Interview Boldly

Interesting conversation with a job seeker this week. He’s interviewing with CPG vendor who sells into grocery and mass. As he talked to me he mentioned some concerns about the company. Not quite “red flags” more light red, maybe more blush or a light tea rose sort of deal. For one thing this company isn’t as “with it’ as he’d like. The interview process was professional enough but some of the follow up and communication wasn’t so great. They take a long to time call back for one thing. He was getting mixed messages from different interviewers about the role and an appointment was flat out missed. They just seem in tish unorganized.

I get it.

He was also concerned about the company’s product strategy. While he saw a ton of potential, he just didn’t think they were resonating well with retailers. He thought they could be doing a few things differently in messaging and approach. Tweaks, as he put it, not an overhaul. He had the final interview the following day frankly had concerns. To sum up:-

“I just don’t know if they’re going to be open to change and if I’ll just wind up being frustrated.”

There’s two things came to my mind during this conversation, both of which I think are worth considering, especially for my former Target friends:

Compared to Target, most companies look unorganized

Folks, you just came from a world class organization when it comes to management execution. Target is a benchmarkee in this space. You have to expect that most other companies aren’t nearly as robust. Target’s policies and procedures, I would argue, are so robust that at times they envelop team members, prescribing not only what they’re going to do, but how they’re going to do it and what they’re going to think about. In DETAIL. Think back on the Target interview process for example, three interviewers, four sets of prewritten questions, four questions per interviewer. There was a formal process to post for a job, another to schedule the candidates and another to do turn downs and hires. All about consistency, easier to rinse and repeat.

In my experience, those conditions are pretty rare in the world. Be prepared for some ambiguity and some “not quite as buttoned up as I’m used too” situations. And, I can’t stress enough that you’ll have to be ready, and in the right mindset, to roll with the punches. Keep in mind that the smaller the company, the more “roll” you can expect. If it feels weird that you haven’t been called back in a few days or a week, or if you’re thinking that you’ve received mixed messages about the job from different interviewers, let it go.

Your key here, be ready to think on your feet and to stay focused on the big picture. Why you are interested in the job, what superpower are you bringing to the table, and what is the company trying to accomplish by hiring you?

If it’s completely unbearable or if you’re seeing signs that the place is just dysfunctional, respectfully pull yourself out of the interview process. I have one example of a friend who went to work for a small consulting firm that he admittedly felt sketchy and unorganized at the top. He wound up dealing with bouncing paychecks and an unbearable workload. Didn’t take too long for people to figure out who was organized and who could get stuff done, see let Mikey do it. You get it. You’ll just have to go with your gut.

Go Bold in the interview.

In my friends’ case, his gut was telling him that he might be walking into a situation where his company wouldn’t listen to him, shortcut to the frustration zone. Legit concern given the circumstances. But at the same time, he liked the company a lot, he liked the products, he saw potential and most importantly, he liked the people he was talking too.

“If I could just be sure they’re open about change.”

Since he asked me, and given that he had a final interview the following day I offered some free advice. He was really wondering if he should stick with the company or just back out. Given his conflicted thoughts I suggested a course of action that would force the conversation, flip the tables on the interview. He should come to the interview with a three slide presentation to have what might be an uncomfortable conversation, but one better had before he signed on rather than after.

Here’s my suggested outline:

• Company, this how I would change your messaging and tweak your strategy, and why.
• This is what I would do in my first 90 – 120 days were I to accept a position here (See what I did there)
• This is why I have the credibility to make these suggestions.

That a pretty gusty talktrack when you’re the interviewee. But if the company is serious about bringing in someone of his caliber (and the associated expense) to drive change, they’ll hire him on the spot. If the presentation scares them or raises concerns that he’s too aggressive, they won’t. And if they don’t, he probably just learned in 20 minutes what might have taken six months to figure out on the job.

Free advice.

Key message here, as I say all the time “we’re all free agents”. Don’t take a job just because you were lucky enough to get asked, find a job you want. Which means at some point you’ll have to reverse roles and interview the interviewee. Be bold, you’ll learn more about yourself and your prospective employer. All they can say is “no”.