Debugging a lackluster career story
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When candidates fail screening interviews, there are 4 common root causes:
Their verbal career story is lacking (the way they answer “Tell me About Yourself” or “Why do you want this job?”)
They gave comp numbers (and they are way off)
Their answers to screening questions aren’t satisfactory
They threw some red flags (unintentionally)
If you’re struggling to pass initial job interview screens, that means you aren’t even getting into the real interview process. You aren’t alone.
Screening interviews are designed to be simple and short, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t several tripping hazards.
In my experience, most candidates pass at least 50% of their screening calls.
If you’re not seeing rates that high, I am confident there is a specific issue that you can pinpoint and debug.
Most candidates will respond by applying to more jobs (“it’s a numbers game, right?”).
But the answer is not to double down on what’s not working.
The answer is to step back and use your data (and intuition) to debug the problem.
In today’s issue, I’ll teach you how to diagnose whether the issue is your career story, and what to do to fix it so you can pass the screens and move on to first round interviews.
Let’s dive in ↓
How to know if your career story is The Problem
There are a few ways to pinpoint your career story as The Problem that’s holding you back in initial job screens.
Let’s talk about them one by one.
Your career story is too long (or too short)
Too long?
Most screening calls are 15-20 minutes, so if your career story takes 1/3 of the time (5-7 minutes), that leaves the screener very little time to get a sense of your skills, comp expectations, timeline, and other key information they need to move you forward.
The screener is on a hunt for key information to decide if they want to recommend you to move forward.
You need to let them ask at least 3-5 questions in the short 15-20 minute call.
Thus, your responses to their questions must be short, including your career story.
When they ask “Tell me about yourself,” interviewers are looking for a short, robust, and succinct safari tour through your career.
If your answer is longer than 4 minutes, you’re trying to jam too much information.
PS: being too long is the most common career story failure mode.
Too short?
On the flip side, many candidates don’t understand how to answer “Tell me about yourself” and don’t have a strategy for answering the question.
They get flustered and give a short answer that leaves out key information and details that would provide a stronger signal for their candidacy.
Pinpointing the issue
If your career story / your answer to “tell me about yourself” is either:
< 1 minute
> 4 minutes
…you need to work on the length of your career story.
Your career story is a snoozer 💤
This one is hard to swallow, but it’s a truth pill you have to be willing to face.
Interviewers get excited about candidates who tell engaging stories that put them on the edge of their seats.
You need to draw in your interviewer.
You do this by having an interesting plot line (and twists) in your career story (and by telling your story concisely, see “Too Long” above).
Pinpointing the issue
Great stories engage the listener and evoke a response. A response can be as simple as a genuine:
“Wow, you’ve been busy!”
“What an interesting journey you’ve been on”
“Thanks for sharing that with me. <Something we share in common>.”
If your interviewer has no further comment after you share your career story — or if their response is a simple “thank you for sharing” — it’s probably a snoozer.
If you’re not getting any meaningful engagement after telling your career story, you need to work on the plot line and make it more compelling — without losing succinctness.
You don’t have a good reason for wanting this job.
A major goal of the HR / Recruiter screen is to get a sense of how likely a candidate might be to accept the role (if offered).
Recruiters will ask you about:
comp expectations
your job search timeline
why you’re interested in the role
All of these questions give them signals that help them evaluate the likelihood that there will be a strong mutual fit for the role (and that you’ll be engaged and motivated on the job).
Part of telling a good career story is providing a cohesive narrative about how you got where you are (The Past). 👈 This is the answer to “tell me about yourself.”
The other part of a good career story is dotting the line to your future desired state: helping your interviewer understand why this role / company / team / product furthers your career strategy (The Future). 👈 This is the answer to “why do you want this job?”.
If your Future career story isn’t cohesive, it’s hard for the interviewer to gauge how strong the fit is on your side (for the role / team / company / product).
Without a sense of mutual fit, it’s hard for interviewers to get excited about you as a candidate.
Diagnosing the issue
If you’re not prepared to answer “Why do you want this job” —OR— if you often stumble through this question in screens…
If you haven’t put deliberate thought into the strategic reasons you want a given opportunity…
If you don’t get an engaged reaction from the interviewer when you do share your Future career story…
…these are all signs that it’s worth investing more energy in how you tell your career story.
The Fix
You need a strategic, compelling career story that boosts your confidence and provides strong and clear fit signals to interviewers.
Following my approach to crafting your career story will permanently eliminate this common roadblock to passing an HR / Recruiter screen.
A definitive how-to guide for you: Crafting a strategic, compelling career story
Give it a try and let me know how it goes.
🎉 That’s a wrap!
Debugging Your Job Search is a multi-week series at The Career Whispers. In this series, we explore how to use data to pinpoint what to fix in your job search (to get the results you want). All posts in the series:
TCW #010: Debugging your Job Search
TCW #011: Debugging your Resume
TCW #012: Debugging your Networking Approach
TCW #013: Debugging a Lackluster Career Story
TCW #014: 3 Questions to Ask Before Sharing Your Compensation Numbers
TCW #015: Simple Response Frameworks for 3 Common Job Screener Questions
TCW #016: How to Throw Green Flags, not Red Flags (in Job Interviews)
TCW #018: 3 Things You're Doing Wrong in First-Round Interviews (and how to avoid them)
Check out coacherika.co for free resources, resume help, and coaching options, including my very popular TUYJS Workshop. Follow me on Substack, YouTube, and LinkedIn to stay in touch. Subscribe to this newsletter to receive a steady stream of tech career advice and experimentation ideas 💛