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anyone wearing nosepin while going office ?
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It’s not you. It’s the market. I’m in the same boat. I’ve made it to final rounds 7 times now in the last 14 months. The most recent rejection was last week.
I smashed all the interviews. I got along with everyone in the team. When I sent a thank you note to the CPO thanking for his time and reiterating my interest in the role, he responded by saying he really enjoyed the conversation and believes I am a “very strong fit”.
For all intents and purposes - I believed I was their unicorn hire. They were a call center SaaS company in the Salesforce ecosystem looking to modernise their product team and practices. I was an omnichannel specialist dealing in voice and messaging technologies that not only built our company’s bi-directional salesforce integration, I also successfully modernised my own product team and practices.
Having been in this situation 6 times before, I cynically joked to myself that there was only one profile who would be a better fit - and that would be someone just as experienced as I was who was also built the call center technology at salesforce itself. Lo and behold, I received the message that their CEO made the executive decision to hire someone with “extensive Salesforce and VOIP” experience instead.
The time before that was no different - made it to final culture round check - the CRO (who had strong political influence) had a different strategic profile in mind they thought their company should hire and they swayed the decision to the other candidate instead.
I’m narrowing in on a theory on how to get past this. We need to assume all the final candidates are equally as qualified as we are to excel at the role, no matter how well suited for it we think we are. What we need to bring to the table is a compelling edge that we can sell as something that will help them get over their critical business challenges. That edge can be people management, deep industry expertise, sales performance etc. but whatever it is, it needs to align directly with a top 3 problem they perceive as critical to the success of their future. It CANNOT be product related. If we got to the final stages, we already sold them on our product experience. We need to bring something new - a finishing move that tips the scale in our favour.
This is such a well thought-out answer!
To answer your question about finding your “finishing move”—I’m still figuring that out myself, but here’s what I’m thinking and what I plan to test. I’m not sure if this is the final approach, but it feels like the right approach.
We all have skills and areas of expertise that make us unique. This could be industry knowledge, soft skills, strategic thinking—whatever it is, take the time to list everything you bring to the table.
The key is to tailor your messaging so that your unique strengths align with solving the company’s top three business challenges.
During your early interviews, try to uncover these top three challenges—not just the job responsibilities, but the bigger-picture problems the company is facing. If needed you can do them by simply asking them what they are. Once you have that insight, take some time to refine your narrative between interviews. Develop talking points that clearly position your skills as the critical solution to those problems.
Then, in the final interview, find a way to bring it all together.
For example:
“Earlier, [interviewer’s name] mentioned that the company’s top three challenges are XYZ—would you say that’s accurate? I’ve been thinking a lot about this and how it should be solved. Based on my experience, I believe it’s crucial to have someone who can ABC. Here’s why: when I faced a similar challenge with X, I learned that having ABC made all the difference in achieving [specific outcome].”
The goal here is to consciously control the final narrative. You’ve identified their biggest pain points, you know your unique value, and now it’s about positioning yourself as the key to solving those challenges.
In the past, we might have relied on hiring managers to connect the dots. But with competition sitting on a knife’s edge where a decision can topple either way, we can’t afford to leave it up to chance. Instead, we need to take ownership of the story and make sure they walk away seeing us as the solution they need.
Winning in today’s interviews is a sales game, not an interview game.
I think this "finishing move" is a great idea. Perhaps the "do you have any questions for me" stage of an early interview might be a time to start inquiring, either directly or indirectly, about the company's "top 3 business challenges."
Do you have a portfolio somewhere? Would love to see what kind of resume is landing these interviews! As far as interview parts - this guy (Andrew Lacivita) has some interesting podcasts about job hunting. This one is about sealing the deal - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-you-fail-job-interviews-and-the-best-way-to-fix-it/id1120387046?i=1000697631872
I wrote a private article that I shared with some product circles I’m in about how to build a resume and profile that lands. It’s an evidence backed A/B tested approach that has helped improve my top of funnel resume interactions from 2% last year to 10-12% this year. I’m not saying I have everything figured out, because I’m still jobless, but what I have figured out, I’ve shared. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1haLATL2nNR5JSA0iDnBdZhpcxPd8oXx7yJDN3oixA8k/edit?usp=sharing
If you are consistently making it to the final round in interviews and not getting offers, it may have to do with your approach. Likely that the other person "sold" themselves better - even if they were less qualified. There is tons of free advice online about how to overcome this.
Keep me posted! Would love to know if this works out, as I’ll be doing the same. If I figure anything out as I go, I’ll continue to add it here
I have two interviews coming up this week. Initial stages both with the hiring managers. I’ll definitely keep you posted
Coach
Open to relocation might help a bit.
Ya. I am open to relocation