Preparing for a 'Hardcore' Interview

Journaling will be critical for future interviews

3 Quotes

“The new cultural belief that everything should be fun, fast, and easy is inconsistent with hopeful thinking. It also sets us up for hopelessness. When we experience something that is difficult and requires significant time and effort, we are quick to think, This is supposed to be easy; it’s not worth the effort, or, This should be easier: it’s only hard and slow because I’m not good at it. Hopeful self-talk sounds more like, This is tough, but I can do it.” –Brene Brown, academic, author and speaker

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” - C.S. Lewis, scholar, author and Anglican theologian

“I have come to accept the feeling of not knowing where I am going. And I have trained myself to love it. It is only when we are suspended in mid-air with no landing in sight, that we force our wings to unravel and alas begin our flight. And as we fly, we still may not know where we are going to. But the miracle is in the unfolding of the wings. You may not know where you’re going, but you know that so long as you spread your wings, the winds will carry you.”

– C. Joybell C. - Author, illustrator and poet

BIG Idea

Hope is intrinsic to success.

In a job search, hope without thoughtful preparation is wasted energy.

Today, employers want to make every new hire count, especially at the management and executive levels. Many companies have taken on more of the management and executive recruiting to improve outcomes. Ongoing mistakes in hiring are a costly expense companies want to avoid. Bringing talent acquisition “inside,” they believe/hope will minimize the transactional aspects of recruiting by emphasizing “ownership” — accountability for the outcome.

For applicants, this will require more focused planning to develop and deliver a message that emphasizes value. Recruiters are leaning into the concept that the best predictor of how an applicant will perform is their past performance. Applicants must “communicate, illustrate and prove.”

In evaluating your past performance, recruiters and their corporate colleagues are increasingly using a concept dubbed “hardcore recruiting.” They are examining particular experiences, and they want to hear verifiable proof of your success, as in quantifiable examples. Hint: you must prepare your references to reinforce this information to complete the process.

Without these quantifiable examples, your “career stock” will decline.

Here is an approach to prepare yourself for the “grand inquisition.”

Break down the job into categories. These are the most common ones:

1. Human capital (HR) - Your team

2. Governance - Your reporting relationships

3. Operations - Managing the department

4. Financial management - Budgeting, forecasting and meeting expense and revenue targets (contribution margin)

5. Marketing - Planning, sales or intra-company activities (supporting other departments, etc)

6. Personal growth - What do you want to achieve professionally? This is a combination of acquiring new credentials and perfecting skills, for example. Another very important leadership habit is to keep a journal — for the rest of your career. (More on this concept below.)

Below, I summarize a format to guide your thinking in preparing your monthly reports for your supervisor.