Spoke on the phone today with a former client who was as excited as she has landed a new job. As we talked about it and I asked her to walk me through the steps, an interesting thing surfaced. The company had placed an ad for a Sales Manager but a few weeks later took it off their website. When she called to find out if she was in the running, HR told her that the company had decided not to fill that position.

Fast forward a few months and my client gets a call from the same company and learns that a different division needed a sales manager and asked HR to share the resumes they had previously collected. Hers was chosen because they knew she was in transition and might be more open to an opportunity that was temp to perm. In other words, being out of work made her a more attractive candidate. She went on the interview and got the job. So don’t assume that your current status, if you’re out of work, is a disadvantage.

I went on an interview recently and gave myself a good talking to–both as I prepared for it and on my way to their office–reminding myself that this was probably more of a networking meeting and not to expect much in the way of results. Because I almost always tell my clients to visualize success–to know what they want before an interview–I was in a strange way doing the opposite because my interactions with the company had led me to believe that it wasn’t a match. I had learned about the compensation (way below my most recent level) and that they had an immediate need that would have put me back into the kind of work that I had intentionally left many years ago, that would have also involved a killer commute. 

As I told my friends after:  “Yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks!” meaning that I was surprised and that the outcome was way more than I had expected. As I thought about it I realized that my “low expectations” had helped me be relaxed and probably improved my listening skills as I wasn’t trying to sell anything to the two interviewers. Of course I wanted them to know who I am and what I can do, but that happened in a very natural, easy going way. And I found it wasn’t difficult to let them know which kinds of work would be the best match, and when asked about compensation, I didn’t get specific but simply stated that I was confident we could come to an agreement.

I did follow my own advice after the interview and wrote down my analysis:  “This was a yes-yes. A this is who I am and this is who you are and wouldn’t it be fun to do business together. It felt like mutual admiration.” Of course I wrote my thank-you notes and we established a time frame for next steps. The wonderful thing about this interview experience is that even if it doesn’t lead to an offer, I felt affirmed and valued. A great result!