Sure, The Job Is Cool, But Will You Be Happy There?

I am pleased to introduce Mike Figliuolo, the Founder and Managing Director of thoughtLEADERS, LLC. Mike guest blogs today on one of my favorite job search issues: is a job really a fit for you? Take it away Mike...

I had a former colleague call me the other day. I’ve known him for a few years and have mentored him on several career decisions he’s had to make. He’s in the process of seeking new opportunities and came across one that sounded fabulous. He excitedly gave me a call to discuss it. At first blush, it was a very interesting role. He would be able to use his sales skills at a premier brand name organization. His performance would be measured against tangible goals. He would have the ability to be aggressive and independent in the role.

“What do you think Mike?”

“I think you need to figure out how to get an interview there.”

He sent me his resume for a brushing up. To start, it was three pages long and much of it was fluff that you’d find on any of a thousand other resumes that didn’t differentiate him from the pack. As my friend Susan Strayer would say, he didn’t have a career brand that was clearly articulated. On top of that, his past accomplishments didn’t jump off the page because they weren’t discussed in a manner that demonstrated their relative impact in a broader context (a topic I’ve touched on in Two Big Resume Writing Boo Boos).

After we brushed up his paper (made it two pages, showed relative impact of his results, and highlighted the reasons for his success in a sales environment were resourcefulness and courageous risk taking) he went on his way to be resourceful and take some courageous risks to land an interview. Of course he was able to do so. Somehow he talked his way through layers of administrative assistants and junior managers to gain a phone audience with the division vice president of sales (I told you he was resourceful). After he got chewed out by said vice president for navigating around the VP’s administrative assistant (talk about risk taking!) the VP congratulated him on his resourcefulness and said he’d personally call the hiring manager to arrange the interview.

He elatedly called me and relayed the story. “Mike! I got the interview. The VP of sales set it up himself!”

“That’s great! Good luck. I’m sure you’ll do fantastic.”

He called me late in the day after his interview. He sounded like a puppy that had just been whacked with a newspaper. “They hated me. And I’m really mad at them because they didn’t like the things you suggested about my resume. I’m really upset they didn’t want to hire me too.”

“Okay. So tell me what happened.”

“Well first, the hiring manager asked who the heck I thought I was actually calling the VP. He said he’s worked there over 8 years and has only spoken to that VP like once a year. He seemed really jealous that the VP helped me get the interview or something.”

“There’s nothing you can do about that. That’s his problem – not yours. What else happened?”

“Well then they said they didn’t like my resume because it didn’t have all those flowery words we took out in the objective section. They said it didn’t say salesy things like ‘action oriented, results driven, risk taking, entrepreneurial, aggressive and resourceful sales executive’ in a summary section.”

“Okay. I hear you but it sounds kind of hypocritical for them to slam you for not saying you’re resourceful when they slam you for being resourceful and getting to their VP, no?”

“Yeah. I guess you’re right. And then they said ‘gee, you seem really aggressive and entrepreneurial but we actually want to hire someone who will just go out, execute our playbook, not question what we tell them to do and not rock the boat with a ton of new ideas and suggestions.’”

“They actually said that?”

“Yeah. Pretty much verbatim.”

“So I understand you’re upset you didn’t land the job but let me ask you to do one thing – apply the stranded at the airport test.”

“What’s that?”

“Imagine you were traveling with these guys and you got stuck at an airport for eight or ten hours with them. What would that experience be like?”

“Oh! I’d hate it! I wanted to get out of there and away from them so badly by the time we were done I couldn’t get to my car fast enough. I couldn’t imagine being stuck in an airport with them. TSA would be pulling me off them by the second hour we were together.”

“And why would you hate it so much?”

“Because I wouldn’t be happy being around them for that long. I wouldn’t be able to do the things I do best and I’d have to be with people who thought they were better than me.”

“Then it seems like a good thing you didn’t get the job because you wouldn’t simply be stuck with them in an airport for eight hours. You’d be stuck with them for eight hours a day EVERY DAY.”

“I guess you’re right. Thanks. Suddenly I don’t feel so bad about not getting the job.”

“I think it’s great you didn’t get the job. You would have been miserable. Remember, find somewhere you will be happy to go every day. Find colleagues you’d love to be stuck in an airport with. If you can find that kind of environment, your work will be better, you’ll deliver more value, you’ll grow more quickly, and you’ll have more impact than you ever could imagine having. No matter how cool the job is, it’s not worth it if you won’t be happy there.”

Are you happy? Would you enjoy being stuck in an airport with your colleagues or prospective colleagues? If so, you’re one of the lucky ones. If not, you might want to grab a copy of Susan’s book The Right Job, Right Now: The Complete Toolkit for Finding Your Perfect Career.


- Mike Figliuolo is the Founder and Managing Director of thoughtLEADERS, LLC. He graduated from West Point in the top 5% of his class. He served in the US Army, was a management consultant at McKinsey & Co., a Director at Capital One, and a Vice President at Scotts Miracle-Gro. thoughtLEADERS offers training courses that build solid leadership, communication, strategy and operational skills. thoughtLEADERS’ instructors are differentiated because they are practitioners of the concepts they teach. Visit Mike’s thoughtLEADERS blog.