To be more exact: Hiring managers don’t know what they actually need. Thus, they don’t know what to look for. They can’t detect whether a person is a bad or good fit, even when sitting before them. I’ll prove this in a minute.

Now, the stakes are very high for the employer and the job seeker. The uncertainty gap drives everyone nuts. The void is filled with myths, unfounded beliefs, and superstition.

The lack of predictability may be covered over with procedures and justifications. Or gut reactions may take over. Or both. This is why job search is so bizarre.

The good news is that I know the valid “fit factors”. Offering truly useful information about the “job-person match” works like magic.

There is lot to say when selling a high-priced intangible product (such as yourself and your future contributions). Candidates must prove

1. that they are not losers and
2. that they would be a good fit for this particular job.

Writing or saying the most objectively relevant things works like a charm. It is like saying, “Here are the answers to the questions that you would ask:

1. if you knew what you what you needed and
2. if you knew what you were looking for, and
3. if you wanted to tell who was the best match.

These answers prove that I do not resemble your other hiring
mistakes. I do resemble your hiring successes.”

To be more precise: intra-rater reliability is high; inter-rater reliability is low. Validity cannot be higher than reliability.

You may know the old 80-20 rule. Such as:

1. 80% of the sales come from 20% of the customers and
2. 80% of the profits come from 20% of the sales.
   

Imagine a town of blind people with a big art museum. These blind people are rich. And they desperately need paintings. What would you do? How would you sell to them?

All the other salespeople have strange ideas which they picked up from the blind themselves and their art brokers (also blind). A painting’s frame is very important it seems…

You can be the “two-eyed man in the land of the blind.”

Advanced selection science has posted very strong benchmarks of hiring effectiveness. But few know of these results and fewer know the methods.

Now, most job seekers are snake bit with the superstitions that surround the hiring rituals. Well, Hello? This is business. By the way, sales techniques work. But even sales and marketing pros have a hard time converting their expertise to their own job searches.

Sales and marketing principles method work especially well on the blind, desperate, and demoralized. Hiring Managers may try everything, but nothing works. One must accept the reality that “sometimes I choose someone good and sometimes, I can never tell." Hiring Managers, put on a good front, but there is nothing there except the power to choose. Remember, no predictive validity.

Staffing people are always talking about the "match" between person and job. But what traits to use? Technical competence? Yes, but that not usually why people are poor performers.

There are actually valid factors, that vary up and down with people and that vary up and down with jobs. To identify those factors and your place on them, is a message worth conveying.

For candidates to detect and assert these valid fit factors gives a calming reassurance to demoralized hiring managers. They won't know why, but you can convincingly prove that you really aren’t a turkey, and probably won’t be another hiring mistake. You can describe yourself as a match in ways that HR and job descriptions don't attempt.

The research has spoken; we have the answers, the factors. You can honestly make the compelling case that you are the ideal candidate. And prove it to the skeptical so that they believe in you too.