Don't Fall in the Interview Gap

Happy Friday,

I'm giving a talk on why we're more productive than ever with AI, yet somehow busier than ever. It's on October 27th. I'd love for you to join.

Now, you may not know this, but I've been interviewing for traditional roles. You might also not know that I wrote a book on getting jobs, have an online course on it, and have personally coached lots of folks to get through that whole process better.

Since it's all top of mind, I thought I'd write about one of the quirks everyone deals with: the job post not matching the interview.

This happens a lot. You read a job post that highlights a pretty clear set of things, and somehow the interview feels like it's for a different job entirely.

Maybe an example will help. Every product management post will talk about customers, metrics, market validation, prioritization, and stakeholders. Every interview will somehow focus only on getting the team to deliver and managing stakeholder expectations. Leadership posts will talk about strategy, growth, leading teams, and technical background, but interview as though you're an IC. Development is no different.

Why does this happen? There are lots of factors. Here's a short list.

• The post was written by someone far away from the problems

• Interviewers aren't trained to interview

• We ask what is easiest to assess

• We ask what is top of mind in the moment

• We ask what we personally know the most about

• The posting is altered by numerous people

• The post reflects who they want next but not who they need now

Meanwhile, companies have complained forever about how hard it is to find good people. Job posts that read like wish lists, when the reality is they only need 20% of it, exclude lots of great folks. Similarly, when someone is that fit for the post, they get hit with odd interviews that fixate on one aspect of the job.

Do I have an answer for this? Not really! There are a lot of moving parts. What I will suggest, though, is that if you're looking for folks, write down the questions you want to ask the next candidate for the role, then look at the posting on the site. See if you can spot a gap. I bet you can. Adjust your questions, adjust the post, or accept that you've got a funnel that might not be letting the right people in.

Sincerely,

Ryan