Ex-Google Recruiter Explains Why "Lying" Gets You Hired — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00These are lies you can say in a job
2. 0:01interview. At least that's what it feels
3. 0:04like when you're the one saying them.
4. 0:06Because what I'm going to share are the
5. 0:08moments where your honest answer could
6. 0:10hurt you, even though it shouldn't. And
7. 0:12the version you give instead, it's not
8. 0:15fake. It's what everyone in hiring
9. 0:17expects you to say. But if no one's ever
10. 0:20told you that, it can feel like you're
11. 0:22being dishonest. I spent over a decade
12. 0:24on the other side of the hiring table at
13. 0:26Google, Tik Tok, Uber, Lyft, and the New
14. 0:28York Times, and I'm going to walk you
15. 0:30through all nine of the answers that we
16. 0:33expect you to give and why. So, let's
17. 0:35get into it. Number one, how are you?
18. 0:38This feels like small talk, but it's
19. 0:40not. It's an audition that starts before
20. 0:43you think it does. I've watched
21. 0:45candidates lose momentum in the first 10
22. 0:47seconds of an interview. They'll say
23. 0:49something like, "I'm just getting over a
24. 0:51cold." or honestly, it's been a rough
25. 0:54week or traffic was a nightmare getting
26. 0:56here. And what they don't realize is
27. 0:59that I'm already taking a mental note.
28. 1:02Not because I'm judging them as a
29. 1:03person, but because I'm asking myself,
30. 1:06is this how they're going to show up on
31. 1:07a hard day at work? You are always
32. 1:10great. Always. So, say, I'm great, thank
33. 1:14you. How are you? That's it. You're not
34. 1:17being fake. You're showing me that you
35. 1:19can regulate your energy when it
36. 1:21matters. That's a skill. And the
37. 1:24interview starts the second you walk
38. 1:25into the room, not when the first real
39. 1:28question gets asked. Number two, why do
40. 1:31you want to work here? Here's what most
41. 1:33people say. I went to your website and I
42. 1:35really love your mission and values.
43. 1:37That's what everybody says. And I'll
44. 1:39tell you what I'm thinking when I hear
45. 1:41that.
46. 1:43Nothing really. [music] It tells me
47. 1:45nothing about you. It tells me that you
48. 1:47spent five minutes on our about page.
49. 1:50So, what you want to do is flip the
50. 1:52question entirely. Stop making it about
51. 1:55what you want from them and make it
52. 1:58about what you're going to do for them.
53. 2:00Something like, "I've outgrown my
54. 2:02current role and I'm looking for a new
55. 2:04challenge. And based on what I've seen
56. 2:06about this team's goals, I know I can
57. 2:08help you solve." And then insert the
58. 2:10problem. You're not there to take, you
59. 2:13are there to contribute. And here's the
60. 2:15mindset shift. Stop treating interviews
61. 2:18like auditions where you're hoping to be
62. 2:20chosen. Treat them like a meeting
63. 2:22between two parties who both have
64. 2:25something to offer. That energy shift,
65. 2:28hiring managers can feel it immediately.
66. 2:30Number [music] three, where do you see
67. 2:32yourself in 5 years? Let me tell you
68. 2:35what we're actually asking because it's
69. 2:38not about your five-year plan. We don't
70. 2:41actually care about your five-year plan.
71. 2:43What we want to know are two things.
72. 2:45One, are you going to leave in six
73. 2:47months? And two, are your goals aligned
74. 2:50with this role? Or are you going to get
75. 2:53bored and become a problem? Which is why
76. 2:55you never say I'm going to grad school.
77. 2:58Never say starting my own business.
78. 3:00Never say hopefully in a leadership role
79. 3:02somewhere. Because somewhere tells me
80. 3:06probably not here. Even if those things
81. 3:09are true, and they might be, that's not
82. 3:12what we want to hear in this moment.
83. 3:14What we need to hear is, "I see myself
84. 3:17here. I see myself becoming an expert in
85. 3:20this area and I'm a valuable part of
86. 3:21this team." This role aligns with where
87. 3:24I want to go because, and then you
88. 3:26connect it to something specific about
89. 3:28the job. You're not lying about who you
90. 3:30are. You're telling the version of the
91. 3:32truth that serves this conversation.
92. 3:34There's [music] a difference. Number
93. 3:36four, why are you looking for a new
94. 3:38opportunity? This is for when you're
95. 3:41employed. We don't want to hear that you
96. 3:43hate your boss or that your company is
97. 3:45toxic, that you're being micromanaged or
98. 3:47underpaid or undervalued. Even if every
99. 3:50word of it is true, especially if it's
100. 3:53true, that's not what you say. And
101. 3:55here's why. When you trash a current
102. 3:57employer, I'm not thinking, "Oh, that
103. 4:00sounds terrible." Instead, I'm thinking,
104. 4:03what is she going to say about us in two
105. 4:05years? You become a risk. And in a stack
106. 4:09of qualified candidates, risks get cut.
107. 4:12So, keep it clean. Say, "I've learned a
108. 4:15lot in my current role, and now I'm
109. 4:17ready for a new challenge." Done. You
110. 4:20said nothing negative. You've shown
111. 4:23growth and you moved the conversation
112. 4:25forward. One sentence, move on. Number
113. 4:28five, how do you feel about your current
114. 4:30manager? Now, this is different from the
115. 4:32last one, and here's why. Because it
116. 4:34needs to be its own point, because
117. 4:36sometimes the person interviewing you is
118. 4:39about to become your next boss, and that
119. 4:41changes everything. I've watched this
120. 4:44happen in real time. A candidate was
121. 4:46interviewing for a role on a team that I
122. 4:48was recruiting for, and she mentioned
123. 4:49that her current manager was a quote
124. 4:52micromanager and too hands-on, and that
125. 4:54she was looking for more autonomy. The
126. 4:57hiring manager nodded politely, said
127. 4:59nothing, but that hiring manager was
128. 5:01known internally for being heavily
129. 5:03involved in her team's work. Some people
130. 5:06loved it, some people didn't, but the
131. 5:08candidate had just told her without
132. 5:10realizing it that her management style
133. 5:12was a problem. She didn't get the offer,
134. 5:15and she never really knew why. Say
135. 5:18nothing negative about your current
136. 5:19boss, nothing about your co-workers,
137. 5:22nothing about leadership ever, because
138. 5:25you don't know who you're talking to,
139. 5:27and you don't know who they know. This
140. 5:29isn't about being fake. It's about not
141. 5:32handing someone a reason to say no. So
142. 5:34instead of saying, "He's a
143. 5:36micromanager," you could say, "My
144. 5:38manager has been great at providing
145. 5:40structure for our team's goals. I've
146. 5:42learned a lot about process from him and
147. 5:44as I've grown, I've become more
148. 5:46proactive in anticipating next steps and
149. 5:48I'm excited about the possibility of
150. 5:50bringing that proactive energy to a new
151. 5:52team. Number six, [music] your hobbies.
152. 5:55Now, this one's going to surprise you
153. 5:56because most people just treat this as a
154. 5:59throwaway, but it's not. I once had a
155. 6:01candidate mention that she was restoring
156. 6:04a vintage motorcycle in her garage. She
157. 6:06wasn't interviewing for anything
158. 6:08mechanical. It was a marketing role, but
159. 6:10that detail made her memorable. It
160. 6:12signaled curiosity, patience,
161. 6:15willingness to figure things out, and
162. 6:16the hiring manager brought it up three
163. 6:18times in the debrief. On the other end,
164. 6:21I've had candidates tell me their main
165. 6:22hobby is watching TV or hanging out with
166. 6:24friends. And there's nothing wrong with
167. 6:27that. We all do it, but it doesn't give
168. 6:29me anything to work with. So instead,
169. 6:32you become forgettable. You're not
170. 6:35listing activities. Instead, you're
171. 6:37painting a picture of who you are when
172. 6:39you're not at work. And the picture
173. 6:41should make someone think, "Huh, that's
174. 6:43interesting. I'd want to get coffee with
175. 6:45that person." Reading, hiking, learning
176. 6:48a new language, building something,
177. 6:50mentoring, playing in a sports league.
178. 6:52Those are examples of things that you
179. 6:54can say. [music] And these tell me that
180. 6:56you're curious, engaged, and you have a
181. 6:58life outside of work. Pick the version
182. 7:00of yourself that's true and memorable.
183. 7:04So, instead of saying, "I like Netflix
184. 7:06and going out," you could say, "Outside
185. 7:09of work, I'm an avid home baker. I
186. 7:11actually run a small Instagram page
187. 7:12where I document my attempts to
188. 7:14mastering sourdough. It's taught me a
189. 7:16lot about patience, process, and
190. 7:18troubleshooting when things don't rise
191. 7:20as expected."
192. 7:22Number seven, your job title and
193. 7:24description. This is the one that trips
194. 7:27up high performers the most, and I need
195. 7:29you to hear me on this. If you've been
196. 7:31doing the work above your pay grade, you
197. 7:34need to claim it. If you've been leading
198. 7:36projects without the official title, you
199. 7:38can say that you led them. If you've
200. 7:39been doing the job of a senior person
201. 7:41while being paid as a junior one, own
202. 7:43the job. I've reviewed hundreds of
203. 7:46thousands of résumés, and one of the
204. 7:48most common mistakes I see is people
205. 7:50underelling what they've actually done
206. 7:52because they're waiting for permission.
207. 7:54They're waiting for the promotion, the
208. 7:56title change, the official recognition,
209. 7:58and in the meantime, they're letting
210. 8:00other candidates take credit for the
211. 8:02level of work they're already doing.
212. 8:04[music] The title on your badge is what
213. 8:06HR decided. The work you've done is what
214. 8:09actually matters. And if you don't
215. 8:11articulate that clearly, someone with
216. 8:13less experience, but more confidence is
217. 8:15going to walk in and take the job that
218. 8:17you were qualified for. That's not
219. 8:20lying. that's accurately representing
220. 8:22the value that you created. So for
221. 8:25example, if your title is marketing
222. 8:27coordinator, but you led the campaign,
223. 8:29you could say, "While my title was
224. 8:32marketing coordinator, I was responsible
225. 8:33for leading the Q3 email campaign from
226. 8:36concept to execution." This involves
227. 8:38setting the strategy, coordinating the
228. 8:40design and copy, analyzing the AB test
229. 8:43results, and presenting the 15% lift in
230. 8:46engagement to leadership. Number eight,
231. 8:49resume gaps. This one stresses people
232. 8:52out way more than it should. And here's
233. 8:54what I want you to understand. That gap
234. 8:56on your resume already got you the
235. 8:59interview. We saw it. We still called
236. 9:02you. Which means we've already decided
237. 9:05that it's not a deal breakaker. You just
238. 9:08need to not make it weird. If you went
239. 9:10back to school, got a certification, or
240. 9:12did volunteer work, talk about what you
241. 9:15learned and how it applies to the job
242. 9:16you're [music] interviewing for. If you
243. 9:18were laid off, say that there were
244. 9:19layoffs. I've been laid off. It happens.
245. 9:22We understand. If it was something
246. 9:25personal like health, family,
247. 9:27caregiving, you can simply say, "I took
248. 9:29time off for personal reasons and now
249. 9:31I'm ready to return to work." In the US,
250. 9:34employers legally can't ask you about
251. 9:36your family status and won't push.
252. 9:38Here's what actually matters. The energy
253. 9:41that you bring when you talk about it.
254. 9:43If you're defensive or apologetic, I'm
255. 9:46going to sense that something's wrong.
256. 9:47If you're matterof-act and confident,
257. 9:49I'm going to move on. The gap isn't the
258. 9:52problem. How you handle it is. For
259. 9:55example, let's say you had a 9-month gap
260. 9:57for caregiving. You could say in your
261. 9:59interview, "I took a planned period away
262. 10:01from my career to focus on a family
263. 10:03commitment. During that time, I kept my
264. 10:06skills sharp by completing a Google
265. 10:07Analytics certification and doing some
266. 10:10freelance content work. I'm now fully
267. 10:12ready and eager to return to a full-time
268. 10:14role where I can contribute deeply. And
269. 10:17say this with a calm, confident tone.
270. 10:20Number nine, do you have any questions
271. 10:22for us? Do not say, "No, I think you
272. 10:26covered everything." That's the fastest
273. 10:28way to end an interview on a flat note.
274. 10:30[music] And here's what it actually
275. 10:32communicates to me. You're not that
276. 10:34interested. You haven't thought beyond
277. 10:36today, and you're just trying to get
278. 10:37through this. The questions you ask tell
279. 10:41me how you think. They tell me whether
280. 10:43you're already picturing yourself in
281. 10:45this role or just hoping to survive the
282. 10:47conversation. Have at least two
283. 10:49questions ready. Why is this position
284. 10:51open is a good one. And it tells you if
285. 10:54someone got promoted, quit, or was
286. 10:56fired. And that's useful information for
287. 10:58you. What does success look like in the
288. 11:00first 90 days? This question shows that
289. 11:03you're already thinking about how to
290. 11:05deliver. Don't ask about vacation days
291. 11:07or remote work flexibility in the first
292. 11:09interview. That's a negotiation
293. 11:11conversation, not an interview
294. 11:13conversation. The best candidates ask
295. 11:16questions that make the interviewer
296. 11:17think that's what you're aiming for. For
297. 11:20example, don't say no. Instead, ask,
298. 11:23[music] "You mentioned the team is
299. 11:25growing. Could you describe the dynamic
300. 11:27between this role and the team it
301. 11:29collaborates with the most closely?" Or
302. 11:31you could ask, based on our conversation
303. 11:33today, what would you say is the most
304. 11:35immediate challenge the person in this
305. 11:37role would need to tackle in their first
306. 11:39month? Interviews aren't about being the
307. 11:41most honest person in the room. They're
308. 11:43about being the most strategic. Same
309. 11:45person, same skills, different answers.
310. 11:48Now, if you've been laid off, check out
311. 11:50this video where I lay out a 10-day plan
312. 11:52to get you back on your