How to Get Hired If You Are an A-Typical Job Candidate

Whether too old, too young, too liberal, too conservative, gay, a minority, or maybe just coming from a non-linear career history with gaps or a pivot, people who don't fit into the very narrow idea of a hiring manager's "role fit" are A-typical job candidates.

It is very hard as an A-typical job candidate to get hired. You can see the bias in the hiring manager's body language and the questions they ask.

When you get rejected, it is even harder to get feedback on why.

If you insist, you may, like me, have heard one of the following excuses:

-“We think you’d be bored here.” - (Translation: "We think you are too old, overqualified, too creative or too eccentric for our conservative company.")

-“We honestly are most interested in candidates from our direct competitors.” - (Translation: "We are hoping to hire someone who worked for our main competitor to get as much insider information as possible to beat them.")

-“Your background is impressive but we don’t think you’d understand our vertical industry.” (Translation: "We are very close-minded about the career path we are looking for. We are not considering good candidates who have anything other than the one career path we think is best for the role.")

-“It’s not you. You are great. You just wouldn’t fit into our corporate culture.” (Translation: "We are a racist, sexist, close-minded company who doesn't hire anyone who isn't "one of our kind" aka anyone different than us.")

-"You don't have enough experience for this role." (Translation: "We think you are too young. We have decided we will hire someone in a certain age range and won't accept candidates outside of that age range.")

Feedback is actually rare and precious. I only got these few gems after in-person interviews because I am persistent, and when the recruiters actually liked me. Most of the time, I heard nothing. Ghosted. Forgotten. Sometimes not even worthy of a rejection email. I want to say to the recruiter: “But Jenny, we were just laughing a week ago, and getting along fabulously. Now you won’t even return a single voicemail. What happened?” Recruiting practices can be bizarre.

The questions asked during interviews or applications can also be quite odd. Some of the ones I was asked during my job search are: “What is your sexual identity? Are you bi?” “Do you have issues being managed?” “It must be difficult having children and working.” “How do you handle authority?” “How is your temper?”

My worst interview was with a very famous company with a silly, made-up name you’ve definitely heard of but will remain unmentioned. They were running 30 minutes behind. When someone finally came to the lobby for me, the person didn’t smile, didn’t introduce herself nor offer me water nor apologize for the wait. I was ushered into a windowless conference room past open cubicles where no one looked motivated and asked about the expertise that was not in the job description by someone whose English I really couldn’t understand and who didn’t seem to understand mine either. They asked me about skills that were not even in the ad. It almost felt like I was being interviewed for the wrong job Needless to say, that didn’t work out.

Job seeking is like speed dating but with serious commitment. How can I convince you in 50 minutes that I am your ideal spouse for a long-term serious relationship? Impossible. Most hiring managers who have interviewed me were never good at it. In fact, they were uncomfortable and squirming and it was me putting them at ease, commenting on the photo of their kids or their alma mater plaque on the bookshelf. One thing I’m good at is charm. I never get nervous. Put me in front of 1,000 people and I will deliver the speech and make people laugh. Yet, most of the hiring managers whom I’ve interviewed with were introverts and it was obviously torturing for them. I felt sorry for them. One even became a client. She secretly hated her job and hired me for life coaching (another story for another day). But self-confidence is not always good. A few times I was told not to act so sure of myself and be more humble. I tested that by averting my eyes, bowing my head, and keeping my hands in prayer position in my lap but it didn’t work either. So I decided to just be myself!

Some tips I learned that helped for non-typical job seekers are:

Look At their "About" Page Before Applying

It's sad but true that many companies are not diverse. In fact, their "About" page says it all. If you go to their page and see that every single executive is white and women are also the minority, don't apply. This may be non-traditional advice but I look first at the company because then I know what to expect their culture to be like. Who cares if they hire minorities or females if they don't nurture them to the top? Not I. And nor should you. Go where you know you'll be accepted for who you are and differences will not equal bias.

Learn to Tell Your Story

Ask ten people about their background and most will ramble or confuse you. You’ll be left not understanding what they are looking for. We need the SHORT, relevant version, not your entire job history. Practice and ask someone for honest feedback. In fact, become an expert at presentation. Please keep it short, ideally under 2 minutes, and precise. Finish your story with your mission for your future. Example: “My name is Krista and I’ve worked for 18 years in Product Marketing, 5 years in large SaaS Silicon Valley companies before building my own VR/3D agency from scratch to 8 figures and running it for 12 years with my two partners. Then I sold my shares in 2017because I wanted a change. I build a solo consultancy, specializing in helping small business owners with growth and sales and marketing strategies as well as consulting for select larger companies in product management and product marketing. I’m always looking for more clients for my consultancy and appreciate any referrals.” Telling your story like this will help potential employers better understand you and address any gaps or discrepancies in your resume.

Learn to Network One-on-One

This means spending a lot of time messaging people directly. Don’t write five emails per week. Write one hundred. Touch base with old colleagues, former bosses, connections who work at companies you may be a good fit for, and let all your friends and family know what you are looking for and ask them for good referrals. Build an email template for reaching out to your network. Example: “Hey Bob, It’s been too long since we’ve spoken. How have you been? After I left (company where we worked together), I spent (x) years at (x company) but was recently laid off due to downsizing/ended the contract/ something else, and now I’m looking for a new Senior Product Marketer role in (insert city). If you know of any openings in Marketing at your company, please let me know. In the meantime, I’d love to grab a coffee to catch up with you.” You should be on calls or meeting for coffees with at least five people every week.

Become an Excellent Researcher

Research your target companies well and use Linkedin Sales Navigator to reach out to the hiring managers using InMail. I have a video for this: https://bit.ly/2L3quzy

Learn People Skills

This is especially important if you aren’t naturally extroverted or don’t have a professional background in Sales. The classic book I recommend is How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie: https://amzn.to/2Zzjsq6

Learn How to Close

My go-to is Grant Cardone. All his books will teach you how to sell yourself better but this one has particularly good advice: https://amzn.to/2NDR0RA If you aren’t a shoo-in candidate, you’ll need some persuasion to help get the dream job.

Go Through the Back Door

Don’t make the mistake of applying online and leaving the rest to luck. Work hard to build insider connections and then get a referral for a position.

Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You

Show that you are passionate about your field by joining industry associations, attending conferences, completing workshops and training to keep your skills current, and volunteering in your industry at events and more. Start a blog where you write all about your industry and submit your articles to industry journals. Organize workshops around subjects you master (bonus: you’ll generate some side income while being unemployed). Share your activities in direct messages to the hiring managers and say “I thought you may enjoy this article I wrote.” Showing off your skills is a great way to stand out.

Find Support

Job seeking is hard on your morale and having support from others who are going through the same thing can be very helpful. Work with a career coach. Seek out online or in-person groups and make friends. If your situation makes you a bit different, you probably can find a specialized support group, for example, Parents Re-entering The Workforce or Older Workers. Attending business and industry networking events is also very helpful. Linkedin Groups and Events may be just the right way to meet people who can help you in your next career move.

The bottom line is that job seeking is already hard enough but if you are different in any way, you’ll need to find creative, non-traditional ways of getting the job you want.

I also want to add that you are perfect just the way you are and if the hiring manager doesn't see your value, it is a loss for them. Who would want to work in a company with bias against a-typical job candidates anyway? Not me nor should you.

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