Gratitude can land you a job

If you’re on the job hunt and lucky enough to be landing interviews, this post is for you.

Yes, I absolutely suggest running through practice questions, thinking about what you want to say, and preparing for how to talk about thorny subjects like pay expectations or resumé gaps.

In addition to that, I have a very simple tip that can transform a job interview (or a date, or a podcast appearance, or any conversation, really).

Gratitude is a surprisingly easy thing to shift into. And it can transform the way you speak.

Each day, think of 3 things you’re grateful for. You can do this with a friend over text, say it to a partner in bed, or take a break during the day to speak your gratitude internally. But do it every day, especially when you have important conversations on the horizon.

I have had two clients recently try this and both said it made an enormous difference.

I noticed that both of them tended to skew negative while speaking. An interviewer would ask about about their experience or knowledge base, and they spoke about the limitations in these areas before actually answering the questions. “I don’t know much about this subject, but…” They spoke an entire initial clause that they could have deleted entirely. And these are two people who really do have a deep level of experience and knowledge.

Both found that making gratitude lists helped them skew positive.

One said engaging with gratitude made him have more fun in the interviews, because they had a running start of what was good about the situation.

The other client told me that every day he kept listing the community in his PhD program on his gratitude list. The very next job interview, when asked a question about leadership, instead of saying what the old version of him might have said: “I haven’t had a lot of experience leading a team directly, but…” instead he was able to sincerely say that part of his hope as a future leader in tech would be to facilitate that kind of community, even outside of a university setting. He tapped into something he truly cared about and then could authentically share that, even in the high stakes situation.

Win win win.

Video on this subject here.

Reminder that you can always book a free 20 minute coaching session with me here.

xox