No Matter Where You Go, There You Are!

I have heard this saying many times and I recently searched on the web for its origin. The results were less than satisfying. According to www.figmentfly.com/bb/popculture4.html, the saying can be attributed to any number of sources.

Why do I care? Well, that sentiment is the foundation behind a key principle in recruiting. Specifically, recruiting and hiring managers believe that a candidate’s past performance is the best indicator of future performance.  No matter the circumstance, the job or the company on your resume, the one constant is you. When you are looking for your next job, your future employer will dig up your previous work record and look for trends, patterns, red flags and positives that you bring to the job. 

The reality is that we all REPEAT ourselves in all we do.  The recruiting industry recognizes this and has developed behavioral interviewing techniques to see how self-aware a candidate is with regards to the mash-up of who we are and how we apply it in work situations. When a recruiter asks, “Tell me about a time……” it is all about your past and what can they expect from you in the future. 

There a couple of key points – we are a mash-up of many characteristics and as a result, our past does not have to define our future.  If we can untangle the mash-up and describe what makes us who we are, why can’t we work to change those characteristics and change our future? 

I can. You can. However, what specifically do you (me, we) need to change to change our perception of who we are in the workplace (our persona)?  

I have been hiring people for over 30 years. I believe it boils down to the following characteristics and qualifications:  

R: raw reaction to a situation.  A great example of a raw reaction is road rage. People, behind a steering wheel in assumed anonymity provide a raw reaction to a perceived flaw in another driver. While road rage might be an extreme example, we all have seen raw reactions (good and bad) from co-workers. Let’s be honest. We have all judged a person’s raw reaction and future employers will too. These raw reactions are very revealing. We all have initial, raw reactions. It is what you do with it that matters. You might try to hide it. You might try to filter it up (see the E below). Skilled recruiters and hiring managers will ask questions to get a sense of your raw reaction. Hints to raw reaction are given away in your body language, your facial expressions and in your voice and words you use.  A raw reaction in the work place can make many people feel very uncomfortable.  Raw reactions might be considered appropriate and reasonable or inappropriate and out of line with reality.  It not the emotion that is bad, it is what you do with it.   How well to you filter or harness it?  

E: emotional filter is your skill at filtering or harnessing your response in work appropriate ways. Most of us recognize that our raw emotion is not appropriate for the workplace and we attempt to cover it up and wrap it in an emotional filter. This is intended to allow us to provide a more reasoned, professional response.  I have worked with many people and interviewed many more. I am shocked at the number of people whose emotional filter does not seem to exist.   This can result in inappropriate workplace behavior. This can include emotional displays that run the gamut from extreme happiness, love and affections all way to depression, sadness and anger. Just as negative is applying a filter that is so complete that you come across as completely unfeeling and uncaring.   Leaders are typically required to have some empathy to be successful. Completely cold reactions devoid of any emotion can be as off-putting as unfiltered raw reactions. 

Note: it is an unwritten rule that your “R->E” score could completely undermine all accomplishments on your resume. If this evaluation leaves your recruiters and hiring managers feeling uncomfortable, I don’t believe you can overcome that in the hiring process. If you find yourself in a cycle of interviewing for the perfect job and then getting fuzzy, lack of detail reasons for why you didn’t advance in the process, it might be because of you “R->E” evaluation.  I have had candidates who appeared to be well qualified blow the interview for assorted reasons that include anger at their previous employer, unhappiness in their personal life, emotional immaturity dealing with life’s issues or selfishness in demands from perspective employers. This area if seldom truthfully explored by candidates and people within their sphere of friends.     

So far, we have R->E-> and this drives us into an initial impression of your Persona – P giving us REP.

P: your persona in the workplace is a mashup of many characteristics and is THE perception of who you are in the workplace.  Your “R->E” evaluations give potential employers a sense of the core person we might meet outside the office. Your hiring managers and recruiters might determine you have anger issues, are emotionally needy, immature, disconnected from reality, high maintenance or well-balanced with a firm grasp on the reality – and all of this before they have considered your work history, education and ambition. Gut feelings are important in the process to hiring managers and recruiters. Don’t give them any reason to doubt your fit for the job.   

Mashing up against your personal “R->E” persona are the professional aspects of persona made up of:

E: experience – work history. You will be evaluated on the types of jobs you have had. How long did each of them last? Why did they end? What did you accomplish? Your explanation of your work history paints a picture of what the future might hold for you. It provides real work examples of obstacles overcome, goals achieved and an overall sense of work ethic, commitment and success. Recruiters and hiring managers look for work continuity (unbroken work history), career progression (traditional climbing the ladder progress) and stability.  Can you clearly explain your history and job transition in honest and insightful ways? Work on it. 

A: ambition. What do you see for yourself as the natural progression of your work? I have been stumped by more than a few candidates whose ambition was way out of line for their body of work. There is a generally accepted career ladder. Having expectation outside that progression can create questions about your being realistic in your goals and what it will take to achieve them. Potential new employers want to know you will be working inside the box to help them achieve their goals first and your goals secondarily. If your ambition is not realistic, they will question whether you are going to stay employed focused on their goals or off chasing dreams.  I find it interesting that some workers have goals far outside the normal career progression and other workers have no goals excepted to get a pay check and go home. It has been my experience that potential employers want workers focused on the job at hand with a desire to do it in an above average way to enable their climb of the ladder they define.  Variations from that show a misalignment and create a hurdle to overcome in the hiring process.   A commitment to your ambition should be reflected in your training. 

T: training. Job appropriate, on-target training and certifications is one of the quickest ways to redirect and change your career path and show commitment to a career path. What resources have you invested (time and money) to be formally trained on in the job you are asking to have with a future employer? Job specific, formal training is always a positive in the evaluation process. I have never found it to be a negative. Formal training establishes a solid foundation from which you apply your experience and wisdom to take the execution of the job to the next level.  Your training should be focused on the job at hand and you should be able to directly correlate training to job success. Consider taking the time to clean up your resume and remove references to training that has no bearing on the job you are chasing.  I have worked with candidates who have listed every certification and training ever taken. While I get that it might paint the picture of you being a lifelong learner, the focus needs to stay on the job being pursued. Exceptions to this rule includes soft skills training and a college education. A completed college education has applicability throughout your career. Listing an incomplete attempt at a college education, multiple incomplete attempts at a college education and a random list of courses can work against you in the evaluation process.   It could show a lack of focus and commitment. 

You do REPEAT but you don’t have to REPEAT in the same way every time!   

R->E->P<-E<-A<-T. 

We don’t have to accept that we REPEAT without the possibility of change. If you are not getting the results in the workplace or in the hiring process that you desire, consider changing YOU up and improving in areas that mash up and inform your persona (the perception of who you are and will be in the workplace). 

Remember: recruiters and hiring managers are best convinced by what they discover for themselves. These discoveries are based on your REPEAT-able assessment.  Don’t be afraid to take a REPEAT inventory and work on those areas of weakness.  Change the components of your persona and change your future. No matter where you go, there you are – but that does not have to limit where you are going!