最可怕的是你不知道你不知道
我知道你在想什麼，「談談我的不足和缺點？！？這怎麼能說服僱主，雖然我以前從來沒做過這工作但我相信我能做好？這不是扯淡嘛！」
是的，你的反應很正常。我知道讓你和潛在僱主談論你的差距和弱點是有點逆向思維。但是接下來我會告訴你，為什麼提到這些會比繼續高談闊論你的優點要更具說服力。
僱主比你更了解實際情況！
因為當你面試一份未曾接觸過的工作崗位時，招聘經理要比你懂得多，他更加了解這個職位的實際情況以及所要面臨的挑戰。而他最擔心的，莫過於你高估了自己完成任務的能力，或者低估了你要面臨的挑戰。
所以每當你告訴他，「我很有信心我能勝任這份工作。」你只是讓他進一步確認了他對你的看法，那就是，你根本不知道你不知道。這不是僱主想要招的人，尤其當這是一份你從未做過的工作。
恰恰相反，讓別人相信你能成功的方法，就是讓他們知道你對你的狀況很清楚。這叫作自我意識，對僱主來說，這是一個非常吸引人的品質。尤其是你需要說服他們相信你可以很快地適應一個新的職位。你要告訴他們你很清楚自己需要克服哪些困難，以及你打算如何去克服。
要與眾不同
舉個例子，我們最近有一位候選人，他正在面試我們客戶的一個與投資相關的職位。他有很強的戰略諮詢背景，但從未接觸過投資領域。但我們的客戶很喜歡他在潔凈技術領域的行業背景(約佔他諮詢項目的50%)，而這正是客戶的主要投資方向。
為了幫候選人提前準備招聘經理的面試，我讓他說服我他能勝任這個投資角色。候選人分享了他對潔凈技術行業的看法，以及他如何成為原來公司的頂級諮詢顧問。他還談到了自己在數據分析和金融建模方面的能力。這些都很好。但隨後他開始簡化這個職位所面臨的挑戰，並說他是如何確信自己能勝任這個角色。
我告訴他，「要知道，如果你所說的和他人沒什麼不同，那麼最終結果就是我們的客戶不錄用你。如果你真的想要得到這份工作，那就說一些與眾不同的吧。」
告訴他們目前什麼是你不知道的，什麼是你還做不到的
我告訴他，要想向別人更好地展示你的成熟度、可信度和高度，那就先承認自己需要克服的缺點和不足。招聘經理肯定會注意到你的缺點。所以不用擔心，先指出自己的不足。這可以展示你對將要面對的挑戰和你需要做的事情的自我意識，你會給人留下很好的印象。
說完這些，我讓他告訴我，如果他被錄用，他需要克服的三個主要的不足和挑戰。他告訴我，首先，他需要突破市場和戰略的層面，在產品和技術層面更深地了解潔凈技術。第二，他需要學習如何評估一家公司的整體業務，而不僅僅是他們的市場和所面臨的競爭。第三，他必須了解公司是如何看待和拓展新的投資機會。
重點是，要在更深層次上理解事物。對我來說，這聽起來完全正確。他了解潔凈技術行業，但並沒有深入到產品、技術和業務執行的層面，而這些是所有成功的投資人士需要評估和管理的東西。
你要怎樣才能快速進入狀態？
在提到這些缺點和不足之後，我讓他告訴我，他會如何克服這些不足，並分享他曾經歷過的在新環境下快速學習和工作的經歷。他到底是怎麼做到的呢？
他說，他經常被安排去做公司中最重要、最具挑戰性的諮詢項目。例如，他去年就被分配到了一個已經延誤了很久的項目中，時間非常緊迫。
為了快速了解客戶的業務，他直接去找到公司CEO，問他:「如果你是我，需要儘快了解你公司的整體業務，你會先和誰談？」然後是誰？其次呢？」
他講述了在這短短的幾天內他是如何與這些人交流的，不僅是在辦公室，在午餐時、晚餐時、下午茶時，甚至是在周末，以及與他人溝通的能力，如何讓這些人與他分享他想知道的一切。這是一個很好的例子，說明他是多麼的積極主動和足智多謀。
為了提高他在投資方面的能力以及對商業運作的理解，他談到了他的朋友圈，他有一些在風險投資和私募領域工作的朋友，以及一些自主創業的朋友。這不是偶然。他原本就對這些朋友所做的事就很感興趣。所以他馬上要做的另一件事就是去找他們汲取知識。最後，他提到在業餘時間，他會閱讀投資分析報告，就像有些人會關心明星八卦一樣。他讓我看到了他對投資行業的濃厚興趣，以及能夠幫助他快速了解行業的強大的人脈關係。
我告訴他他做得不錯。之後我們客戶和他的面試進行得很順利，他們後來告訴我們，候選人表現得很自信，但也很接地氣，對他所知道的和他所不知道的事情都有腳踏實地的態度。因為對他的這種印象，客戶最後錄用了他。
當然，你總是希望在僱主面前表現得自信從容。但是你不需要向別人強調你多麼多麼好，或者一直保證你可以很好地完成任務。最好是通過向別人展示你的自我意識來表現適當的自信。尤其是當你沒太多經驗，但你很想抓住這個機會的時候。
如果是你面對全新的工作，你知道如何克服你的不足嗎？
Larry Wang王承倫：二本 pk MBA？MBA，OUT！
Larry Wang王承倫：職場上的最大差距是你選擇工作而他選擇事業
Larry Wang王承倫：職場中，我犯的最大錯誤是不懂我自己
Want To Get Hired For A Job You Haven』t Done Before?
Then Talk About Your Gaps And Weaknesses!
I know what you』re thinking. 「Talk about my gaps and weaknesses?!? How is this going to convince an employer I can do a job that I haven』t done before? Ridiculous!」
Yes, that』s a reasonable reaction. I know that talking to a potential employer about your gaps and weaknesses is counter-intuitive. But here』s why mentioning these things is much more convincing than continuing to talk about your strengths.
They understand the situation much better than you!
Because when interviewing with the hiring manager for a position you lack experience doing, you』re speaking with someone who knows the realities and challenges of the role and what you』ll face much better than you. And his biggest concern is that you』re overestimating your ability to do the job he needs you to do, and/or underestimating the situation you』ll be facing.
So every time you tell him, 「I』m very confident I can do this job.」 you』re just reinforcing to him what he』s thinking about you. Which is, you don』t know what you don』t know. That』s not a person that employers want to hire. Especially, for a position that you haven』t done before.
Instead, the way to convince others you can be successful in their opportunity is by sounding like you know exactly what you』re getting into. It』s called self-awareness, and it』s a very attractive quality to employers. Especially ones that you need to convince you can quickly learn a new position. You show them that you clearly know what you』ll need to overcome, and how you plan to do it.
Don』t sound like all the other candidates
As an example, we recently had a candidate who was interviewing for an investment position with one of our clients. He had a strong strategy consulting background, but no previous investment experience. But our client liked his clean-tech industry background (about 50% of his consulting projects), which was their main investment focus.
To prep the candidate for the hiring manager interview, I told him to convince me that he could handle this investment role. He shared his knowledge of the clean-tech industry, and how he was viewed as a top consultant in his company. He also talked about his analytical and financial modeling skills. This was all fine. But then he began simplifying the challenges of the position and saying how he was certain that he could perform the role well.
I told him, 「You know, that』s exactly what every person with a background like yours sounds like that our client ends up not hiring. If you want this job, say something different from all these other candidates.」
Tell them what you don』t know and can』t do yet
I told him that what shows others your maturity, credibility, and stature more is your recognition of the gaps and challenges that you knows you』ll need to overcome. The hiring manager is going notice your shortcomings. So don』t be afraid to point them out first. By mentioning what the hiring manager is already thinking about you, you make a very good impression, not a bad one. By showing your self-awareness of what you』ll be facing and what you need to do.
After saying this, I then told him to tell me the three biggest gaps and challenges that in his mind he』d need to overcome if he was hired. He told me that, one, he』d need to go beyond a market and strategic level and understand clean-tech at a product and technology level. Two, he needed to learn how to assess the entire business of a company, and not just their market and competition. And three, he』d have to learn how the company approached and viewed new investment opportunities.
Essentially, understand things at a much deeper level. That sounded absolutely right to me. He had an understanding of the clean-tech industry, but not really at a product, technology, and business execution level. All things that successful investment professionals need to assess and manage.
But then how you』re going to get up to speed!
After mentioning these gaps and weaknesses, I then asked him to tell me how he』d overcome them. And to share similar situations he』s been in before where he』s had to quickly learn and perform in a new situation. And how exactly did he do it?
He said that he』s often assigned to his company』s most critical, most challenging consulting engagements. For example，he was dropped into the middle of one last year that was far behind schedule, and where there was a huge urgency to what he needed to do.
To understand the client』s business quickly, he went directly to the CEO and asked him, 「If you were me and needed to understand your company』s overall business as quickly as possible, who would you talk to first? And then who? And then who after that?」
He described how he met all these people in a few days. Not just in the office, but over lunch, dinner, drinks, even on weekends. And how his ability to connect with others got them to share with him whatever he wanted to know. It was a great example of how proactive and resourceful he could be.
To get up to speed on his investment skills and understanding of business operations, he talked about his network of friends who worked in VC and PC firms, and others who ran their own business. This wasn』t by accident. He was naturally interested in what they did. So another thing he』d immediately do is get together with them and 「pick their brains」 for everything related to his role. Finally, he mentioned that in his spare time, he read investment analyst reports, just like some people might read celebrity news. He painted a very good picture of his genuine interest in the investment world and the personal resources he could access to understand it better.
Not bad, I told him. He had a very good interview with our client who told us afterwards that our candidate came across as confident, but also down-to-earth and grounded about what he knew and what he didn』t know. From this impression of him, they made him an offer that our candidate accepted.
Of course, you always want to be confident in front of potential employers. But you don』t need or even want to do this by selling yourself hard and just repeating how sure you are that you can do whatever they need you to do. Better to balance your confidence by showing others your self-awareness too. Especially, when trying to capture an opportunity that you don』t have much experience doing before.
When you are facing a new opportunity that you havent had much experience doing before, do you know where the gaps are, and do you know how to overcome it?
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