Winning a Job Requires More Than Merit

Winning a job at the finalist interview level has little to do with merit or experience. Endeavor realizes this flies in the face of conventional wisdom. But, take a moment and think about it.

For a professional- or executive-level job, the employer will likely receive between 300-500 applications if the position is advertised publicly on job search websites. Many of the very best qualified and most experienced applicants will be rejected by the ATS software used by the employer simply because of a formatting error with their resume, or omission on the application.

A brief phone screen interview will be the first step. But only 20-30 candidates at most will make it to this step. The majority of these candidates didn’t go through the application portal. Someone on the inside of the company that the applicant knows professionally through networking delivered the applicant’s resume. All of these candidates meet the basic qualifications.

Only five of these 20-30 will be invited for on-site interviews. At this point, every candidate is well qualified. Being the most qualified helps you get into the process. However, the decision after that is based on your ability to communicate your value during the interview and also your likability. They have no way of seeing you do the job during an interview.

Winning a job in the C-suite or the director’s level takes much more than just merit and experience. Mastering the art of interviewing will put you head and shoulders about the other finalists and give you the career advantage.

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