Durkin’s Getting Hired at a Startup Series (5 of 10): On “People Persons”
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#5. Never say you are a “people person.”
I interview about ten people a week when our company is in hiring mode and two people a week during periods in which we are not hiring (these are people who I have in mind for future hiring periods). I’ve heard a ton of really great answers to questions I’ve asked in the past, and I’ve heard a lot of bombs. S’all good. Everyone on earth makes mistakes, and it’s totally cool. I make like 100 mistakes a day. I record them in my mistake-o-meter.
Here is one line I absolutely hate hearing. It is usually stated in a way in which the person thinks he/she is the only one on the planet who has this gift. And it typically follows a question from me such as “Why are you awesome? Why should I hire you? What makes you the best at what you do? What would you describe as your core skillset?”
Answer I HATE hearing from candidates: ”Well. I am a really good people person.”
Oh brother.
PEOPLE PERSON!??!
What the HELLLLL does that even mean?!?!
You can talk to people? You’re a really nice person? People like you? Dude. I expect every single person on earth to be a “people person.” It’s an expectation of mine. Human beings should be GOOD human beings. If you don’t get along well with people, something is seriously messed up with you, and I don’t want you working at my company. Period. I get seriously concerned when someone describes themselves as a “really good people person.” It’s a flag that that person either does not have a discernable skill set, thinks he/she is god’s gift to earth, or interviewed for the wrong position at the wrong company. Especially if you personally don’t impress me / are rude / arrogant / sloppy / whatever. Massive turnoff. Never, ever, ever say this line. I expect every person I ever hire to be phenomenally great at dealing with people. In particular, in dealing with themselves. The only person who will ever be able to tell you you are good or bad with people are other people. Let them determine for themselves whether or not you are a “good people person.”
My name is Ryan Durkin. I write so that I will never forget where I came from and what I stand for. I hope that this will motivate young people to realize their potential and become more productive than they ever imagined. That would make me truly happy.
Durkin, another great one. Got some feedback/discussion going over on Twitter about this topic. Would be great if you dove into that conversation to engage with anyone already talking about your blog post.
Related: it’d be great to hear what skills you DO think help separate a person. Maybe tough to think through because it’s so generic and/or specific, depending on how you talk about it…but always great to offer up some positive solutions when proposing a negative I find. Thanks man!
Thank you Ryan.
It’s like when someone says “I am great at talking with people”. You’re the one talking to them, so you probably know better than they do. It’s like writing an essay about how you’re great at writing.
I think non-technical people fall into this a lot though. If you don’t have much work experience coming out of business school, I can see how it’s difficult to pinpoint your definite skills. A good strategy might be to search through the profiles of people you respect and look up to on LinkedIn, and see how they specify their own skills – then work as hard as you can towards the point where you can say you qualify as [X].