Hi everyone,
Reading Thank You for Feedback by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen taught me that feedback often arrives as a label: a short phrase that feels meaningful but is ambiguous and easy to misinterpret.
Job titles are labels too. They tell us a lot, but they’re ambiguous. A product manager can do very different work at different companies.
The same thing happens when we answer interview questions. My superpower is that I’m customer obsessed. What that means is I live my value of integrity by making sure every promise I make to a customer, no matter how small, is kept. If I can’t keep a promise, I own the mistake. The label sounds good. The explanation is what a hiring manager can actually use.
Don’t answer interview questions with a label. Tell a story. If you’re not sure how, a formula like STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) is a good place to start.
This week we’ll also look at how you approach applications. You can personalize each one or apply to as many jobs as you can, and we’ll talk through the tradeoff. Treat each application and interview as an experiment. Notice what worked, change one thing, and try again.
Everything for this week is here: go.sujeeth.org/week5
Thanks! Avi