Part 5: Messes

“OK Jordan, where do you go with this story?” It’s a question we are often asked in our coaching work. This post is the next in a series that will discuss common “story archetypes” that candidates share, and what kinds of information you are seeking in each. More to come!

You ask the candidate a simple question, seeking to solicit an interesting story from their professional past. Then, they unleash an ambiguous, complex, or otherwise difficult-to-unpack tirade. Simply put, you don’t know what to do with the story.

Sound familiar? It happens all the time, even with strong candidates. It usually happens for a good reason–you are digging into stories that the candidate has not prepped in advance (which often means you are revealing information other would-be employers are not, and the candidate is likely impressed by your rigorous process).

Here’s a good representative mess. You’ve asked the candidate for a big commercial win in their prior role as a Head of Partnerships & Alliances at a mid-size SaaS company.

“Look at 2017 overall. We got so much done. Our whole Revenue organization was just a different animal, and the numbers we were putting out were just incredible! I’m proud of helping make that happen.”

Where do we go next?

The most critical thing to realize is that we are in no way ready to dig into this story as it stands. We need to do is get to a specific story or action that (1) this person personally delivered and that (2) had the biggest commercial impact (the point of our initial question).

“What did you do that had the most commercial impact that year?”

This should help the candidate get really focused. But, let’s say it fails! Let’s say we hear this equally messy response:

“There were so many things, it’s hard to come up with just one. Developing the program itself, going after new verticals, hiring in team members. It was a full-force effort.”

Ok, now we are starting to get to discrete, unpack-able stories. When you get a list like this, you have two choices: (1) you can go after an item on the list that is particularly relevant to the role you’re hiring for (the Target), or (2) you can have the candidate pick an item from the list that really stands out in terms of impact. Either are fine, but let’s choose (2)–it’s harder, after all. And let’s say all three stories are relevant, and you really want to get their most hard-hitting commercial impact.

“Which one of those actions are you personally most proud of?”

This final step was critical–the word “proud” in particular. When humans talk about something they did that they are proud of, they typically share something that is both high-impact, and something that they themselves executed.

At this point, you should get a specific response (a story) and be ready to dive in thereafter. If the candidate continues to struggle, or to talk in generalities, that’s on them, not on you. You may not reject them outright, but you should note if they are consistently struggling to provide discrete examples of prior impact in areas that are material to the role in question.