I was thinking this morning about what I have been hired for most in my career. Was there one thing that stood out to hiring managers?
It has been that I am a generalist in many things and a specialist in what they needed. Why is this important?
Clearly you have to have the skills to do the job. However people who have skills are common. What makes you more valuable is when you can integrate it into their third-party systems, and that you understand more than just what you are a SME in.
In one interview the hiring manager gave me feedback that he didn’t believe that I had enough knowledge to do the job at the same level that his current engineers do the job. He acknowledged that I had a wide range of experience, but in that job he needed someone who was more of an expert in that. Which is fine. No one can be an expert in everything.
I am sharing that to tell you this. It is ok if you don’t get the job you want. Often I haven’t gotten the job that I wanted, and it turned out for the best. Many times I found out that the person who did get the job didn’t last and it wasn’t always their fault.
I reached out to one person who got the job that I thought that I would get when they were looking for a new job after 7 months. I shared that I had interviewed for that job as well and asked if they wouldn’t mind sharing what happened. I told them that I knew they had the skills so it clearly wasn’t their fault. They said they were under an NDA but that the company went in another direction and they outsourced the job to an MSP. Totally legit, but it was frustrating they didn’t know what they wanted.
Other times the people who got the job were people that I found out from the recruiter that it was due to a lower salary request or some other factor that I wasn’t given details. It wasn’t culture and the recruiters always told me that I could have done the job. Then it often turned out that the recruiters contacted me 1-5 months depending on the job and asked if I was still available since the other person didn’t work out. They were told that the person was sent to training and still wasn’t able to do the job and they were chosen because they were a few hundred dollars cheaper. What a waste of money.
You can be the best person for the job but if you don’t get it, it doesn’t mean something is wrong with you. Often jobs that are unstable reflect on workplaces where it is difficult to be appreciated for your skills.
Focus on what you do well, and be willing to learn the associated things related to it. That will help inspire confidence that you bring value beyond what other can offer. The more you know the more valuable you are to healthy companies. If they don’t see your value, keep it movin’ Tex.