Strategy #14: Assert Control, Differentiate Yourself And Demonstrate Authenticity

Do you want to know about the most important principles that drive an effective job search? There are three concepts that underpin my strategy which will serve you well if you understand their relevance and how they feed into everything you say and do. I’ve designed these ideas to be as straight forward as possible and if you keep them at the front of your mind you won’t go far wrong.

These three principles serve two functions. They’re ideas that go on in your head, aimed at keeping your mindset on track at all times by guiding you in the manner of a north star. They’re also a set of actions that direct everything you say and do during your job hunt.

Getting your head around a different method of job hunting can potentially be tricky. There are new techniques to learn and various activities to complete as part of your preparation, not to mention some punchy presentation, negotiation and interview skills to master. Wouldn’t it be good to have a simple roadmap at your side that ensures that you’re on the right track at all times? That’s the point of my three job-search principles.

In this article I’ll explain what they are, plus a few extra ideas about differentiating yourself. Here's an introduction to these basic principles.

Principle One: Assert Control

Above all, you should make the strongest possible attempt to take control of each and every work-search encounter you attend, from informal discussion all the way through to formal contract negotiation. The job-search approach that I advocate rewards boldness so you must seize the initiative, right from the start. Easier said than done, you might think, seeing as this goes substantially against conventional wisdom. However, you won’t be following a conventional job-search or interview format so taking control of the meeting is simpler to achieve than you might imagine.

There’s a certain crossover between the first and second principles because asserting control is both an attitude and a series of actions. The best and most reliable way to establish control is to adopt the mindset of an equal business partner and not a subordinate, and to do this in your mind and through the practical stages I’m about to introduce in upcoming strategies. Too many job applicants are cowed in the face of an apparently all-powerful interviewer. This is a major mistake which I’ll talk about in more detail soon.

Principle Two: Differentiate Yourself

The next essential thing you must do is clearly stand out from any other job candidates. You might think this is obvious and barely merits a mention. After all, convincing a recruiter that you’re a better bet than your competitors for the job is the basis of any job hunt and interview, is it not?

If you follow my complete job-search strategy you won’t have any competition at all, although this doesn’t let you off the hook regarding the need for differentiation. Even if you’re not up against other people for any particular job, the interviewer will recall previous candidates, the most impressive ones serving as benchmarks for excellence of interview performance. These ghosts are often the people you must differentiate yourself against by doing what I’m about to explain in future strategy articles. 

Principle Three: Demonstrate Authenticity

Asserting control and showing that you’re different count for little unless you convince a hiring manager that you’re an authentic straight shooter. These people are used to cocky job candidates who talk a good game and they’re cynical of brash words alone. They become jaded when they hear bold, yet unsubstantiated, claims of greatness and this certainly isn’t what I’m talking about here.

Talk is cheap and interviewers witness mendacity seeping out of job candidates all the time, and sometimes to a quite staggering degree. The suspicion that they’re being duped is central to their fear of making a bad hire, so you must exude honesty and integrity in everything you say and, especially, everything you do. This is the essence of demonstrating authenticity.

The hiring manager must be certain that you’re not only a great interviewee but will become a fantastic employee, that you’ll do exactly what you say you’ll do if you’re hired. You must convince them that you have the integrity to not only talk the talk but to walk the walk too, that what they see in the interview is an authentic version of the person they’ll get on the job.

A further few words on these three principles. No reputable employer wants to hire a generally good employee. They want an exceptional one in all respects, and demonstrating that you’re made of the right stuff is the key to this. You must prove that you’ve got the nuts in poker parlance. You do this by asserting control, differentiating yourself and demonstrating your authenticity.

A major benefit of adopting this approach is that you don’t allow yourself to be perceived as yet another job hunter. If you slip into typical job hunter mode you encourage the interviewer to treat you as… well, yet another ordinary job hunter. As I’ve explained previously, the interviewer’s prime concern is usually the avoidance of making a bad hire. Playing to the stereotype of a typical job candidate will only serve to emphasise this in their mind and will entrench the interviewer’s inclination to slip into a default modus operandi of rejection. You should try to minimise this possibility at all costs.

If you want to truly differentiate yourself, there’s a huge downside in presenting yourself as a generally competent worker which is symptomatic of average candidates. Instead, you must show that you’re an exceptional one because you’re a specialist in your field. The best way to demonstrate this, which has the added benefit of proving your authenticity, is to do the job in the interview.

If I can use a sporting analogy, there aren’t many top-flight sports outfits that are interested in signing a generally good performer above a specialist. Think about a football team which comprises a group of strikers, midfielders and defenders. If the manager needs to shore up a leaky defence, he looks for a specialist defender rather than someone who can also step into midfield or attack if the need arises. The higher the level of competition, the more this happens. Amateur teams might get away with a group of generally competent performers. Professional ones depend exclusively on specialists in their positions. That’s why these players are revered and earn the big bucks.

It’s exactly the same in the business world. It might have been an advantage to be an all-rounder at some time in the past but proving your credentials as a specialist, an expert in your position, is where it’s at now. The higher you climb the corporate tree, the more this applies. Even if you’re shooting for a junior role, being perceived as a generalist rather than a person with truly focused skills won’t usually serve you well.

My recommendation is to put all, or at least most, of your eggs in one basket. Average candidates try to be a catch-all, adaptable employee who’ll turn their hand to any task that’s demanded of them, but exceptional ones are bold specialists. During interview, an excessively compliant position is characteristic of weak candidates and certainly not the essence of differentiation, nor authenticity or agency.

Once you’re a signed-up employee, be prepared to get busy with any reasonable work request by all means. Get stuck into the inevitable fire-fighting that will come along from time to time, but only prove that you’re a jack-of-all-trades when you’ve been hired. Just make sure that you use the principles of control, differentiation and authenticity to enhance your specialist credentials at interview.     

You may want to add some of your preferred principles to this list to create a kind of bespoke interview psychology. Don’t make things complicated by adding too many, though. There’s a lot to be said for keeping things simple rather than juggling too many ideas in your head. I highlight these three concepts because my experience with countless job hunters and interviewers tells me that these are the things which are crucial to your chances of success. I really cannot overstate their importance.

If you prefer to watch training materials rather than read or listen to them, follow this link to my YouTube channel where you can access the video version of this article;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsWq2yaxNuA

And finally, if you have any questions about the issues I raise here, or if you'd like to contact me personally, please get in touch via LinkedIn;

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vocationmaster/