) called the tendency to acquiescence, which is the voluntary effort to portrait one-self in a favorable light, and we all resort to it when challenged with a job interview.
There’s a couple of reasons for not keeping up with expectations:
- Once you got hired you realized it’s not the job you expected. Solution: next time, ask more during the hiring process, research more about the company, find friends, relatives or acquaintances that work or have worked there and… only apply for what you are looking for.
- You are an X in McGregor’s theory (in short, you are lazy). Solution: there’s no easy fix for this. But if you want to have a successful career you’d better get your act together.
- You are over qualified for the position, translating into lack of motivation. There are two solutions for this: get a job that adequate better to your qualifications/capabilities or, learn how to find motivation when it’s gone on vacations.
- You are under-qualified for the position. Then, expect high stress levels. Lean on your team to get support and training and be aware that it will take time for your team/boss to regain the lost confidence in you.
Finding a solution to this situation can also become a paradoxical game of chicken and egg. If you know you may under-perform at the job or you are under qualified for the position you could refrain from displaying a high profile during the interview, although this will jeopardize the chance of you getting the job. In this case, being realistic about yourself in the interview won’t help either since it also conflicts with the personal goal of every candidate: to get the job in the first place, then deal with it. As you see, there’s no easy solution.
In this case I think the best advice is to remember the 50/50 rule and how vital it is to live up to the expectations you generated during the interview process. Your job is just like your girl/boy so if you want to keep it, don’t let it down.
Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments section.
Image credit Divorced Discourse
More From FT Careers Blog
- Work Ethics and Etiquette: Leaving Your Job Through the Front Door
- How To Deal With Stress at Work
- Preventing Professional Amnesia
FT Careers Blog Recommends
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
| Blog → Careers Blog
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
keeping up with expectation at work is a great challenge nowadays. Appreciate if you can comment on the human skills needed to keep up with the 50/50 approach.
Twitter: ftarnogol
February 14, 2012 at 1:11 pm
Hi sumathi,
I think the big word here is commitment. The second one being something that it´s not entirely up to us to control: motivation.
Once you get hired you are putting your credibility and reputation on the line of fire. By walking the talk and being consequential with your actions you are demonstrating that you weren’t selling fantasies at the interview, but that what they saw in you -and made the company hire you- is the real deal.
Some times we start a job only to find that just like McDonald’s burgers, what’s advertised does not match reality, and you lose all motivation. In this case, you’ve been deceived, which in turn will kill your motivation/productivity.
In these cases, I’d walk the extra mile to make my job professional while I keep an eye open to jump ship to a more serious place… staying positive and productive when you are not motivated is hard as hell and a sure path to get stamped against a big concrete wall.
Thank you for your comment!
Fernando invites you to read..How Did I End Up Here? Losing Track Of Your Career Goals Or Not Identifying With Your Circumstances [Infographic & Video]
{ 2 trackbacks }