Character and Culture are Inextricably Linked

The culture we live in teaches us to fear failure.  We're not rewarded when we fail albeit many great achievements are a result of failed attempts.   Steve Jobs was fired from the company he founded only to come back and reinvigorate Apple. Walt Disney's first company went bankrupt. Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Steven Spielberg, Mark Cuban, Michael Jordan all have had failures.  By learning from their failures they went on to achieve success.

When interviewed by Adam Bryant for Corner Office his column in The New York Times, Kyle Zimmer, president, C.E.O. and founder of First Book wants job candidates and employees to talk about failure. As Zimmer says,"…if you are pushing in whatever you're doing, you're going to fail way more than you succeed."

In interviews she asks: " Have you ever started anything? From the time you were little, did you invent anything? An organization? A club?"  Then she'll ask:"What was the hardest part of that? What about failure? Talk to me about failure."

What is Zimmer learning about a candidate with these questions?

I tell my clients that this line of questioning helps an interviewer understand your character.  Will you be the employee that owns outcomes or the one who finger points blaming others for failures.  Can you look at something you tried that failed and analyze what you missed, should have anticipated or could have done differently.   

Character counts. And character and culture are inextricably linked. Understanding the company culture will help you anticipate character trait questions. A company that values and rewards risk will want to learn if you are self-motivated, take initiative and how you handle failure. A service-based company such as an agency or consulting firm might want to evaluate behavior that relates to timeliness, ability to meet deadlines and keeping commitments. Other work environments might look for specific character traits that relate to work ethics, acceptance of responsibility, truthfulness, honesty, dependability.  

Character understanding questions are the most challenging. There are no right or wrong answers.  And when asked by a skilled interviewer can be very revealing.  
 

© 2012 More Than A Resumé