Value Vs. Likeability - The Paradox
Being Well Liked Isn't Good Enough
In the early part of my ministry journey, I sensed a call to plant a church in New York City.
Part of that journey was to undergo a 2 day assessment with a major denomination to test my aptitude to take on such a massive challenge.
To say it was the most stressful job interview of my life would be an understatement.
The night before the first day, a friend who had gone through a similar assessment in another city told, “Eric, don’t overthink it. They just want to see if they like you.”
Now, I don’t think my friend was totally right, but I think he partially was.
Over the course of the 2 days, there was lots of time to get to know me, hear my story, my vision, my plan, all the way down to how I would build a team, create relational inroads into the community and of course raise money.
Yet there was also lots of time baked into the agenda where it was just given to fellowship, having meals, breakout sessions and conversations.
Then it hit me, this is kind of like a church job interview… on steroids.
This is why it matters to you if you’re a job seeker looking to transition from the church to the marketplace.
In the marketplace, the people who hire want to like you, there is no doubt about it but they also want to know what value that you bring to the organization.
In its rawest form, you are an asset to the team that they are paying lots of money for on a regular basis.
Therefore, they expect a level of performance.
Now I am not saying this to scare you but maybe it should.Being well liked is not enough.
But how do you demonstrate your value in a job interview situation when you’re conditioned to just be liked, like in a church job interview.
One of my go-to methods is the STAR technique, which I share about in length on my Masterclass (Only $100 for lifetime access)In short, STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result.
So if you’re applying for a Project Manager job and the interviewer asks, “Share a time in your career where you managed a large project with multiple stakeholders”
You can answer:
Situation: Every year, our church did a large week long program for children in the community to have fun, play games, and learn.
Task: This program required 50+ volunteers, all of whom had to be vetted, trained and placed into different functions of the event, including a variety of responsibilities based on their skill level and aptitude.
Action: As a result, I had to recruit these volunteers, run all background checks, interview them to understand their skills and place them in the right roles so they could flourish. I also ran monthly training sessions for the 4 months leading up to the event.
Result: As a result, we welcomed over 200 kids to the program that week and were able to serve our community in a massive way, helping us build our reputation in the city as a trusted faith institution that cares.
Just be this answer alone, you demonstrated to the interviewer that you are: a strong leader that is organized in recruitment and training.
You can interview and assess for skills.
You are engaged in your community and have strong values.
You know how to manage a large team and had the commitment and dedication to see projects through to completion.
You’re hired!
See what happens when you move beyond likeability and into value?
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