A few years ago I needed to relocate and was looking for a realtor. Granted, I wasn’t a traditional “hiring manager” in a big company, with a job description and a Monster account.
I was just a dude who needed to engage with a professional.
Kind of like what your next boss is… just a person who needs to engage with a professional (YOU).
I lived in a modest neighborhood, and had the biggest floor plan in the neighborhood. I certainly don’t say this to boast (hey, I said it was modest), but if you’ve ever sold a house you know you don’t want to sell the most expensive (or biggest) house in the neighborhood, especially if you want to make money.
We loved our house and I had an idea of what I wanted to make on it. It was 16% over what any other house in our neighborhood went for. The market wasn’t very good…. but I really wanted to get what I thought the house was worth.
I made a call to a realtor who we knew, but she didn’t think we could sell it for that much. That’s fine, realtors know their stuff, and this was more than she wanted to take on. I imagine she had other clients who were demanding and in the end they felt it was her fault…. so no problem there.
I can’t remember why we didn’t call the realtor who sold us the house – I’m guessing she didn’t keep up a good relationship with us.
The next realtor I talked with came out to our house, looked around, and listened to me say how much I wanted for it. He knew it was more than I should have been asking… the commission difference wasn’t much for him, but I really wanted a certain price.
He thought about it and finally said “Okay, let’s do it!” He actually put some serious thought into it… it wasn’t just a whim.
You know what? I hired him. For one reason. Because he believed he could do it. He believed it could work. He had the right attitude – and I didn’t want to hire someone who only half-way believed.
Two lessons here – can you believe in what you are interviewing for? And, are you showing that you believe it (I’m one to put on a poker face)?
Attitude. It got him hired.
