An interview fable

This is actually a true story, but makes a great fable on the subject of interviewing.

A while back I worked with a client who had been let go from a family-run cemetery when it was purchased by a major national chain. His unique strengths included a combination of ethics, integrity and compassion that enabled him to establish rapport easily, and help people make difficult decisions at a very vulnerable time in their lives. He worked hard and landed a job he loved: selling powered wheelchairs and van conversions for an ethical, family-run company.

About a year into his new job my client called me to ask if I knew anyone "just like him." Business was good and his boss needed to hire another sales person.

I was excited to tell him that I did! I had just finished writing a resume for a client who had the same unique set of strengths, albeit cultivated through an entirely different path. For years she had delicately helped clients through all the financial arrangements of home foreclosure. She also volunteered providing spiritual counseling to hospice patients. She was a bit older, which we all thought would be an asset for the position selling mobility devices. She even lived near their store.

I helped her write a great cover letter, which she sent with her resume directly to my client, who hand-carried it to his boss, who was excited to receive such a hearty recommendation, and would definitely be calling her for an interview.

Two weeks passed, and she hadn't heard from the company. I called my client, and it turns out that shortly after he had handed his boss my other client's resume, another job applicant had dropped his resume off in person. He arrived in a wheelchair, as he was missing one leg. My client's boss decided that using a wheelchair himself, the other candidate would easily establish rapport with customers - and hired him on the spot.

The moral of the story: it's not always about you; sometimes you won't get the job, even when you did so well you wouldn't change a thing. You can be absolutely PERFECT for a position and company, and even see "buying signs" in an interview. But you can't predict who will come in right after you. The hiring manager might perceive the next candidate as an even more perfect fit for the job.

No one gets offered every job they interview for, or even gets to interview for every job they apply for. Actors quickly learn that to survive they can't give up every time they go to an audition and don't get the part.

It's not fair, but acknowledging that it isn't can help you not take it personally when even though you've given it your best shot a job goes to someone else. It's not always possible to compete against a one-legged candidate.