After reflecting on the reading in the course book, Who, I want to share about the perspectives of being a job applicant.
In the past year, I applied for a position that I was mostly qualified for and I had strong interest in the role and organization. I had previously worked with some of their staff as community partners which left a positive impression. In terms of soft skills needed for the role, I was overqualified. There were a few couple small technical items I didn’t have direct experience with, but I have a background that supports how quickly I can jump in and master new things especially if it’s something that is organization-process specific.
The application included a skills quiz of sorts and I had experience in all, but one. The one question was a “What” type question focused on one of their specific processes and there was no way I could have experience in it without having previously worked there. Perhaps they had a “who” in mind that was internal to the organization already, but it left an impression on me about their ability to see the whole person and have room for growth. Within 12 hours I had a nicely worded rejection email because I didn’t meet all the skills desired. The role I’ve shared about included a lot of cross functional work, communications, relationship management, and scheduling – these are areas where I’ve excelled. The rejection was disheartening because a conversation with the hiring manager may have changed the outcome, but I didn’t have the chance to become their “who”.
In our course book, Who, I can understand the argument on how finding the right people is the essential element for a company to lead to better performance and stronger “what” processes and decisions.
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