[smart_track_player url=”http://soundcloud.com/johnmorrisonline/jms125-the-secret-most-developers-will-never-know-about-getting-an-it-job” social=”true” social_twitter=”true” social_facebook=”true” social_gplus=”true” ]
[saf]
I remember walking into the meeting sure the jig was up.
I’d just got hired back to a company that several months earlier I’d walked out on mid-shift. And, not only did they hire me back… but I’d be getting a “promotion” to a management position.
I’d wondered why they never asked about it during the interviews.
Turns out a “glitch” in their system had failed to identify me as a former employee. But, it was fixed and now, just a couple days into my new job, I’d been found out.
So, I walked into a meeting with the head of HR.
I wasn’t told about what… but when I’d been told the head of HR wanted to talk to me, I had a hunch. And when I saw his face, I could tell he was intent on catching me.
And, running me out of the building.
Embarassed, I’d “slipped through” his foolproof “process”.
I’ll never forget the trap he tried to set. He said:
“So, how have the first few days been going? What did you think of the factory having been through it the last few days?”
Immediately, I knew this was a trap.
So, I said:
“Yep, it’s good. Clean. Well-run.”
I knew to say as little as possible.
And sure enough, he immediately snapped back:
“Was it the same as it was the first time you went through it… when you worked here before and walked out?”
If you could have seen his face.
Like a 5-year-old who just told a fart joke.
He thought he had me dead to rights.
But, I knew confidence and keeping calm was the way through this kind of thing. That blunt, shocking honesty was the only way I was going to save my job.
So I said… very calmly without flinching:
“Yeah, it’s about the same.”
Bahahahahaha!
I thought he was going to explode. Suddenly, it was his face turning red… him scrambling for words… him thrown completely off-guard. And, I knew it was over. In fact, one of the other ladies in the room almost started laughing.
He stumbled through trying to grill me, but he was done.
I hadn’t flinched.
Eventually, he sent me back down to the floor, wrote up his little report and I stayed on… as a manager. I had to talk to my boss about it later that day and he told me formally they were keeping me on.
And the reason WHY is what’s important.
He said…
“Because you ace’d the interview. We believe in you.”
Now, think about that…
You have an employee who, in his actions, has walked out on your company mid-shift AND you could make an argument lied on his application in order to get hired. (Although I didn’t. I actually addressed the situation head-on in my cover letter… but apparently they didn’t read that.)
But, you keep him because of what he said in an interview.
That should tell you something about companies like this.
And, this was no small fry…
This is a company, who around that time, was on Forbes’ 500 Largest Private Companies and 100 Best Companies to Work For lists. This was a big company who you’d think would know better.
So, what does this tell you?
It shows how desperate these companies are for good employees. So desperate they’ll overlook what someone has done and rely on what they said because they “ace’d the interview”.
These companies WANT to believe.
And, this is the big secret they don’t want you to know:
They need YOU more than you need them.
And, if you can say the rights things… in the right way… and tell them what they want to hear and make them believe it… they’ll ignore almost everything else to hire you.
If they’ll ignore me walking out on them…
They’ll ignore maybe you not having all the skills they’re after…
They’ll ignore you being fresh out of college…
They’ll ignore you being a little older…
If they can ignore blatant, open betrayal and dis-loyalty… there’s a lot they’ll ignore. But, only if you “put on a show” for them in your interview and sweep them off their feet.
And, no… this isn’t about lying or being slick.
I never lied once in my interview.
You don’t need to bust out your fake smile and your hair wax to do this. In fact, I’m probably grumpier than most people you’ll interview. But, I know how to make them believe.
How to tell them what they want to hear in a way they’ll believe.
Anyway, the first lesson in my “Ace the Interview” series is now up over on Patreon. In it, you’ll learn what I did to sweep this company off its feet and get them to hire me… even though I’d blatantly walked out on them just a few months before.
This is for you if you’re someone who’s not interested in freelancing.
If you’d like to get hired with a tech firm and work a simple 9 to 5, making good money, doing something you enjoy… but you’re worried nobody will hire you.
They will.
I’ll show you: https://johnmorrisonline.com/patreon.
Go there and sign up as an “Exclusive Courses” supporter and Lesson 1 should be one of the first things you see in your Patreon feed.
P.S. If you liked the show, give it a like and share with the communities and people you think will benefit. And, you can always find all my tutorials, source code and exclusive courses on Patreon.