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Stop Doing This One Thing In Interviews, It's Killing Your Chances
Kyle Thomas
January 20, 2024
JOB SEARCH STRATEGY
From Perfect Candidate to Rejection.
The new year is in full swing, and startup interviews are ramping up quickly.
While prepping Early Accelerator members for their interviews, I kept hearing people make this same interview mistake over and over, so I had to write about it.
It’s a mistake that will kill your credibility and take you from the perfect candidate to receiving a rejection email.
What is the mistake?
Keep reading so you don’t make it.
“I JUST…”
The Deadly Qualifier.
Have you ever caught yourself downplaying your achievements with phrases like, “I just…” or “I only…”?
It’s time to realize how these small words can have a significant impact on your interview success.
Qualifiers are those little words or phrases that we think soften our statements but actually weaken our message.
In an interview, they can be the difference between appearing confident or unsure.
When you’re aiming to scale new heights in your career and make that jump from Associate to Manager, Manager to Senior Manager, Senior Manager to Director, Director to VP or VP to the C-Suite, conveying confidence and competence is key.
Let me share an example.
CASE STUDY
“I Wasn’t Really The Product Manager.”
A member of the Early Accelerator is interviewing to make a jump from Associate Product Manager to Product Manager, let's call her Jane.
We stepped into the mock interview, and I asked her, “How do you approach developing product requirements and roadmaps? Can you provide an example from your past roles?”
She kicked off her answer by saying, “Well, I wasn’t officially the Product Manager, but…”
Instantly, she’s shifted the focus from her capabilities to her title.
But here’s the thing.
Jane has all the knowledge.
She has developed product requirements.
She has developed product roadmaps.
She has implemented and executed the product roadmap.
In this case, Jane managed the entire product roadmap when her manager left the company.
But those facts get lost due to her qualifiers.
PERCEPTION
Perception Is Reality.
When you use qualifiers, you’re not just being modest.
You’re potentially changing the interviewer’s perception of you.
They might hear uncertainty, lack of direct experience, or even reluctance to take ownership of your achievements.
In the competitive start-up world, this can be a deal-breaker.
The qualifiers aren’t necessary.
Speak about your experience.
Share the knowledge that you have about the subject of the question.
But don’t share unnecessary details that will disqualify you from the process.
If I’m talking to a company looking to launch new markets that asks me, “Tell me about your experience launching new markets. Can you provide an example from your past roles?”
I wouldn’t start that answer by saying, “Well, I was on a team of 3, and we were tasked with launching the markets of Connecticut and New Jersey.”
Instead, I’d say, “Sure. While at Uber, I launched the rides markets of Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York State and the JUMP e-bikes market of New York City.”
By adding qualifiers, I’m removing all the credibility and ownership I had in the launch and operations.
What matters is my ability to confidently convey I know how to do the task at hand and can clearly break down how I have done it in the past.
SOMETIMES IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOU SAY: After my last startup, I spoke with a founder who had reached out to chat. He was looking for someone to lead operations in the US who had experience launching markets that involved 1099 workers in tech-enabled service businesses and disrupting a legacy player. You could not describe my experience launching markets at Uber and Avo any better.
As I described my experience launching markets, particularly the market of New York State, he asked, “But were you the one in charge?"
“Yes, I was managing the launch roadmap and all the cross-functional stakeholders,” I replied.
“But were you the one in charge?” He responded.
“Are you asking if there was a General Manager or someone who oversaw the region?” I asked.
“Yes, I guess that’s what I’m asking.” He said.
“No, I wasn’t the General Manager. There was only 1 General Manager for the entire North East US.” I shared.
But after I shared that information, the interview was over. It was clear that he didn’t care about the direct experience I had doing exactly what he needed. He was looking for someone with the title and perceived responsibility he was looking for. Sometimes the hiring manager has the exact persona and background of the individual they want to hire in their mind and no matter how you frame your experience, you won’t be able to break through. And that’s ok.
TAKE ACTION
How To Avoid Qualifiers.
Here are some easy ways to avoid using qualifiers.
Practice Assertive Communication: Prepare your responses to common interview questions well before the interview starts by writing out STAR method formatted examples to each of the job description bullets. I also recommend using this Chat GPT prompt. Look through your written answers for qualifiers and remove all of them. Focus on direct and assertive language. You could even type your answers into ChatGPT and ask it to help you make them more assertive and confident.
Reframe Your Experience: Focus on your achievements, responsibilities, experience, and skills. Not your job title. A Product Lead at Meta is a VP of Product at a startup. A Senior Manager at one startup might be a VP at another. Getting caught up in titles can be a major distraction. Even if your title isn’t Lead/Manager/Director you still led, managed, and directed projects. So talk about what you did with confidence. “I led…” “I managed…” “I directed…”
Build Confidence: Confidence is king in the job search and especially when interviewing. Confidence comes from knowing who you are, what you are capable of, the results you drive, who you drive them for. So review your highlight reel of badass results to remember the value you’ve brought to past role. And practice, practice, practice. The standup comedian doesn’t appear nervous on stage and appears to be able to flow with ease between jokes and audience interaction. It looks effortless because of the massive amount of practice and repetitions they have gone through. So rehearse your “about me” story every day, speak the answers to all your practice questions out loud to a blank Zoom screen, and do mock interviews with friends. The most confident person is the most desirable person in the interview process.
OPEN ROLES
Who’s Hiring?
What They Do: Creators of quantum computing applications for various industries, offering an open-access software stack and development platform that allows researchers to solve complex problems in fields like chemistry, finance, and material science.
Number of Employees: 402
Total Raised To Date: $325M
Last Known Valuation: $5.3B 🦄
Last Raise Date: January 16, 2024
Recent Raise: $300M
Series: C (but officially undisclosed)
Pitchbook Success Probability: 95% Success
Open Roles: Careers Page
Departments Hiring Right Now:
Marketing
Support
Cyber & Quantum Technology
Quantum Chemistry
Quantum Computing Hardware
Quantum NLP & Quantum AI
Quantum Software & Algorithms
Exciting Non-Technical Roles:
Site Operations Manager - Building out and managing the company’s Tokyo plant to run their quantum computer.
Marketing & Communications Manager - Work closely w/ Japan CEO to lead marketing efforts across Japan & APAC.
VP of Marketing - Design and deliver the overall marketing strategy for Quantinuum.
What They Do: A financial system platform catering to various sectors like healthcare and retail, providing a digital wallet with on-demand pay solutions that allow employees to easily transfer their earnings to bank accounts, debit, or prepaid cards, and use it for bill payments, savings, investments, and purchases.
Number of Employees: 744
Total Raised To Date: $1.04B
Last Known Valuation: $1.68B 🦄
Last Raise Date: January 18, 2024
Recent Raise: $175M
Series: D+ (Late Stage)
Pitchbook Success Probability: 95% Success
Open Roles: Careers Page
Departments Hiring Right Now:
Accounting
Sales
Finance
Client Success
Marketing
Operations
People Operations
Product
Exciting Non-Technical Roles:
Director, Product Marketing - Responsible for leading the portfolio and go-to-market (GTM) strategy of your business line either in Human Capital Management (HCM) and Consumer Financial Solutions (CFS).
What They Do: A telehealthcare platform designed specifically for children with autism, offering personalized, AI-driven care programs to support their development and meet their individual needs.
Number of Employees: 149
Total Raised To Date: $79.9M
Last Known Valuation: $66.4M
Last Raise Date: January 17, 2024
Recent Raise: $55M
Series: A
Pitchbook Success Probability: 87% Success
Open Roles: Careers Page
Departments Hiring Right Now:
Customer Success
Executives
General and Administrative Operations
Exciting Non-Technical Roles:
Chief Operating Officer - The operational arm of the CEO in developing and implementing the business plan, budget, and strategy to provide amazing care to autistic children.
Your experience and skills are what got you the interview.
Don’t let qualifiers be the reason you don’t get the job.
Speak confidently, own your achievements, and let your true potential lead.
I’ll see you next week for more insights and tips.
If you found this helpful, share it with a friend you think could use an interview boost.
Let’s become career champions together 🏆
Kyle
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