This marks the 1,000th edition of this weekly newsletter, first published September 20, 2002. Over all these years, one idea continues to permeate all of Ask The Headhunter: To win a job, do the job in your interview. Everything else I write about, and everything we discuss in the Q&A and the Comments section, clarifies and expands on this idea. That’s why I chose reader John Grace’s e-mail about how he won his job by doing the job in his interview.
A reader’s story
I started a new job, and I think Nick would be proud of how I got the job.
In the interview, I did the job. I couldn’t figure out what exactly it was the company did from its website, but a mutual friend had connected us, telling the company it “needed” me.
It quickly became apparent that the company couldn’t explain its business in the interview. They knew what they did, but they spent 10 minutes explaining it in technical jargon. There and then I knew why my contact said they needed me.
I took over a whiteboard and made a very focused argument about why the company needed to be better at explaining what they do (they are a technology company). Before I was completely done, the interviewer said to stop and that he would be back in a minute.
He returned with a gentleman who was introduced as the CEO and I was introduced as “the guy you’ve got to hear.”
Within twenty minutes several other managers came into the room. Two of them asked me how I would solve their current biggest problem. The CEO stood up at the end of the meeting and said, “We’ve got to have this guy on board. Do whatever it takes.”
That’s how I started my most recent position.
Thank you, Nick. Not everyone can understand the idea of doing the job, but the ones that do are great. Those are the people I want to work for. Your book helped me to sell myself that way.
John Grace
Nick’s Reply
There is nothing easy about doing the job in the interview; nor is there any substitute for it. Your resume won’t do it, your LinkedIn profile won’t do it, and being able to answer the Top 10 Stupid Interview Questions won’t do it.
Every situation will require a different approach depending on the business and the job, and on the problems and challenges the hiring manager needs you to address.
Doing the job
The underlying idea is profound and powerful: Do the job to win the job, right there in the interview. But, to what extent and in how much detail? That‘s up to the candidate. If the candidate is not prepared to think fast on their feet like you did, I can’t help them and they probably don’t belong in that meeting because they’re not prepared.
I know: This is a very tall order, and if employers expected job applicants to do the kind of presentation you did, then more interviews would result in job offers and new hires.
But then the job boards, LinkedIn and every ATS company would go out of business. And good riddance, because today’s Employment System is a house of cards. Employers and job seekers alike should step back and let it fall because it has already failed.
Of course, much goes into preparing to demonstrate what you can do. That’s what all of Ask The Headhunter is about. (If you’re new to this, please start with the links above.)
I am honored by anyone who uses my advice to win a job and then shares the outcome. So I thank you, John, for sharing your story and for your permission to share it with others. I would have given a lot to be a fly on the wall while you did the whiteboard presentation you described! Nice work doing the job to win the job. Thank you for your story and for your kind permission to publish it!
Where did 1,000 editions come from?
When I first started Ask The Headhunter, I felt good about sharing what I knew with my readers. After all these years, I find I learn more from my readers than they learn from me. While I’ve produced 1,000 editions of weekly Q&A columns, I’ve actually answered over 50,000 questions from readers since Ask The Headhunter was born. That’s where the article-quality Q&A columns start — I edit the very best of the questions you send me that I answer.
For this enormous archive of Q&A I owe a very special thank-you to one of The Motley Fool’s founding partners, Erik Rydholm, who found my stuff on Prodigy, adopted me and gave Ask The Headhunter a chance to reach a huge audience on The Fool and America Online. I’d been getting around 10 questions a week on the Prodigy forum I started, but on AOL it grew to 50 or more. I asked Erik, “You don’t really expect me to answer every single question anybody asks, right?” Erik gave me the best advice: “Sure! You can do it! Answer every single question you get!” (The rest is yet another story!)
In a lifetime, a headhunter would not encounter all the situations and experiences that ATH readers have reported in our discussions on the website. Thanks to all who have shared their problems and challenges in finding (and filling) jobs — especially for contributing your insight, wisdom and advice in the Comments section every week! What I’m most proud of is the high standard of discourse on our forum!
Are you looking for a better job? Are you interviewing candidates to fill a job? On to the next! And please share your questions so I can get on to the next edition, too! And if you have a story or experience about Ask The Headhunter or about “do the job to win the job,” please add it to the Comments below — especially if it’s from the Prodigy or AOL days!
: :
Congratulations, Nick, on this 1,000th newsletter milestone!
Thank you for all the excellent advice shared in each newsletter you post! Happy New Year as well
It might be worth asking your readers if anybody can supply the details of a presentation that achieved a similar result.
You heard Tim, folks! We’d love to know what kinds of presentations worked for you. If you’d prefer to run something by me privately first, just drop me an e-mail. I will not publish anything without your permission but there may be a way to share “just enough” so it’s helpful to others.
Congratulations Nick your 1,00th newsletter! I will still appreciate your wisdom and wit as I ease into semi-retirement.
Congratulations! Been theoretically retired for eight years, but still read your newsletter each week. Never know when I may have to get back into the game.
Onward and upward!
I got an idea! How about printing out each and every one and put it in a bound book and sell it on your website. I would like to have one at my desk at reach to avoid clogging up my PC with open windows.
@Eddie: Great idea. It would be thousands of pages long because my Q&A columns run a bit long! It might break your desk!
That said, you’ll find loads of my columns in my PDF book collection, “Fearless Job Hunting: Overcome the daunting obstacles that stop other job hunters in their tracks.”
https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/store/fjh/books.htm
The book is in 9 sections (you can buy just the ones you want or the entire collection). Every chapter is a real question from a real reader and my advice. The PDF is designed for easy printing with minimal ink beyond the cover pages.
Don’t worry my desk is made from post and beam. Maybe offer it in yearly volumes. I am not thrilled with this online stuff that comes and goes with the spring mushrooms. Your advice is permanent and survives the ages.
Congratulations Nick on your milestone…. I’ve been following your advice since 1st Edition of Ask.
Doing the job (profitably) was always my 1st takeaway. I can honestly say that strategy got me the job and happily not getting it. To clarify, there were times I did the job in the interview and interviewers were turned off by my skills, knowledge, frankness and leadership… they must of quickly realized this guy is my replacement.
Some of my best interviews were those where I realized this company / job is not for me.
Well done Nick, looking forward to your continued success!
Exactly!
@Paul: Thanks! You’re right. The “do the job” approach is a great way to test an employer. Are they worthy to work for?
Congratulations and Happy New Year Nick!
When I pass on your newsletters to other people and now even to my son, I often ask myself since how long have been reading you and it could well be since 2002 then ;-)
Thank you for sharing your wisdom and practical advice for more than 20 years. I appreciate your readers as well; some smart cookies there.
Looking forward to edition 1,001!
This story cuts both ways. I was asked by a former colleague to interview for a position at a company he worked for a few times. Every time he left, he came back at a higher level. He instructed me to prepare a presentation for the engineers that I would be working with . I did this and it went well. In fact, their HR department kept calling me extolling the virtues of my resume and presentation. It even got to the point where the HE person in charge of my application was calling me at the airport when I was leaving on vacation. My wife said they really want yout to work there. I just laughed and told her that they had not checked my age (63) since they couldn’t ask and I appeared 10 years younger than I was.
Long story short, HR must have Googled me and found out my birthday. All communitications with HR went dead then. I could care less because I could see from my experience that this organization was way too far gone to get innvolved with. So yes, Nick’s methods work. But, that is only the first step.
Unemployed. Longer term.
I’ve “done the job” in the interviews MANY MANY times in my 40+ years career, and have been, long before this newsletter ever existed, and continue to do so, for what it’s worth, which is nothing. I didn’t need anyone’s advice.
Have interviewed with MAJORS like
Google 2x
Amazon 3x
MicroSoft
GEHealth
and numerous others …
I’m also 63.
40+ years in my field.
THREE Baccalaureate Degrees.
White.
Male.
Alpha.
Veteran (Intelligence/Security).
NON INDIAN.
NON H1B.
Titles held have included
Senior Engineer
Senior Proj Mgr
Manager
Director
Principal Consultant
among numerous others …
Over ~17,000+ résumés out now.
~54+ jobs fairs attended now, each with average ~100 employers.
Nick’s advice for 63 year old white male Veterans with 40+ years experience up against H1B hadjis being hired by other hsdjis in the tech industry DOES NOT WORK.
I have a former hadji Friend who was H1B, had 4 different jobs to my NONE, and now is full time @ $140K @ J&J. At EVERY job, the hiring decision makers who hired him were also hadjis.
Get your head out, Nick.
Tell us something we can REALLY use and will REALLY work against industry hiring corruption.
Time to grow up and see the hiring world for what it REALLY is … corrupt, discriminatory, and soulless.
@Annie: Ask The Headhunter and “do the job” isn’t for everybody and I don’t mean for it to be. Clearly, it isn’t for you, so don’t use it.
But it clearly works for folks 60+:
https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/15089/blowing-through-ageism
https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/6358/who-says-58-year-olds-cant-get-a-job
I’m 68.
Just landed an incredible job in educational facilities here in NJ. Sorry ageism is not an absolute. Keep trying.
Nick,
Thanks for your advice 1000 times over. (As we have previously discussed) I used to read your column in the EE Times print paper (whatever *that* was), so your 1000th must be online. Which you implied in this week’s column.
I mentor a lot of students from my alma mater and one of the first things I tell them is to read your website and then subscribe to your newsletter. Sure, it’s more difficult for new grads to show how they can do the job, but can you ever start learning those skills too soon?
Looking forward to number 1001!
Nick, add my voice to the chorus of approval. Congratulations on your 1K edition.
There are scant few guides I recommend to others seeking clear, actionable guidance on work, jobs, and careers. Indeed I can think of just two: you, and Cynthia Shapiro.
I Ms Shapiro considers updating her excellent “50 Secrets Your Company Doesn’t Want You to Know—And What to Do About Them” (MacMillan, 2005), followed up by her also excellent (deep breath) “What Does Somebody Have to Do to Get A Job Around Here? 44 Insider Secrets That Will Get You Hired” (MacMillan, 2008).
I will share stories from the field, starting with what happens on my next interview after I ask if the interviewer already has someone standing by to take this position.
Keep up the good work!