by
David the psychopath waited outside the office in his hidden parked car, as he had done for the past five nights. A few minutes later Alan, the managing director of Brass Oils and the man who recently asked David to interview with him, leaves the office for the night in another Calvin Klein suit.
Alan’s routine is always the same: he leaves the office at 5:00 on the dot, gets into his BMW, which he takes to the local hand car wash — he obviously loves this car — before driving to the gym for a 45-minute workout. Then he drives home to his wife and two children. His garden is immaculate, as is his house — or what David can see of the house through his binoculars…
Psychopaths are manipulative, impulsive risk-takers, charismatic and fearless. They can manipulate, easily deceive and hold no emotional baggage. They don’t care who they hurt to get to the top, as they hold no loyalty.
Not all psychopaths are murders. Many are leaders in their profession: CEOs of large organizations, lawyers, high-earning sales executives, journalists and chefs. Their distinct personality traits and their lack of conscience and empathy suit certain professions and careers.
You might even have a corporate psychopath in your midst. Does your colleague do no work but take all the credit? Can they be charming one minute — especially when they want something from you — but rude and angry the next? Do you wonder why the manager can’t see how lazy they are, how they get away with doing nothing while you do all the work, how they ever got offered a job?
Why Would Ever You Hire a Psychopath?
In most cases, the interviewer will never learn the truth; because of the negative stigma around psychopaths, the psychopath themselves won’t let on during the interview.
The reality is that the psychopath has inborn skills to read you instantly — to understand your likes, dislikes and values; to immediately know your personality traits; and to size you up. These skills gives them an advantage in a job interview situation.
The psychopath can easily hide their true nature. They will charm the interviewer, influencing and manipulating them with each answer. They will automatically know what motivates the interviewer and will use this to ensure they are hired over the other applicants.
The job interview is a two-way conversation, and the psychopath is more at home than others when it comes to communicating in potentially stressful environments. With no social inhibitions, the psychopath will persuade with both their verbal and nonverbal language.
The interviewer is helpless here. The interview process is designed to find out the applicant’s strengths, their ability to fit in with the team and what added value they can bring to the team. On a basic level, the interviewer will often go with their gut feeling. The psychopath is king in the job interview. Their natural ability to charm and persuade, to say the right thing and to change tack when needed, and their unwitting ability to come across as pure gold leaves the interviewer with only one thought: “I must hire this person!”
“David, is it? My name is Alan. Please come though.”
David smiles and walks through to the interview room.
“Did you find us okay?” Alan asks.
Smiling, David replies, “Yes, I got a taxi here today. I’m between car at the moment, but I’ll getting my new BMW soon.”
“BMW?” Alan asks, looking interested.
“Yes, they’re my favorite car,” David replies as he sits down, looking comfortable and relaxed.
Alan doesn’t know why, but he already likes this guy. Maybe it’s because they both like BMWs or that they’re both wearing Calvin Klein suits…
You Can Be a Psychopath, Too
One way to win more job interviews is to take a page out of the corporate psychopath’s book. (Click here to tweet this thought.)
By using the techniques the psychopath naturally uses, you can progress your career. These three steps will give you the upper hand at your next job interview:
1. View the Interviewer as a Tool
Psychopaths don’t see the interviewer as a person — if they did, they would fall into the trap most of us do in the job interview: seeing the interviewer as a powerful and intimidating professional.
The psychopath views the interviewer as a tool they can manipulate and lie to. The interviewer in the eyes of the psychopath is weak, a thing to be played with. Most of us hate to lie (even white lies) and hate to manipulate others. We’re comfortable with telling an employer who we are and figure “if they don’t like me, they don’t like me.” The psychopath will use all his manipulative skills, all his cunning and all his charm to ensure the interviewer falls in love with him.
How to view the interviewer as a tool:
Smile
A warm smile will charm the interviewer, making you seem friendlier than you actually are. A smile shows confidence and self-assurance, which creates attraction.
Turn Off Your Emotions
Psychopaths have no emotions. They walk into an interview telling themselves, “I will own the interview.”When you look at the interviewer, tell yourself, “He is an object I can control.” This will help you disassociate yourself from your natural emotional pull to other humans.
Tell the Interviewer Whatever They Want to Hear
At the interview start, ask what type of person the company is looking to recruit, and listen for the criteria the interviewer values. This criteria will also be given during the interview opening, when the interviewer gives you an overview of their company. Throughout the interview, discuss how you have these criteria in abundance.
Psychopathic interviewees won’t talk honestly about their whole experience, not wanting to leave anything out — in the psychopath’s interview, they zone in on whatever the interviewer deems important. Psychopaths are also natural at reading facial expressions and body language, so you may need to learn this technique to ensure you know what answers please the interviewer.
2. Avoid Answering Direct Questions
Some job interview questions will bring out our weaknesses and our lack of experience. In other words, the answer we give to these questions will be our barrier to employment. The psychopath will avoid answering direct questions — they will even blatantly lie. We don’t recommend you go this far, but you can tweak your answers.
When answering a question, the psychopath will tell a story or give an example full of achievements that highlights their skills but has no relevance to the question. The response is communicated with charm, poetic communication and generalizations and distortions. They also engage the interviewer by using smiles, facial expressions and hand gestures. By the end of the answer, the interviewer doesn’t realize the question they asked hasn’t been answered — they will just be pleased with the examples they just heard.
How to avoid answering direct questions:
Answer a Different Question
When asked a question about an experience that you don’t posses, simply ignore it and answer a different question. For example, if the question is, “What is your experience using X computer package?” the answer might be something like this: “For me, I prefer Y computer package because of the benefits of [x, y and z].”
The psychopath may talk for an age about the Y computer package, its benefits and its potential, often referring back to the X package with “X doesn’t have this feature.” The interviewer assumes you’re an expert in this area because of the high level of knowledge you’ve expressed.
Use Generalizations
Question: “Do you have experience working within a team?”
Answer: “For me, teamwork is vitally important in every business. In a team, you have access to a mass of accumulated knowledge, with different team members being experts in their own fields. As a strong team develops, the individual members don’t like to let each other down; this in turn increase productivity and decreases loss in cost from sick days and lateness and the like. I am personally passionate about teamwork, which is why I’m looking to work for an organization like this, which values a productive team.”
This answer discusses the values of teamwork, but the psychopath hasn’t actually said he has worked with a team in any previous roles. Note: if an interviewer asks a question about a certain personality trait or skill, they deem this criteria as important.
3. Be Ruthless
Many applicants leave the job interview wishing they had said X or the interviewer asked about Y. The psychopath is ruthless. They will ensure that what they have to say is heard.
They’ll convince the interviewer of their background, even making the weakest of transferable skills out to be a solid strength. Every task they’ve undertaken, no matter how small, will (if needed) be made into a relevant, interesting and charming answer. The interviewer will become, in a few short minutes, the psychopath’s best friend. He’ll be convinced by everything the psychopath tells him, as every answer is delivered with confidence — which the interviewer naturally buys into.
How to be ruthless:
Become the Interviewer’s Best Friend
Commonality increases likability. Find your interviewer on LinkedIn, Twitter and other social network sites. Research your interview and understand what makes them tick — what they value, their interests and hobbies, and anything else to give you the upper hand. Use this knowledge as “David” above did to create rapport. If the employer likes you, they will favor your answers more.
Focus on the Future
Interviewees will often talk about past successes. The psychopath understands how humans are motivated. In addition to creating a persona as an industry expert by highlighting past successes, you also need to show the interviewer how you will be an asset to them in the future.
Remember: the psychopath will say anything to be offered the job. Explain in detail how you’ve created a unique system that doubled productivity for the past three companies you’ve worked for. Discuss your unique selling point, perhaps highlighting how you have an extensive list of clientele who will follow you no matter who you work for. Make it clear you’re an expert in your field, and give ideas of how you can transform their business.
Say whatever is needed to be seen as pure gold, a valuable asset. By talking about the future, the interviewer will visualize how you will make a real difference in the business.
Use Scarcity to Increase Want
It’s a well-known fact that we all want what we can’t have. Once the employer is charmed by your ruthlessness, you add the final phase to the game. Become unobtainable.
Naturally let it slip how a competitive company has approached you and offered you a high-paying position. Ask the interview questions about their values and look worried at their answers. This will get the interviewer fighting to keep you (remember, at this stage, they already want to hire you.)
When negotiating salary, asked for an extremely high amount — not so much that it puts the interviewer off, but enough so they think, “If he wants that much, he must be a valuable asset.” The trick here is to make the interviewer want you more without turning them off, which in truth can be a thin line to walk.
Over to You…
The corporate psychopath will change the way they are perceived, hiding who they really are so they’re liked and hired by others. The psychopath will be charming and engaging throughout the job interview, and their answers will be colored with all their achievements.
In the job interview, you can be yourself — you don’t have to be a corporate psychopath. But you do have to be confident and charming, as the interviewer needs to like you. Don’t shy away from your achievements. Be confident and talk about what you did to achieve your career successes. When asked negative questions, reframe these questions so your answers highlight your strengths. If you have a unique selling point, ensure this is explored by the interviewer and, at the very least, mention this key selling point several times throughout the job interview.
Would you stoop to the psychopath level to increase your salary? To get that all-important pay raise? To be offered a new position with double the salary? Is it right to charm, persuade and lie to the employer? Or are you sick that other, less talented people are getting offered positions you know you should be offered to you?
We can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this one! Do you know a corporate psychopath? Would you dare to become one? Tweet at us!
Image: Flickr
Related posts:
No comments:
Post a Comment