What Do You Have to Counter-Signal?

Most people who are familiar with education and employment theory know about "signaling."

You "signal" traits and characteristics through employment history, credentials, projects, testimonials, and even how you dress, talk, and write.

These all matter in varying degrees for different roles. The world is too complex to make decisions without these kinds of heuristics. 

But I also think it's important to talk about "counter-signaling."

Let's say you're a college dropout and you're applying for a job at a large, established company that typically requires college degrees from their candidates. In your cover letter or your meeting with those hiring at the company, you have to do more than just signal to them that you have the traits and characteristics they're looking for. You need to *counter-signal* that you *don't* have the negative traits and characteristics that being a college dropout signals.

It doesn't matter if this is "fair" or not - it's the reigning operating system you should plan to encounter and account for accordingly. 

Counter-signaling is about anticipating the negative expectations and biases working against you and exceeding expectations.

I had a reader email me the other day who is dealing with this right now. He's deaf and has been passed over for a promotion again. Frustrated, he wants to know why people are afraid of promoting deaf people.

Instead of trying to psychoanalyze his superiors, I asked him what negative expectations people might have about about promoting deaf people. I didn't ask him if these were fair or not - just if they existed. He rattled a few off.

From there, I asked him how he can show people -- through his work, through his references, through writing, whatever -- that those expectations don't apply to him and that they don't have to worry about that.

This gave him something helpful to go off of in crafting his new plan for getting promoted.

I used this myself when I was applying for internships in offices when I was just 18 years old and my previous work experience consisted of 1. working with ex-cons on landscaping projects; 2. working at a fruit market; and 3. working as a lifeguard at my high school.

I made a point in the cover letter to disarm the reader by acknowledging the shortcomings with my inexperience and youth. I *then* highlighted experience or projects that counter-signaled against the idea that I was just some immature kid who had no idea what he was working on. 

This worked wonders. I recommend it to this day with younger or more inexperienced people who email me. 

What are some expectations you have to counter-signal? How would you go about counter-signaling?