When interviewing, don’t say anything to get excluded
This information came from an article I read that was written by Skip Freeman, a long time recruiter / trainer. This is very true so preparing for interviews is critical.
“The entire hiring process is NOT based upon the concept of inclusion. Rather, it is based upon the concept of exclusion.
Let me elaborate.
Contrary to what many (if not most) job seekers continue to believe, or at least want to believe, when a hiring professional today considers all of the candidates for virtually any open position, he or she does NOT try to determine which candidates to include in the talent pool. What he or she actually tries to do is to determine which candidates to exclude from the talent pool!
I compare what occurs during the job recruiting process to the high school football tryouts that take place annually across the nation. To the casual observer it would appear that the coaches are trying to determine which players to include on the team. In fact, however, the coaches are trying to determine which players to weed out, which to exclude from the team! Which potential players don’t seem to have the stamina necessary to make the team? Who seems to lack the basic skills and discipline to be a successful player? Who seems not to have the proper attitude to become part of a winning team?
And So it is in the ‘Hiring Game’
It’s these same types of consideration that hiring professionals use to determine if a job candidate should be included in the hiring pool! Does the candidate “fumble” even the most basic questions during the initial screening process? What kind of attitude does the candidate project? Is it positive? Negative? Ho-hum? Does he/she present evidence of having at least the minimum required skills and knowledge to even be considered for the “team”? Does he/she immediately brand himself/herself as a true professional, or rather, does he or she come across as just another person looking for a job, any job?”
