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Hi Reader, “I’ve had 12 interviews,” she told me. “And 12 rejections.” “Wicked,” I said. She looked at me like I’d just given her career crisis a gold star. Fair enough. After more than 20 years in the classroom, she wants to move into a different type of education role in government. She could get interviews. She just couldn’t turn them into offers. After 12 goes, the pattern wasn’t bad luck, crappy timing or 12 freakishly perfect competitors. Her interview performance was costing her the job. Now, here’s where things got interesting. “Did you ask for feedback?” “Yes.” Wicked. Our first useful piece of data. The feedback was consistent: her written applications were fine, but her interview answers didn’t show the same level of clarity or complexity. Which sounds terribly official while telling you almost nothing about what to do differently next time. She couldn’t make head nor tail of it. I could. So I explained it using an example from her own world. Imagine applying for a Deputy Principal position but answering every question solely from your experience as a classroom teacher. Your examples might be perfectly good. They’re just not showing the panel that you can operate at Deputy Principal level. That was the complexity problem. She needed examples involving greater scope, more stakeholders, harder decisions and consequences beyond her own classroom. The clarity problem was more straightforward. Her answers needed to follow a structure. Situation. Action. Outcome. She nodded. It clicked. But understanding the feedback and being able to deliver a better answer while three people stare at you over a conference table are two very different things. Fortunately, she’d already applied for another role and there’s a decent chance she’ll be interviewed. “Did you save the job ad and position description?” “Yes,” she said, smiling. Wicked. “Have you written down any questions from your previous interviews?” “I do it immediately after every interview.” At this point, I wanted to give her another gold star. She had the job documents. She had the questions. She had feedback from multiple panels. In other words, she had the receipts. So we’re meeting this week to prepare for an interview she hasn’t been offered yet. Because she needs time. Time to choose the right stories. Time to pull them apart, rebuild them and practise them until she can tell them clearly without sounding like she swallowed a script. Most people respond to 12 rejections by firing off another 12 applications and hoping the universe finally stops being a bastard. She did something far more useful. She collected data, then sought out help. Those 12 rejections felt like proof that nothing was working. Instead, they left behind the instructions for what she needs to fix next. ~Lisa Your Q&AHow many is too many? Hi Lisa, I’m writing a three-page response to several selection criteria. How many SAO examples should I include for each criterion? Is one enough, or do I need several? Thanks, Hi Tanya, One strong SAO example per selection criterion is enough. You’ve got 3 pages to work with, so you could squeeze a second example into one or two criteria if it proves something different. But don’t add more simply to make the document look busy. The panel isn’t sitting there with a clicker, awarding a point for every story. They want evidence that you can do the work. For each criterion, choose the example that most clearly matches the role and the problems the organisation needs you to solve. Then give the story enough room: What was happening? What did you do? What changed? One well-written example showing judgement, complexity and impact will trump multiple half-cooked ones every time. Thanks for writing in, ~Lisa Get in ContactTo ask me a question about resumes or job searching, reply to this email. If it’s a standout question, I might share my thoughts in future newsletters. Read This; It’s ImportantThis information is for general purposes and doesn’t consider your individual circumstances. It serves educational goals and isn’t formal career advice. Always seek personalised guidance tailored to your needs. |
