About the Author

As a professional “headhunter,” I spend many hours counseling and coaching job seekers, in an attempt to get them properly oriented to the realities of the current job market before they venture forth into the marketplace. I focus on not what they think the market is like, but rather, on what it really is like today. Many of the things I tell these men and women about today’s job market not only surprises them, it actually shocks and affronts some of them. Let me give you just one example.

Contrary to popular opinion, rarely do companies hire the best candidate, I tell them. They almost always hire the safest candidate—for virtually any given position. Those job seekers who are either relatively new to the hiring game or those who haven’t been in the fray for quite some time, are almost always immediately suspicious of this statement. Some are even outraged! That simply can’t be true, they usually protest. True it remains, however. And it has been true for as long as I’ve been in the recruiting business. It’s simply gotten “worse” (if that’s the correct term to use here) as the job market continues to tighten.

All of this of course begs the question: What, exactly, is the definition of a “safe” candidate? Early in my career I coined a phrase to help candidates visualize what a “safe” candidate looks like. It’s merely someone who doesn’t cast “shadows on the wall” at the hiring company.

Remember when you were a child and were safely tucked into your bed each evening? Occasionally, say, when a wind began blowing the trees outside your bedroom window, shadows would suddenly be cast on your bedroom walls as the trees swayed in the wind. You became uneasy if not downright afraid, correct? The same basic principle applies with hiring managers and companies. Anything—and I do mean anything—that casts “shadows on the wall” tends to make them very uneasy and fearful about hiring you.

How a Candidate can Unintentionally Cast 'Shadows on the Wall'

Let me give you an example of how a candidate can, many times unknowingly or even unintentionally, cast “shadows on the wall.”

Mary Jones is being very seriously considered for a position as a chemist in ABC company. She presented a literally sparkling résumé when she applied to the company and it was instrumental in her quickly receiving an invitation to do a telephone interview. She aced that interview and was soon invited to company headquarters for the all-important “face-to-face” interview. So far, so good.

Now Mary has always been a very truthful person. Ask her virtually anything and she will unerringly tell the truth, the complete truth, or at least the truth as she knows it. So, after asking a few “warming up” questions to get her relaxed and confident, the hiring manager (as they are certainly wont to do!) suddenly asks her this question:

“Mary, tell me about the absolute worst boss you’ve ever had,” he tells her.

After just a brief moment’s hesitation to collect her thoughts, Mary then launches into a (truthful!) story about . . . well . . . the worst boss she ever had!

Unfortunately, Mary’s candidacy abruptly went from being very promising to her being summarily excluded from further consideration, at least in the mind of the hiring manager. Why? Because she was truthful? No, because she didn’t use good judgment and take proper account of either the circumstances or the setting in which she was discussing her “worst boss ever”! In other words, she cast “shadows on the wall” for the hiring manager and he became “frightened.” After all, he reasoned, if she so readily impugned the integrity of a former boss, what would keep her from possibly doing the very same thing to a new boss at ABC Company? His company! And who would be “blamed” for recommending hiring Mary? Well, he would, of course!

Being a 'Safe' Candidate does NOT Mean Being a 'Fake' Candidate

Let me hasten to add, however, that being a “safe” candidate does NOT mean that you have to become someone you’re not, or that you must “suck up” to a hiring manager if you ever hope to be seriously considered for a position. What it does mean, though, is that you must always be on extremely high alert when interviewing for a position, any position. To be lulled into a false sense of security during an interview, or to begin thinking the hiring manager is your new “best friend,” almost always ends up in your being quickly eliminated from further consideration!

As I repeatedly state in “Headhunter” Hiring Secrets, job seekers must always, always, always keep in mind that the entire hiring process is one of exclusion, not of inclusion. That is, in order to get to the final “pool” of potential candidates, virtually all hiring managers try and “weed out” as many applicants as possible as soon as possible. Give them a reason to exclude you and they will quickly take it and move on to the next applicant.

The type of question our fictitious candidate Mary (though certainly an all too-real situation!) was asked is what we in the recruiting business refer to as “gotcha’!” questions, and be assured hiring managers have a boatload of these types of questions. And they never miss a chance to use them, either. They deliberately try to catch a candidate “off guard.” Knowing how to answer such questions, and even more importantly, how not to answer them, almost always spells the difference between an applicant moving on to the next level of consideration for a position or not.