Why You?
In the comment box last month, for a post called 5 Reasons People Don’t Get Hired and the Only 3 Questions that Count Martin and I discussed questions we use when interviewing candidates for jobs. But let’s put this in context.
This is my favorite interview question. It requires a form of self-promotion.
If I had a candidate with a resume just like yours, what 3 things would you bring to the job that no one else would bring? No need to worry there’s no right answer.
In 15 years of asking that question, no candidate ever stammered. All of them took their time, gave it thought, and came back with a winning answer. No two answers were even remotely close.
No one got tied up in the confusion that usually hangs around self-promotion.
Why do you think that’s so?
How would you answer the question? What three things are you bringing that no one else would? What three things are uniquely you?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
(I’ll be gone late morning to the dentist. Don’t worry if I’m not hanging in the comments.)
Hi Liz,
I just now realized that the genius of this question is not the question itself; it’s the “Don’t worry; there’s no right answer” part. This prevents the candidate from trying to play the ‘what answer is she looking for?’ game and do some actual introspection.
I’m totally co-opting that!
Mike
I love answering this question…simply because after the interview, it might be a while before anyone asks you what your capabilities are and self-promotion within a group looks like showboating.
I say: Determination to prove people wrong about any initial misconceptions about me, extreme anal-retentiveness in regard to attention to detail, and honesty and integrity that I will prove that I have.
I usually get some raised eyebrows, a tour of the facility, and a call with an offer later on.
I have had this question before – it’s a good one…for the interviewer and prospective employee.
My 3 things: confidence, a lot of energy, the ability to think for myself (you would be surprised how many people actually can’t!)
Agree with Mike: the best part is the latter part.
I would bring perseverance – some would call it stubbornness -, being able to see structures in things, combined with bringing structure to it and agree with Brooke: ‘creative’ thinking.
Brooke, is it can’t or won’t? In too many cases that I see it’s actually a long-developed pattern of the latter.
The other strength of the question is that you realize, without even thinking, that this is a question that can’t be answered with metrics, buzzwords, or names of tools, programming languages and so forth.
The very wording of the question appeals to your subconscious, goes to the heart of your authentic self. Indeed, it’s a question that only your authentic self can answer. The more connected you are to your authentic self, the more likely you’ll be to answer the question before your logical brain has time to kick in and interject.
I would ask, too: Could difficulty answering this question in an interview be
a) a notice to you that you’re not connected to your authentic self at all, or
b) that you’re temporarily disconnected from your authentic self because something in the interview…the environment, the interviewer, the job description up for grabs…is unsettling you?
More delicious stuff,
Whitney, you are right on the nose.
Sadly, I have never been asked this question from a potential employer. The question usually goes like this: “What are the top skills you bring to this position?” Yah, blah, hooey.
My last job before becoming a coach was as an enrollment director at a highly disfunctional private school. What got me the job was this:
“I detest gossip, so you’ll never find me in the middle stirring it up, but rather bringing parties together to work it out. I am equal parts left brain, right brain, so I see the forest and the trees. Big picture, detail oriented.”
Now that I think of it, I have worked in sooo many disfunctional businesses (oxymoron? just moron?) it’s no wonder I do what I do.
Excellent question, more so because it’s asked during a conversation and not part of the written application.
Given that personal spirit and atmosphere, I’d likely also take focus from the technical and answer:
–good sense of humor
–genuine loyalty
–healthy curiosity
Are you interviewing us, Liz? 🙂
Hi Carolun, and all,
Yeah, I think that you could say that in a way I am interviewing you. Or maybe better said is that I am asking you to sonsider that in certain circumstances, we have no real problem telling what we are usinquely good at. So maybe I am asking you to interview your self. 🙂
Hey JohnFTM, if you’re oug there . . . do you have a comment about this?
Is ‘usinquely’ a real word? If not, it should be! 😉
Okay, since we’re all playing:
1) In any situation, I can re-sort the data to identify the problems and pull out the actionable solutions
2) An infectious passion for what I do
3) Pictures of my wife and kids
passion
tenacity
“grasshopper” inquisitiveness
GP in montana
Hi all!
The dentist wouldn’t tell me her three things.
That’s why I never hire ex-dentists!
Good rule, Mike! maybe I should add that to the Business Rules they never teach you. 🙂
Oh, I’m always out there. 🙂
If I was interviewing for a new job and the interviewer said, “Give me three reasons why would I hire you over someone else with the same resume,” I would say, naturally:
“Nice office building! Here are my salary requirements!”
Then I’d walk out of the interview and repeat the process at several other companies.
Finally, I’d simply go home and wait for the formal job offers to come rolling in. 😀
John,
I’d love to know the thinking . . .
I was thinking sarcastically- too much coffee today, I think.:)
Most of my short (about 10 years) corporate career was spent in leadership or managerial roles (yes, pity those poor souls), and I interviewed a lot people in that time.
Many of the attempts I see at self-promotion on the internet look to me just like the scenario I laid out above (were it a job interview). Someone completely focused on what they want to receive, not listening, not engaging anyone, and completely transparent.
The reason I think your interview question was a great one – and I completely agree, questions that require someone to promote themselves are essential – is because it invites a person to look through your eyes instead of their own.
E.g., “What unique value can I offer, and how can I communicate that value in a way that *they* will appreciate?”
Some answers are better than others, but you’re right, none of the answers are wrong. Sincerity works, as does confidence.
yep, Johm,
It takse the “self-centered” out of “self-promotion.” The emotional overlay is gone. Folks, in essence, “look” at themselves in third person.
I am a continuing lurker here, but I agree with John in that it is amazing how mundane and lack-luster responses are so commonplace in interviews! It keeps surprising me when we interview people with graduate degrees and they say, “I am a team player, I enjoy a challenge, I blah, blah, blah, blah.”
Not that being authentic is easy, but your comment about having each person interview themself is excellent. It’s self-branding. If we can’t put a label on it, no one is is going to either.
My three things: (so far today…)
1. I am passionate and knowledgeable about working with people in poverty. There are way too many stereotypes and ineffective practices out there that are only perpetuating the problem.
2. I spend time learning the team to determine who has what passion and then try to help them frame their work around or including that passion.
3. I tend to facilitate synergy, I help get people talking. When people talk, I don’t have to have the solution, they create it and make it their own. IT’s a beautiful thing.
But I am job searching, so we’ll see if anyone asks and if the answers I have work for the field I am in. (generally speaking, non-profit management)
Hi LJ,
I don’t understand why being authentic is hard. I understand it is for some people, but I don’t why. Group think peer pressure — how did these things get carried into adulthood? I thought they were the games of junior high.
LJ, thanks for your three things and thanks for your comment. You’re not a stranger anymore.
Authentic isn’t hard for all, but as you said, it is hard for some. People who are more eager to say what they think you want to hear vs. what they believe, feel or truly think. I don’t think it’s junior high, though being authentic does demand a certain level of wisdom, personal reflection and maturity.
There are lots of adults I know who struggle with authenticity. *But function quite well on a day to day basis* However, I Digress…again. That segues a bit too much from the topic of three things…
Hey LJ,
No worry, please don’t think that I meant that folks who struggle with authenticity are all junior high. I see a modicum of peer presssue and group think that IS junior high about “group think” in general.
I also know folks who have trouble with authenticity, but do fine.
No worries about digressing here. Just because our comments are in a box. We don’t have to be. Conversations on this blog follow their course naturally. 🙂
Feel free. You’re not a strnager.
In my career(s) I have always been the interviewee. I used to “sweat” questions unrelated to the job until I began to “practice” interviews.
Being the product of civil service positions, a person learns not to trust the interviewer because they do have a hidden agenda for asking those types of questions. (Usually the job is already filled)
However, an interviewer needs to find out if a prospective employee can think on their feet. Civil Service employees are not always required to think, that’s why you don’t see many of them in the private sector.
My 3 things I bring that no one else could
1. I am compassionate and intuitive
2. I look beyond what is in front of me.
3. I will spend your time wisely.
Not too complicated.
Hi Karma,
The older I get, the more I understand that if I have to second guess an interviewer’s intentions, then I don’t want to work at that company. I realize that sometimes I don’t have the luxury of choosing where I want to work, but still knowing that gives me strength. I sort of think “have your agenda, I’ll have my answer that has more than one meaning.”
I like your three things. 😛
It’s kind of funny for me, because although I really have been working in family businesses all my life or self-employed .. one interviewer DID ask me those very questions when I was 16 or 17.. My answer to the question about what I brought to the table .. I said something like..
“Production .. I get things done instead of talking about it.”
Well, that job was actually cutting down bush and trees in Northern Manitoba to build a highway and my job was to drag cut down trees down the road and toss them into a chopper machine. By day 10 I actually quit and decided I wanted to be an accountant instead.
HART!
Your humor always carries a lesson. I bet you still get things done. 🙂
Howdy 🙂 Just came over from Becky’s “Draw the line between free and paid” post at Small Biz Survival
Your question would be great for me because it doesn’t require over-promotion to stand out from the other candidates. It asks how I’m different, not better, and I’d be comfortable with that. I would be uncomfortable with bragging my way to the front of a hypothetical crowd of competitors.
If the question had been, “What would make you HEAPS better than any other candidate?” I’d likely stammer out answers until the interviewer cut me off. In an effort to touch on their right answer, I’d give them a Whitman’s Sampler assortment 🙂
Thanks!
Hi Crystal.
I like that you notice the difference doesn’t focus on “good or better,” but on unique value. I look for people who know what their strengths are. 🙂
Hi again 🙂
I’m finding “Unique value” is a tricky one, though. It’s easy to say “I can type 65 words a minute”, knowing many people can’t. But knowing what makes me different from the rest of the hypothetical herd takes more thought…and I’m still thinking!
Thanks,
~CW
Hi Crystal,
I think that a unique value includes something of who we are as well as what we can do. 🙂