Thursday, September 12, 2019

Modesty itself. How to look for work for shy candidates

According to HR managers, the most modest job seekers are in professions that are not related to negotiations, sales and other active communications. “Sales and negotiation professionals are also modest,” said Eugenia Solonina, ICL Services Deputy Director of Human Resources. - But they overcome this barrier every day, they have a great practice. And some engineers, for example, discuss their work, achievements, uniqueness and skills only a few times in their lives - when changing jobs. ”

Programmers and other specialists in the field of IT and digital are considered especially modest. “We work in digital and periodically attract developers to the state,” says Olga Nikitina, head of the recruitment department at Biplan agency. - It’s extremely difficult to get a detailed answer from them, but it’s almost impossible to get into a frank dialogue. Most of them are wonderful people who lack confidence to defeat natural modesty. ”

But among any other professions, there are those who are not used to showing off their strengths. What if you are the very humble job seeker?

1. Do not underestimate your abilities
In 1999, psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger conducted an experiment. They asked students at Cornell University in the United States to solve several problems of logic, grammar and a sense of humor. After that, students were asked to evaluate their abilities compared to fellow students. It turned out that most of the subjects overestimated their results. At the same time, students who made the greatest number of mistakes rated themselves above all. And the most successful participants, on the contrary, underestimated themselves.

The results of this experiment are known in psychology as the Dunning-Krueger effect: people with low qualifications tend to rate themselves higher than competent specialists, who, on the contrary, are not confident enough in their knowledge and skills.

Such self-doubt is far from always an inborn character trait. If the applicant has been working in one place for 25 years or has never looked for a job himself, most likely he will underestimate his abilities. “It’s hard for humble professionals to understand exactly what their competencies are in demand in the labor market,” said Ilya Goldovsky, career development consultant at Employment Psychology. - We have repeatedly observed responsible applicants who are able to achieve results who could not “sell” to their employer their ability to carry out projects, meet deadlines and budgets, and take responsibility for the team. It seems to such people that these qualities are characteristic of any employee. ”

Tip from hh.ru. Write a list of ten of your strengths (personal qualities, professional skills, knowledge of specific programs, languages). Make a list of successful solutions at previous jobs. It does not have to be large-scale projects for which you or companies have been awarded a prize. On the contrary, these can be processes that are visible only to you or your department. For example, you managed to introduce a way of working with documents, which significantly reduced the process of signing contracts.

2. Boldly respond to vacancies
Humble candidates tend to belittle their experience, knowledge and merit. Sometimes this happens even before the interview, says Yevgeny Solonin: “In our practice, there were cases when a candidate saw a vacancy, but considered that he was not suitable and did not respond. And later, HR managers found him and “took them off with his hands.”

It is not enough just to send a resume or leave a response on HH.ru. Practice shows that the more active the candidate, the more likely he is to get an interview, adds Olga Mishina, Softline HR Project Manager: “The resume may be lost in the flow of others. And an additional call to the recruitment manager will help the applicant to draw attention to himself. ”

Tip from hh.ru. Some applicants are embarrassed to publicly announce their job search on social networks because they will have to present themselves to a wide audience. But Facebook and LinkedIn are powerful HR tools right now. Use them, advertise that you are currently looking for work. Compose a short and concise post. Indicate what work you want to find and what you can do. Give a link to the resume and attach a business photo. Ask colleagues to confirm your skills - there is a special button for this in the resume. Post them in your stream and in profile groups. Feel free to ask friends to "share" your record.

3. Prepare for an interview in advance
Do “homework” before each interview, recommends Olga Mishina: “Study the company’s website, read articles with its mention, try to learn a little more about the peculiarities of corporate culture. With this knowledge, you can better prepare for the meeting. ”

“Be sure to prepare a brief presentation about yourself for 1-2 minutes,” adds Evgenia Solonina. - Give most of this presentation a description of the experience most relevant to the vacancy. And then the recruiter will help you by asking another million questions. ”

Ask friends and relatives to help you. “Let them evaluate you as an employee,” advises Alexei Nashchekin, a practicing psychologist at the Path of Dawn Center for Contemporary Psychology. - Choose from your environment a person who can honestly criticize you, identify the positive and negative sides. This will help to understand how to present yourself in the future. Write your advantages for the employer and voice them at the interviews. ”

The procedural therapist Elena Zateinikova also recommends asking loved ones about their strengths: “Ask to tell you what you are valued for and what virtues you have. It is important to hear this. You can even write down on paper and re-read until the information takes root in the mind. In childhood, they often repeat to us that we are not good at something, not smart, not enough. Give yourself the opportunity to make up for the lack of an objective, positive assessment. ” “Most recruiters have not yet learned to read their minds, and it’s up to you to decide what they think about you,” adds Anna Grechko, HR Director of NPM Group.

Tip from hh.ru: when you are going for an interview, rehearse your answers to the questions of the recruiter in advance. You can do this in front of the mirror, or you can connect family members or friends. This is a very popular recommendation that all HR managers give - because it really works.

4. During the interview, tell us about your experience.
An uncertain story about past work is the main mistake of modest job seekers, said Olga Nikitina, head of the recruitment department of the Biplan marketing agency. “Believe me, the HR manager can read all the necessary information about the candidate in a resume or find it on social networks,” she continues. - The applicant is only required to overcome fear and tell in his own words what he knows how to do, what he wants to learn and what he deserves. Model a conversation with a recruiter in advance. Most of the interviews are based on a template, so no special surprises should be expected. ”

In no case do not minimize your experience and personal achievements, adds Eugene Solonina. “If you are silent about successes or attribute them to the team, the offer may go to a more confident job seeker. Generally humble people are uncomfortable talking about themselves. Therefore, they try to complete this part of the interview as quickly as possible. As a result, something important can be missed, from which both the applicant and the potential employer will lose. If at the interview you are not at all comfortable talking about yourself, praising yourself and “selling”, try to shift your focus and talk about your work. Tell us about technology, results, achievements, better in numbers (numbers are just a statement of facts, not bragging). You can even talk about mistakes and difficulties (it’s not bragging at all, is it?). This will be an indicator of the experience and complexity of the tasks. ”

Tip from hh.ru: if at the interview you find it difficult to praise yourself and talk about your achievements, bring along certificates and documents that will confirm your skills. Show them to the HR manager along with your resume.

5. Treat humility as a virtue
The employer may well regard your modesty as a virtue, not a disadvantage. Usually, those who talk a lot and sell themselves well actually have weak competencies, says Vitaly Alexandrov, founder of Out Of Cloud email marketing studio. “Professionals rarely boast of their talents,” continues Vitaliy. - I have met modest candidates more than once. They came to meetings, we discussed their competencies for a long time. Those things that are for us the criteria of a highly qualified specialist are an ordinary thing, ordinary for them. Why talk about everyday things? So they reason. Therefore, if you are interviewing such an applicant, it is important to ask the right questions. For example, it is better not to ask what a person is proud of. It is better to ask very specific questions about the tasks: what he did, how he performed, to whom he delegated, how he checked the result. The more specific the question, the more accurate and understandable the answer from the candidate will be. ”

Tip from hh.ru: try to go through a few interviews without thinking about the end result. The more you attend the interview, the better your presentation skill becomes. You will also be able to evaluate how employers evaluate you based on the results of the meetings and how this relates to your real skills.

A simple way to objectively look at your strengths is a successful resume. The experts at the Ready Resume service help applicants highlight their merits and talk about their achievements so that recruiters notice them. Remember, humility in itself as a character trait is not a minus. But it should not stop you from getting a dream job.

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