Why won’t they hire you? Do desperate employers resist hiring anyone? Do they resist change? Or is it something else they resist?
Would you like to win a million dollars tax free? But isn’t that a change?
If Oprah gave you a new car and money to pay the taxes on it, how hard would you resist? That is also a change.
Did you notice that I added that line about taxes in each question? I had to add that because you might resist otherwise. It isn’t the taxes, it is what the taxes represent in your mind that may cause you to resist.
Employers have the same resistance to hiring you that you might have to accepting a new car or even a million dollars. They are afraid there is a hidden tax, a hook, a hidden problem. They are afraid they will be forced to do things they don’t have time or energy for. It can all be boiled down to their fear of losing control. People are afraid of losing control of their million dollars or their new car due to taxes. They are afraid of losing control if they hire you.
They lose control when they make you a job offer
As long as the employer is looking at resumes, interviewing, testing, talking about candidates, doing reference checks, and thinking about making offers, they are in control. The second they make you an offer, they lose control.
Suddenly it is all up to you. They get edgy. To regain some control they will put a time limit on their offer. Usually they will give you overnight. Sometimes they will give you up to a week. But they want to have control over the process.
They have even less control when you start working for them
I am sure your new boss has worked with someone who was hired and was an absolute disaster. That person looked like the solution to their problem and was a horrible mistake.
You look like the perfect solution to their problem. But, if they hire you, they lose control. When you come on board, there will be training, detailed supervision, review of your work, correction, adjustments to team duties, interpersonal conflicts, and a lot of other things that change. They will lose control of all those things the second you start with the team.
You have to help them regain control before you are hired
In order to soothe your potential boss, you have to give them as much control as possible. If you can prove a few basic things, they will hire you immediately. You need to prove:
- You will take the job and keep it
- You can do that job
- You won’t take too much training
- You will take the initiative to do things within their system
- You learn quickly
- You get along with all kinds of coworkers – good and bad
- You will quickly take other burdens off the boss’s back and give them back control.
How do you prove it?
We’ll talk about that over the next few days.