To my knowledge, there is no such thing as a scientifically confirmed “80/2020/80 Principle” in the science and art form that we refer to as “the job search”, but now I guess there is an anecdotal version because I just made it up this year.
So, what is the 80/2020/80 Principle? Well, let me first ask you a few questions.Who would you rather work with, someone who shares at least some of the same workplace values as you or someone whose values are in constant conflict with yours?Who would you rather work with, someone who has fervor for the mission of your organization or someone who is just there to collect a paycheck?Who would you rather work with, someone who subscribes to the vision of your department or company, or someone who is going to spend more time on social media than doing their work?If you were the hiring manager – and some of you are – would you rather hire someone who brings peace and harmony to the organization or someone who brings drama and discord?These are not particularly hard questions, are they?
I’ve kept you in suspense long enough.My 80/2020/80 Principle means simply this:
The 80/20 part:During the resume review stage of a search for a good candidate, 80% of the effort is spent determining if the individual is a good technical fit for the organization and when possible, 20% of the time is spent assessing whether the individual might be a good cultural fit, based upon what they write or from whence they came.
The 20/80 part:During the actual interview(s) phase, while you might be thrown technical questions, in reality 20% of the effort is simply confirming your technical expertise and the other 80% of the effort is applied to determining. . .well. . .whether or not we’d actually like working with you!Let’s face it friends, if I am going to spend 8 to 12 hours a day with someone, I am not going to hire a knucklehead no matter what their GPA is or what Ivy League or tier 1 they attended.Another important thing to keep in mind is that most people are not even invited for interviews unless they are deemed to be knowledge/subject/experience qualified for the job. Right? So there's got to be more to the interview.
Arguably those in highly technical areas – you rocket scientists out there – might categorically disagree with the 80/2020/80 Principle or even dispute the existence of said principle, but just a minute.Sure you have a high level of scrutiny.I am sure SpaceX does not want the average Joe or Jane designing the solid stage of their next generation of rocket.I am quite certain that large governmental contracting engineering firms mostly do not want the nearly failed engineering student to design the next highway bridge project but some of that also goes back to culture and not necessarily just technical fit.I think back to my tour of a Google facility a few years back.Many applicants might have the GPA to work at Google (I was told at the time that this is 3.75 or higher) but very few have the cultural tendencies to be successful there. So, I suspect that even at Google, when you are being inundated with technical questions, they are actually determining if you are a good fit for their team – and projects are highly team-oriented at Google.
Why am I sharing this information?I am sharing it for two reasons actually.First of all, very seldom do I read resumes or cover letters that express character, values or fervor for the mission, or vision of the company to which the individual is applying, but they should, in a succinct and very deliberate way.These values can be interwoven into paragraph 2 or 3 of the standard 4-paragraph contemporary cover letter and through the expression of work values in resume bullet points.The second reason is interview preparation.From the thousands of interviews that I have been a part of in my office, at the colleges where I have worked and over 20 years of corporate work, I can say with confidence, very few (probably less than 15% of interviewees) do even an average job of answering the question “Why should we hire you?”Remember what this question means: “Why should we hire you, exclusively, as opposed to the other 10 that we already interviewed?What makes you so unique, so different that we should forego all of the others and hire you?”Most people either summarize all of the things they have already said (which is insulting, as it insinuates that the interviewer was not listening the first time) or they fire a barrage of stale, oft repeated soft skills and "duh" facts: I am a people person and I have a college degree and I am detail-oriented, and I am organized, and I have time management, and I am enthusiastic, and . . .blah, blah, blah. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. As if the other 10 did not already say all of those same things.
Advice? Well, you heard some of it already.Include a statement in your cover letter that talks about why you would be a good fit for the organization and express it eloquently, not in 7th grade language “You guys are good and help people, and I want to help people too” (good Lord, no).If a cover letter is not requested, then cleverly – with the assistance of a career professional, (please don’t try this at home) - recraft your resume bullet points to very subtly express your values, your fit with the company’s vision and the skills and outcomes that meet the company’s mission.And for goodness sake, please be likeable during your interview.I can think of so many interviewees during my corporate career where I thought “Well if I need to hire an antagonist or someone to play W.C. Fields then you will be the first person that I call but until then, don’t call us, we’ll call you.
I suppose I am also saying something else.If you are not a good fit for the organization’s mission, vision and values, then why are you applying in the first place?And if you have not taken time to consider whether you are a good fit, shame on you, because 20% of your employment doc review time will be spent making that determination and probably 80% of your interview time will be as well, if you make it that far. I’m thinking maybe you ought to be considering that a bit; after all being a good cultural and values fit with the organization is, at the root, the difference between working in a job or working in a job that you absolutely love and can’t wait to get to each day.I know, because I’ve got a job like that.
It’s your future.Take charge!
I am grateful for your readership and for those who follow my articles in LinkedIn.
