Michael had been on six interviews with one company… just like we talked about last time, a company that was full of doubt and uncertainty and fear… he gets down to the last interview with the hiring authority’s boss who is the last step… the hiring authority did a good job coaching Michael about what his boss was going to be looking for… in fact, he “overcoached” just a bit… he gave Michael so many “watch out for this” that Michael, who up until this point had been stellar, poised and confident… all of a sudden became a little nervous.
When he interviewed with the hiring authority’s boss, he was so self-conscious about getting everything in the conversation he thought he needed to that when he was asked a question he went on and on and on and on… it was like the guy who, when asked what time it was, told the time, how the watch was made and what places in Switzerland would be good to visit.
The result was that Michael didn’t let the interviewing authority get much of a word in edgewise… it so happens that the hiring authority’s boss was also a big talker and he wanted to do most of the talking… guys like that get frustrated when they can’t talk and somebody else goes on and on and on.
Michael was an excellent candidate and so the hiring authority’s boss didn’t want to totally eliminate him, but wasn’t very happy, so he instructed Michael to do a few more due diligence type things and therefore extended the interviewing process longer… at that point Michael called was just a bit irritated because the interviewing process had already gone way longer than anybody thought it would… but here is the beauty of what Michael did.
When the hiring authority told Michael that he really didn’t listen to his boss like he should, that he ran off at the mouth and that he really didn’t give his boss a chance to have a give and take conversation, instead of getting pissed and justifying what he did… which most candidates would do… Michael said “you know, I was trying so hard to do it right… I was trying so hard to answer every question with everything I knew…I ran off at the mouth… I’m really sorry… if I had it to do again I would’ve done it differently”.
As I say, most candidates would’ve gotten all pissed off and justified what they did… Michael however, acknowledged his mistake, asked for forgiveness and moved on to the next subject… brilliant!!!
The hiring authority even commented about how gracefully Michael accepted the criticism… it’s really easy to get defensive in situations like this… Michael showed his professionalism by accepting responsibility for what he did, apologizing and asking for forgiveness… brilliant!!!
