A young man recently landed a job as an entry-level recruiter for search firm Kaye/Bassman International partly because he was enthusiastic about making cold calls.
But he phoned far fewer possible clients and candidates than the Dallas concern expected. "He was let go on the third day," says Jeff Kaye, president and CEO. His performance didn't match "what he thought he was capable of doing."
Many overanxious job seekers oversell themselves nowadays. They exaggerate their accomplishments or markedly minimize their weaknesses. If you skate on this thin ice, an employer may not hire you -- or may fire you fast.
"Overselling gets you into far more trouble than the anxiety that goes with looking for the job that's the right match," says Jim Lake, senior vice president of corporate human resources at Comerica, a large Detroit bank.
You can avoid such troubles through an honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses. Only promote prowess that you can prove. Admitting a shortcoming can be a mark of integrity as long as you offset it by immediately describing an asset.
Last winter, a New York public-relations firm asked an applicant whether she could integrate teams at three different agencies for a big corporate client. She tried to oversell herself by citing a prior experience involving multiple divisions of a business. The problem: the scope wasn't comparable and "they knew it," she recalls. "I couldn't think fast enough" to offer better evidence. The firm picked a different contender.
A major financial-services company came close to hiring a middle manager for a $100,000-plus position in fall 2002. In recounting her college studies, she "sounded like she had completed her degree," a senior executive says. "She never mentioned that she was still going to school."
But when officials scrutinized her résumé, they learned she wouldn't graduate until 2004. The woman later explained she concealed her lack of a degree during interviews because the information seemed irrelevant. Yet she could have turned this shortcoming to her advantage by emphasizing her ability to work and attend school simultaneously.
A good grasp of your target's culture may further reduce your overselling risks. "Do your homework and ask a lot of questions," because "every organization is different, even in the same industry," suggests Challis Lowe, an executive vice president of Ryder System, a Miami transportation-services provider.
While employed elsewhere several years ago, Ms. Lowe hired a successful marketing executive. However, she soon discovered he had overestimated his ability to adapt to his new workplace. Veteran insiders "didn't share information readily" and rejected outsiders, she remembers. "He felt that [his] functional excellence would prevail," but he lasted only six months.
Ask a spouse, career coach, friend or former staffer of a potential employer to play devil's advocate. Urge them to challenge your arguments about why you think you're the perfect prospect.
Likely references should support your claims, too. Give them your résumé and planned explanation of professional shortcomings. Say, "Here's the answer I will give in the interview. Maybe you can back me up on that," recommends David Opton, CEO of ExecuNet, a career-networking organization in Norwalk, Conn.
Just before a satellite concern brought aboard a new vice president this past spring, an executive called a friend who previously worked for the frontrunner. The friend said his old boss had inflated his project-leadership roles and the number of his subordinates. The company chose someone else.
If you do oversell yourself into a job, how can you handle the sinking feeling that you're in over your head? Recognize your limitations, and seek help right away.
Sympathetic colleagues may be willing tutors. Demonstrate your mastery of a key skill before telling your supervisor that you're struggling with certain other duties.
Propose a specific remedy, such as outside training. Most bosses will help because they "look pretty silly if [they] hired someone who's not qualified," notes Comerica's Mr. Lake.
Experience can be a great teacher. A major online brokerage house laid off a product manager in fall 2001 -- only a year after she was hired -- because she oversold her capabilities. The 29-year-old manager found herself heading large technical teams and making high-level, formal presentations for the first time. "I didn't want to be a leader," she recollects, adding that she welcomed the layoff. "I had a hard time going into work every day,'' she says.
The Chicago resident will soon finish graduate school and has resumed job hunting. During a phone interview last month for a marketing post at a small financial-services firm, a vice president wondered whether she had ever negotiated business contracts. She started to reply affirmatively, then cut herself short.
She now recognizes the fallacy of promising employers too much. "Eventually," she says, "they will find out."
Wall Street Journal
