Blog Post: Don't Tell Me What I Want to Hear

Having screened thousands of resumes and interviewed people for various different positions, it makes life easy for me when people do tell me what I want to hear in an interview…in the short run.  But in the long run, it is more difficult for managers to keep you happy and it’s also more difficult for you to stay happy if you misrepresent yourself in the interview and get the job.    

This can be to your detriment, because you get stuck working for a company where you don’t match up with the culture.  How many times have you thought you would be a great fit for the position, then didn’t get the job and and wondered what you should have done differently?  

Maybe the company was telling you what you wanted to hear in order to sell you on the company.  Then once you were sold, they had many candidates to screen through but wanted to hire the one who was the best fit for the position.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that you didn’t have the right experience, but that someone else may have been better matched with the company and the position.

I provided all of the right answers for one of my first jobs even though it was at a company that I completely was not a culture fit for and once I started on the job, I realized what a culture mismatch it was.  So you are not doing yourself any favors by telling hiring managers what they want to hear.

I do realize that the economy is not ideal right now for job searching and if you are just searching for a company where you can get your foot in the door for any job, then I don’t think that it’s such a bad idea to not have a great culture match.  But realize this from the beginning so that you don’t set up expectations that won’t be met, resulting in disappointment.  This may also result in resentment towards your recruiter for recruiting you into such an environment.  

Now even though I have given you this advice, I know that most of you will continue to tell recruiters and managers what they want to hear because you want to get the offer first and then decide whether you want to take it or not.  It feels much better to say that you rejected the offer rather than to not receive the offer in the first place.  Plus working at one or two jobs that aren’t the best culture fits for you helps you appreciate the next company you work at and it can serve as a learning experience.  But don’t make it a habit.  There are only so many companies you can be mismatched with before you start to hate working.