Imagine your are looking for a job. Today you have an interview for a position in Marketing in Company T. You dressed up nice, full suit, tie on, nice black shoes. The whole corporate combo.
You approach Company T’s HQ and go right to the Reception Desk, asking for guidance about the interview. The host directs you to the 7th floor where the office of the Senior Manager is located. While going up in the elevator, you recap the speech you are going to say and imagine tricky questions and scenarios that may be thrown at you, to prepare answers in advance.
You arrive at the 7th floor and the first thing you notice is 8 more guys about your age, dressed almost exactly like you. -“It’s alright” – you say to yourself, feeling a little awkward – “No one is gonna hire or reject anyone just based on looks and/or similar appearance”-. You sit down and engage in some small talk with the other candidates only to quickly find out they are also pretty smart and have a coveted degree from a top university, just like you.
By this point you are beginning to feel nervous. It never occurred to you that the competition would be so strong. A door opening interrupts your thoughts. -“Thank you. We will be contacting you. Next, please”- The next guy in the line stands up, adjusts his tie, combs his hair and goes on to the interview.
The same process repeats until it’s finally your turn. You stand up, adjust your tie, comb your hair and enter the office for the interview. As you enter, the Senior Manager prompts you to sit down. He doesn’t say anything for a moment, he is just sitting there examining you and your composure. You break the silence by saying -“Sir, let me start by saying it’s an honor to be offered a job interview in this great Company”- to which he replies – “I’ll tell you something, since you are the last one today and I’m really tired: Can you tell me in 5 sentences why should i hire you and not one of the other 9? They all felt privileged to be offered a position in this Company, they are more or less your age and they all have either your same degree of similar enough for the job. How’d you make it easy for me to know you are the perfect person for this position?
Here you pause for a moment and go inside yourself looking for that something unique and special that only you have and can deliver to others. Arising from your inner depths, a smile on your face begins to tell the answer:
– “I’m not the perfect person for this position, I’m the best person for this position. I know pretty well how to manage the trade off between launching a good product in time vs launching a perfect product and lose market momentum. I know how to get my ideas across and convince people to take my route, but also accept when ‘it is what it is’. I’m highly resilient and know how to deal with pressure and cope with disappointment, not only mine but my team’s. Finally, I will work my butt off and show results before asking for any extraordinary bonus, since there’s absolutely no one more critical of my work than myself, so I’ll always be one step ahead of you in that aspect”.
Impressed, the Senior Manager tells you – “HR will be contacting you later this week”- he shakes your hand and dismisses you. Certainly a few days later you receive a call from Company T’s HR Dpt. You’ve been accepted to the position and begin to work next week. You are so happy that the next Monday arrives so fast you didn’t even noticed. You are on your first day of work, accommodating your new home outside your home. It’s almost lunch time and you ask some of your coworkers where to eat. He tells you of a nice place across the street and you go to give it a try. There you find one of the former candidates who recognizes you and sees your new ID Card from Company T – “Product Dev Analyst. Cool dude, congratulations on getting the job! How did the interview go?”- you proceed to recount the interview details when suddenly he stops you – “Wait, What!? He also told you that he was tired and that all other guys before you said the same thing as you did? Dude, you reeaally did say something different that caught his eye then. The first guy interviewed that day is one of my best friends from college. We agreed to accept and congratulate whichever would get the job. He confessed to me that the Senior Manager told him all the other candidates said exactly the same speech as him and that he was tired from interviews from the day before! He said the same thing to me…and apparently to everybody!”
This is when you fully started appreciating the value of differentiation in a saturated market, full of similar options. In order to win, you need to have something to distinguish yourself from the pack, be sexy. Smiling again at your realization, you go back to work with a sandwich in your right hand and with this thought in your head: “I gotta apply this exact thing to my products and services at work”.
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