You’re going to hear the question “What’s your greatest weakness?” on a job interview before long, if you haven’t already.
It’s an unspeakably rude question for one person to ask another. We don’t hear the impoliteness in this question on a job interview, because we’ve been trained to think it’s normal for recruiters and hiring managers to ask job-seekers very personal things.
They ask you what you were earning before, at your last job. That’s obviously none of anyone’s business, but they ask it anyway. You should have seen the screechy, outraged email messages I got from recruiters all over the [amazon asin=1401945872&template=*lrc ad (left)]world when I wrote to advise job-seekers not to spill the beans about their past salaries.
If people don’t get you, they don’t deserve you. In your career and in life in general, stay away from anyone who says “You need me. You’re nothing without me.”
Sadly, lots of fearful and insecure people play that card in their professional lives. They use the tired old script, “You need me.” They say things like this:[amazon asin=1490313370&template=*lrc ad (right)]
“If a candidate told me that he wouldn’t give up his past salary information, the interview would be over.”
Heck yes! Get it over with. Who has time to waste with a person who believes that only they control your access to a job — a job you’re qualified to do and one where you could help an organization in dramatic ways?
[amazon asin=B00M19W20Y&template=*lrc ad (left)]You can’t trifle with people like that. Those people are mired in fear. Any recruiter who tells you “I MUST have your salary history in order to work with you” is someone who is incapable of helping you get a job that is worthy of your talents. They’re just trying to make a deal. You have to fit into their box.
The talent marketplace is changing fast. Talent is more and more in the driver’s seat every day — but only for those job-seekers who know their value and are willing to get out of the Good Little Job Seeker box.
How can you tell which recruiters are truly interested in you? When you pay attention to the energy between you and a recruiter, in his or her actions as much as words, you’ll know whether the recruiter is trying to intimidate you or whether he or she really has your best interest in mind.[amazon asin=B00M20I134&template=*lrc ad (right)]
I have brilliant and talented recruiter friends who take every candidate’s needs as seriously as their own or their clients’ needs.
Unfortunately there are lots of other recruiters who treat candidates like cattle. These are people who need to make themselves feel important by telling you about the petty, insignificant power they hold over you. If you believe that power is real, you have fallen under an evil spell. You can kiss your negotiating power goodbye in that case.
Walk away from a turkey like that and find your voice. You’ll be amazed how your career blossoms when you say NEXT! to the wrong person and invite the right ones in.
You can be human on a job interview. You don’t have to give the standard answers to lame and insulting job-interview questions like the chestnut “What’s your greatest weakness?”
