PROBLEM
You've been called to an interview. Things have gone amazingly well. You learned a good deal about the company's needs and challenges as a result of your probing. And you became excited about what you might be able to do for the outfit if you were hired. And then it happened. Your prospective boss described the specific job he has open. You know it is not for you. You know it is not suited to your professional experience or your career objectives or your salary requirements. And this despite the fact that your resume clearly stated your job objective. You don't know whether the personnel director chose to ignore it, or if the recruiter who told you of this opening failed to send your resume along. It doesn't much matter. The point is that while you like the company very much, the job you find yourself applying for is absolutely, positively not for you. Your problem is to close the interview but keep a strong relationship with this company for the future.
ANALYSIS/ACTION
In this situation there are three things you ought to consider doing. First, no matter how mad you feel inside, don't show it! It will spoil your opportunity to take steps two and three, which are worth hanging on for. Second, make sure your interviewer understands you are not at all interested in the job he's considering you for. Let him know you are sorry about any misunderstanding, but that, as your resume states, you are seeking a different kind of job from the one that he just described. The third step is to try to convince your interviewer that, although he didn't plan to fill the position you want, you are such a good person that he ought to reconsider his company's needs and create a position for you suited to your objectives. This won't be easy. But it's worth a try as long as you've taken the time and the effort to get the interview. Here's how you might approach it:
Mr. Jones thanks for describing the current opportunity you have open. I'm very enthusiastic about your company and the prospects you have outlined to me. But, in all candors, I must tell you there's been a misunderstanding between us. The position you're seeking to fill is not what I had in mind. It's really what I was looking for three or four years ago. I hope you won't hold this against me, since I seem to have had a different understanding as to what the job was all about.
While it looks as if you don't have an opening suited to my objectives at this time, maybe in the future your organization may need someone with my background. Let me review with you some of my experience and contributions so you can get an idea of my level of expertise and perhaps see where I might best fit in your organization."
Then sell your worthpoints, particularly at the organizational level you are trying to get the interviewer to hire you at. You may be surprised at the results. A month from now, if you're still looking for a job, you might well receive a call-as a client of mine once did three weeks after such an interview-inviting you to talk about a new position at your level that "has just opened up."
It may well be that the new position is a genuine one. On the other hand, I know of many instances where positions were created around the person the company wanted. The companies were so anxious to obtain the talents of these executives that they reshuffled their existing organizations to make room for the individuals. While you can't count on such good fortune, don't disregard the possibility. Be prepared for an interview situation in which the job is not for you. Don't pack up. Lay your cards on the table frankly and unemotionally. Then, in the context of the position you thought you were applying for, go ahead and sell your worth. You have nothing to lose and a potential job to gain.
PROBLEM
You are on your third interview. Things are going well. You sense that the company is interested in you and that a job offer may well be forthcoming. You like the company. You might well work for it. But-and again, it's a big but-this company is your second choice. You are also interviewing another company, and you would prefer to work for it. Unfortunately, negotiations with the second company aren't as far along as those with the first. The first company calls you to a fourth interview and offers you the job. You are in a quandary. Should you accept the job at hand or hold out for the job you'd really like to have? What should you do?
ANALYSIS/ACTION
What you really want from company #1 is some time to let you find out whether or not you will get a job offer from company #2. How do you get the time you need? By asking for it in an honest way. Point out that when you relocate, you hope to stay a good many years, and you want to be sure you make the right decision. Let company #1 know of your negotiations with company #2 (without revealing its name), and the point these negotiations have reached. Let company #1 know that you could not accept a job with it in good conscience unless you have a chance to complete negotiations now in progress with both companies. It wouldn't be fair to you, nor would it be fair to company #1 if you hadn't thought out the problem in its entirety. You can ask for up to two weeks to make a final decision. That may seem like a long delay to the first company. When you consider, however, that it has been searching for some time, and that it has committed itself to you, I think you'll be granted ten working days in which to arrive at a decision. Or at least a week. The important thing is this: If you let company #1 in on your problem, it is likely to keep open its job offer for a reasonable period of time while you wind things up with company #2.
You should then approach company #2 with the same honesty with which you approached company #1. Try and arrange a special interview. Explain the pressure being put on you. Ask company #2 if it can move up its decision date or let you know whether you are a prime candidate. If your prospective boss can't see you, give him a call, or write, telling him your problem. Ask for his counsel and aid.
If you are a highly thought-of candidate at company #2, there's a very good likelihood it will move faster. If its interest in you is only moderate, it probably won't. In which case you have your answer. The chances of your being offered a job at company #2 are slim. You're better off to accept the original offer at company #1. After all, while it is your second choice, it wants you. That's worth a lot in the long run.
PROBLEM 9
You arrive at your interview in good spirits. Your prospective boss is enthusiastic about his company. The information he provides you, plus your own research, suggests it is a company you'd like to work for. Your prospective boss tells you that while he has no opening similar to the one you seek, he does have an opening at a lower level, that he'd like you to take temporarily. He tells you that after an unspecified period of time he will try to make a job opening suited to your background. In short, he promises you a fabulous future and asks you take a flyer at a job you really don't want until such time as he can make an opening suited to your needs and objectives. You like the company. You are perplexed over the proposition.
ANALYSIS/ACTION
You may well be leery of opportunities such as this one, for several reasons. In the first place, you must somehow question an employer who is incapable of seeing how tough taking a step back is for you. Obviously you don't want a job at a lower level than the one you now have. If he is unable to see this problem, you may well ask if he would understand other problems, once you went to work there.
A second reason you may be leery of such a job is the nebulous way future plans are presented. Without assurances as to when and how you will be promoted, it's a risky proposition at best. Supposing you don't like the company after you join it? Certainly you don't want to leave for a position that's lower on the organization chart than the one you now have.
In view of the uncertainties of accepting a position you don't want for an indefinite period of time, you might try to persuade your prospective boss to offer you a job at least equivalent to the one you now have. Your chances of convincing him are obviously remote. But not impossible. Your best leverage is another job offer. If you have one, you might say to your prospective boss:
Thank you for your offer, Mr. Jones. As you know, the future of your company intrigues me. I will mull it over very seriously although right now my answer would have to be no, since I have a job offer suited to my experience level with the ABC Corporation, which is also a fine company. In all sincerity, were I to come to work for your company, I would be putting my career back a year or perhaps more. It's a less exciting opportunity for me since I have the ABC offer.
While I'm mulling over your proposition, is there any possibility that you might be able to dream up some change in your organizational structure that would make your proposition more enticing?
If you don't have a job offer, the chances of convincing your prospective boss to create a position for you at the level you seek are more remote. If you are close to securing another job, you may be able to phrase your comments in such a way that your prospective boss gets the idea that you have a better offer.
If you can't persuade him to give you assurances of the specific time in which you will be promoted, or, better still, a position equal to the one you now have, then my advice would be to keep looking.
PROBLEM 10
This interview is a novel one. Your prospective boss tells you what a great company he works for. He tells you about its tremendous prospects. He waxes eloquently about the wonderful working conditions and the people. He tells you what you would be paid if you got the job-and it's an outstanding financial package. At the end of the interview, your prospective boss asks you when you could begin to work. You pinch yourself. Is this a dream? You didn't open your mouth and you got yourself a job offer, a seemingly great job offer!
ANALYSIS/ACTION
Perhaps I'm a born skeptic, but I'd be afraid of such an offer. If you are offered a job without being asked to discuss your experience and contributions, you might smell a rat. It could be the job. The company may have serious financial or organizational problems ahead of it. If you find yourself in a situation in which you are asked to join the company on your first interview with no effort on your part, relax. Ask for time to think it over and investigate it thoroughly. Don't get caught in a job that turns out to be a bust.
