The smartest thing I did at a job interview was dumb

I’d made it through the initial interview with the HR director. It was time to meet with her and the president of the company. We sat at a large conference table and he immediately began drilling me with questions about my approach to copywriting and my philosophy of marketing, stopping to ask why I’d made certain decisions as he flipped through my portfolio. I jumped in, eagerly backing my work and talking strategy with the passion of a Pentecostal preacher.

Eventually, the HR director piped in, “What would be your biggest concern about this position?”

“Dave,” I said, without missing a beat.*

The president’s head whipped up, “Me?”

“Yes,” I said. “My goal is to stop being a workaholic. I’ve worked with a number of entrepreneurs and I know the type of environment that can create. I need a work/life balance.”

For the rest of the interview, they tried to convince me Dave wasn’t that kind of leader.

The HR director called the same day to make a job offer. Later, she said Dave was blown away by me. “It was the part where you said he was the problem. No one talks to him like that, especially in an interview.”

Moral of the Story

I’ve learned that, when interviewing, there’s a chance I might not be the most qualified person for a specific job. But it’s my personality that usually gets me hired. It’s my provocative honesty, insightful observations and slightly inappropriate humor. What I’m trying to say is, it’d be pretty dumb for me to play it “smart” in interviews. Because the risk of being myself pays off; it connects me with the people and companies I really want to work with. And that’s smart.

*Dave is not his real name.

Originally published on LinkedIn, October 18, 2018.