There was a job a number of years ago that I really wanted to get. It was a remote role and I immediately reached out to someone that I knew within the organization expressing my interest.
When the acquaintance got back to me saying they would be happy to share my resume with the hiring manager I believed in my heart that the job was mine. I was convinced that it was my job to lose.
To speed things up a little, I heard back from the hiring manager a couple of days later and was told that the first step in the interviewing process was to take an AcuMax Index – a 5-minute personal assessment. Um, ok.
The assessment asked only 2 questions and I was told to answer them as honestly as I could and that there was no right or wrong answers. Sounded easy-peasy.
Here were the two questions:
How do people expect you to be?
How am I really?
The directions told me to choose from a page with about 50 different adjectives everything that I thought applied to me in regards to the above questions. Words like honest or dependable. Stuff like that.
I immediately thought about my partner – how does she expect me to be? I thought about friends and family – how do they expect me to be? And so on. After all, these were the people that I interacted with the most.
The results? A thirteen-page report on how I am as an employee.
Wait, what?! It didn’t say – how do people expect me to be AT WORK?!
I was upset. The report said things like: Zak does better in office settings vs remote work. Which I immediately reacted to by making up a story that the company wanted nothing to do with me.
Darn you computer program! I was convinced that I wouldn’t move forward in the interview process. I was in full-blown victim mode.
But remember, the opposite of a victim is an owner and an owner will always ask – how can I use this for my greatest good? So, here’s my best version of the other side of the coin if you will.
Instead of being upset about what occurred what if this was possible....
I thought I found the perfect job but they had me go through this strange assessment system that had a computer pigeon-hole me. It felt awful to experience.
I don't want to work for a company that leads with this type of process. This is not a good fit for me - and I'm grateful to know that now. I'll consider myself spared and see what I can create from this now that I have this information.
I’m a human being and I didn't feel treated like a human being by their machine-led process. Do you want to be in a company that does this and doesn't seem to question it? I sure didn’t.
I decided to move forward with the mindset that I was equal to all employers through the process - that the processes are not just one sided, but that I was also interviewing them to find what I wanted to find out.
It was a much healthier mindset to move forward with and it was there all along waiting for me on the other side of the coin.
I read through the 13 pages again and got to a certain point and thought – this is mumbo jumbo and boring to read. It wasn’t me at all.
I wanted to work at a company that valued me for, well, me.
Love,
Zak
PS ~ There’s always another side of the coin waiting for you in every moment. If you can relate, I’d love to hear your thoughts.