Trust Is A Very Important And Powerful Part Of Your Career

Interviewing is a lot like dating. Job seekers and employers alike are searching for Mr. or Ms. Right.

Similar to Match.com, companies and candidates post their profiles online in hopes of making a connection.  Candidates are much more anxious to find a steady date than companies seem to be, browsing online dating sites LinkedIn, Career Builder, Indeed and others daily, looking for just the right mix of strengths, capabilities, salary and commute.  When we find a “match”, we submit our resume and wait for our “date” to ping us back.

Sometimes we wait in vain, which is so annoying.  Just when we are about to give up, we receive a message from a company that wants to meet us.  A real date!

Being experienced daters, we know that this meeting is really more of an interview to see if we get along.  A feeling of trust is part of it. If the candidate and company are unable to build a relationship based on trust, there will be no second date, and certainly no job offer.

Here are two examples of “Work Dates” to learn from, one good and one, well, that is just wrong.

Jordan Spieth

In case you don’t know, he’s only the hottest up-and-coming golfer on the planet.  This young man seems to have his head screwed on correctly.

He’s an excellent golfer. He appears to be very bright and level headed.  From what we’ve seen and read, he acts like a gentleman at all times – no need to worry about putting a mic close to his face; have not seen him mouth a curse word yet.  He’s humble and caring, especially when it comes to his sister with special needs.

Jordan has won two major tournaments and is on his way to the British Open; if he wins he will set some sort of record.  Having just come off a tournament, most players left for Scotland to get acclimated and start practicing.  Yet over a year ago Jordan had committed to play in a lower-tier tournament the weekend prior to the British Open. 

Most in the golf world have said that it would have been perfectly acceptable for Jordan to apologize to the lesser tournament, explain that he had no idea he would qualify for the British Open so early in his career, and catch a flight to Scotland.

Jordan played in the tournament, stating that he made a commitment and he intended to honor it. He won the tournament too.

#honor #trustworthy

DeAndre Jordan

DeAndre is in the NBA; played for the Los Angeles Clippers who were “this close” to winning the championship this year.  But DeAndre was not 100% happy with his job so at the end of the season he became a free-agent in order to “change jobs” – move to another team.

Enter Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks, who together with his crew wooed and wined and dined DeAndre, showing him what life would be like if he accepted a job with the Mavericks.  They offered him exactly the job he wanted.  After a lengthy party/interview, DeAndre accepted the offer to become a Maverick.

After a few days, apparently reality sank in and DeAndre realized he didn’t want to move to Dallas for whatever reason.  Except that he already told his boss (LA) he was leaving and Mr. Cuban (Dallas) he was coming.

He did some fancy talking and got his old job back. Word got out to Mark Cuban that DeAndre had cold feet.  Things got weird.   Mark got a Tweet from DeAndre that said “Hope we can still be friends”.

#interviewfail  #nottrustworthy

Trust is a very important and powerful part of your career. Job candidates and employees who misuse or abuse trust will find out quickly that once trust is lost, it may be impossible to regain.  It’s a mistake that can haunt you for the rest of your career.

Think about it when you are making career decisions.

And whatever you do, always speak to the hiring manager about your decision.  Even if it means telling them you’ve changed your mind. It’s more respectful and simply the right thing to do.