It’s time to understand your value as an employee, own your worth, and excel! Adam Nugent and Kate Strong are joined by Tessa White, founder of The Job Doctor, a company dedicated to moving employee performance from average to extraordinary, and building strong company leaders with highly engaged employees. How can you begin to identify barriers that hold people back, understand the shifts that can make the biggest difference, and create the conditions to accelerate growth at any level or within any industry? Find out from the expert on today’s episode!
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In this podcast excerpt, Tessa White explains how to present yourself as a more deserving employee and how to use the interview process to show your authentic self.
AN: One of your videos talks about how you could get a severance, which I thought was brilliant. And as an employer myself, I’m thought, if someone came to me with that information, that would be the biggest win-win possible. So I’d love for you to expand on that for our listeners.
TW: Yes. If you don’t know what people are negotiating behind closed doors, you have no idea what to negotiate and what to ask for. I tell people there’s about 12 things that you can negotiate in an offer, and it surprises people. But one of the ones I think is most important in today’s environment, where companies are consolidating and changing, is to ask for a pre-negotiated severance in the event that the company decides to do away with the position for any reason. I know from my own experience being on the other side of the table and negotiating against people or with people, that it’s an easy ask. It’s an easy ask to say, “If something unexpected happens, we’ve already settled this. So that the risk that I take by moving to this company is mitigated. This is a big move for me, too.” And I can say that every single client that I’ve worked with who has asked for it has gotten it.
We often go into interviews as though the person going in to be interviewed doesn’t have the same weight, if you will. Or it’s like, “Oh, I hope you pick me.” And this is saying, as the interviewee, “Hey, I want something so that I can feel secure and safe in this.” And then it completely changes the playing field with the relationship of seeing each other across the table, as we’re working on this together.
AN: What was the other video, about not leading in with your hard work as a weakness, but as a strength?
TW: I think you’re referring to the video where I tell people that the question that gets botched a lot is, “What is your weakness?” And 9 out of 10 people say, “My weakness is that I just work too hard. I don’t know when to stop.”
If you could hear it from my perspective, you would realize how ridiculous it sounds. But that question can be the one that puts you over the top because people like imperfect people. And to actually say, “Here’s one of the things I don’t do well,” but then to show self-awareness and saying, “Here are the things I do to mitigate against that weakness,” that’s a really powerful and honest answer. And when you can have an authentic interview and your authenticity shines through, it really does help you get the job. It’s a lost opportunity to be authentic with the interviewer.
To learn more about Tessa White and how to improve your career, visit thejobdoctor.com.
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