Strategies for Nailing Jobs Part 1
Lessons From The Science of Curiosity
NOTE: this is part of a series on the science of curiosity including how this strength changes over the human lifespan (click here) and benefits memory and creativity (click here).
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One of my first jobs in high school was as a cashier at the supermarket Pathmark. A fond memory is of an older gentleman who decided to pay for a gallon of milk by dipping an entire hand deep into the white socks pulled over his knees. The five dollar bill was drenched in sweat. I wanted to ask a supervisor whether I really had to accept this as an acceptable object to pick up. I could only dream of recording the entire encounter for it to go viral on social media. I did ensure that when paid, I would not receive cash that week. It was exhilarating to be my own source of money. It was terrible as fellow employees despised my cheer and speed (“slow down kid, you’re making it harder on the rest of us’).1
When my 16-year-old daughter Chloe asked to apply for her first summer job, I wanted her to land a better gig. So together, we worked on her resume, job interview skills, and mindset throughout this zero-sum employment game.
Much can be gained by exploiting the science of curiosity to nab the job of your dreams. How do you trigger and hold another person’s interest in you over 487 other candidates? Let me detail the ways.
The Curiosity Enhanced Resume
Of course you’re going to include prior job experiences but think carefully about the audience and frame details accordingly.
What distinguishes you from hundreds of applicants? It’s going to be information that activates the desire to spend more time with you in hopes of learning more. Presented with job candidates who show either a strong prior record of performance or strong potential, researchers find that regardless of the domain (applying for a job, making the cut for a sports team, graduate school entry), it is future prospects not the past that is compelling. Candidates are evaluated more positively when there is an aspirational vision of what they can do not what they did do. This bodes well for Chloe and others with no discernible job experiences.
Several years ago I read the application of a graduate school candidate who had grades and achievement test scores that failed to stand out from other applicants. What did trigger my curiosity was a final section where she listed countries visited. It was over 30 with a few surprises such as Uganda and Mongolia. I figured this person with potentially high multi-cultural exposure might offer new perspectives and creatives ideas - exactly what my Well-Being Laboratory needs. She received one of three interview slots that year.
I told my daughter stories of successful and unsuccessful graduate school applicants as a reminder that there are more valuable assets than past achievements. Together, we built a resume that devoted less space to a non-existent job history and more to psychological strengths and interests - with an emphasis on qualities that are statistically infrequent and intriguing.
What Makes Chloe Stand Out?
Here’s an illustrative strength.
Mobilizer - being exceptional at something is important to her. She has little tolerance for mediocrity in herself or team members. She possesses sufficient self-awareness of what she and others need to toil for hours on a problem or recharge energy. She finds a way to make things happen.
Here’s a cherished interest.
Conflict Resolution - she is finely attuned to slight perturbations in relationships. She is interested in how to prevent and repair social difficulties spanning rejection, unjust criticism, and verbal and physical aggression. To gain knowledge, she regularly digests articles and books related to psychology, communication, and criminal justice.
Her resume is an aspirational narrative about someone you want to welcome into the workforce. A resume that can be boiled down into a formula:
Who I Am
x
What Matters to Me
Notice the intentional selection of strengths and interests atypical for a 16-year-old. We adopted an audience-centric approach. We imagined Chloe’s features that would be socially attractive to someone searching for a co-worker. We imagined what differentiates her from hundreds of other adolescents and twenty-somethings competing against her. Anyone applying for a position of any age can apply this advice.
Permit Diverse Forms of Diversity
Not everyone has the resources to attend elite schools, travel to foreign countries, tinker with exotic hobbies (robotics, sailing, etc.) nor the social capital to land prestigious unpaid internships (for government intelligence, media corporations, professional athletic teams, etc.). With a careful audit of personality and life history, there is much that makes an individual unique at any age. Each of us has filed away valuable tidbits of knowledge and wisdom from animated conversations with living people and long dead authors. Each of us continues to overcome obstacles, often invisible to observers.
Nobody is in a better position to tell the story about what you are capable of accomplishing. Be risky. Design the resume that is as interesting as you by carefully curating what is interesting about you. And if you’re stumped, ask people what gravitates them towards you, why they like being around you, and what makes you unlike anyone else they know. Enjoy the pleasure of discovery and do not be humble in verbalizing the results - their objective is to uncover what makes you great and harness those powers.
Explore THE ART OF INSUBORDINATION
If you enjoy this newsletter, please check out my award-winning book, The Art of Insubordination: How to Dissent and Defy Effectively. This book offers a wide range of strategies related to this issue: capitalizing on your uniqueness and leveraging the benefits of diverse people (here and here). Send a copy to someone who could use a burst of creativity and courage.
And If You Missed the Last Issue…
For another fond memory of this job, read the last issue of Provoked.