Yesterday I had conversations with two high caliber candidates looking to make their next moves.
Candidate #1 was highly organized.
His demeanor was serious and competitive; a quality he attempted to offset by assigning himself a clever nickname.
He had mapped out exactly how many additional years of experience he needed before moving to the next level, and he leaned into his titles and accolades, using a lot of words and sentences to describe himself.
The topic of friends didn't really come up, and his social standing within his industry was hard to gauge. He was determined to bring about his next opportunity by fine tuning his resume, pumping up the density of his cover letter, and sending both out to strangers.
Candidate #2 was calm and effortless.
She had strung together a career of prestigious jobs, and when I asked her how she’d gotten them, she thought for a minute and then said “they all fell in my lap.”
In conversation I noticed a couple things about her:
She had a genuine curiosity about her industry and knew all the players, personally. And each of her roles had started as one thing and then quickly become something much bigger, as she looked for more ways to add value.
One such opportunity came about when the owner of the company (who knew her socially, and by reputation) reached out with the ultimate compliment: “I’m not really sure what you do, but I need you to come do it for me.”
You can pursue with your qualifications, or you can attract with your personality.
There’s no wrong way, and I hope both of these candidates continue to succeed.
But I know who I’m betting on.
