Being A Learner
by RONNIE GRABON
Facilitating a career class recently, I heard the following: “In my field I’m an expert. When I interview I make sure to let the interviewer know how much information I have in my field. Often, I know more than the interviewer. I don’t get a call back. I think they believe that I am trying to get their job. What do I do?”
Does this sound familiar?
How proud he is of his expertise. How passionate about his profession. I applaud this person for taking the time to read technical manuals and study his field. I found him to be well dressed, polite and articulate. So how come he has had trouble finding a job? What do employers want?
Many employers do want the knowledge base that this man has, more importantly they want the underlying skill. The ability to learn! Not, has he mastered the past, instead can he learn from the past to solve the problems of the future? Not, does he know what is in the manual, instead can he apply what he has learned to satisfy the customer? Not, can he prove his knowledge to his boss and clients, instead can he listen to their needs and develop solutions?
With on-line manuals that change frequently, it’s not the knowledge you carry in your head, it is your ability to convince an interviewer that you can listen, learn and apply your knowledge to develop new solutions to ever changing problems.
An interview is the time to focus on the company rather than on your own expertise. Do the questions teach you something about the problems the company and their customers are trying to solve? Can you take your knowledge and apply it to the company needs? Are you using the interview to learn?
Carol Dweck, a professor at Stanford University, refers to this as using a growth (vs. fixed) mindset in her book Mindset. Relying on already acquired knowledge and proving your expertise is holding a fixed mindset – “I’m an expert”. Listening and acquiring a new understanding of the issue and then applying the knowledge that you have is using a growth mindset. It is a way to show the interviewer both your knowledge base, your ability to listen and your ability to learn in order to help the organization move forward once you obtain that job.
"If we become increasingly humble about how little we know, we may be more eager to search."
-Sir John Templeton
More about Ronnie
Ronnie S. Grabon (MBA, SPHR, ICF-PCC) has spent over 30 years as an Executive Coach, facilitator, teacher, trainer, consultant and HR executive. In her coaching practice she focuses on working with individuals to achieve significant professional and personal goals. Areas of focus have ranged among: strategic thinking, innovative processes, career transitions, team leadership and achieving a balance that allows leaders to be fully engaged in all facets of their life. She has worked with numerous individual clients from a variety of industries including law, finance, government, retail non-profit and manufacturing. In her consulting practice she works with a variety of profit and not for profit organizations on coaching, organizational development and HR issues. She enjoys integrating business strategy with people strategy. Ronnie has spent a major part of her work with organizations and people in transition.