Most Important Things I’ve Learned

One of the most important things I learned in this class is how to understand the hiring process better both from the applicant and recruiter point of view. As a job seeker I found it really impactful to be reminded of what rights we have and being confident in my knowledge of them. Understanding the limitations of questions that can be asked in an interview or what to look out for in cases of discrimination can seem obvious, but in the moment it can be easy to question yourself. 

The other thing that really stood out to me as a job seeker is understanding what value I would bring to a company. I have always had a hard time putting into words what my strengths are and portraying that to others. That in itself is a weakness of mine right now and through this class I learned that I need to invest time into practicing how to sell myself to others. This is an important exercise that I will continue to work on and reassess every so often as I continue to grow my career. 

Finally, I found it really helpful to take a deeper look into the interviewing process from both sides. For example, learning about what kinds of answers to look for as an interviewer also helped me understand what to avoid in my own future interviews. In the book WHO they mentioned multiple times digging until you get to the real answer. This is critical for interviewers to really understand candidates. However, I also found it helpful for me to be able to be prepared to dig deeper than surface level answers myself. Companies want to really understand who they are hiring so portraying yourself honestly, but carefully is important. I found the psychological methods of getting people to tell the truth – like telling them they will speak to their previous employer – really interesting. Overall, I really enjoyed getting to have both perspectives of the process because I will likely be on both sides at some point in my career.