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A few years ago, Google’s CEO Sunder Pichai’s honest answer in a job interview helped him get recruited in one of the largest technology companies in the world.
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When it comes to job interviews, we all want to make the answers that make ourselves more prominent than the rest of the candidates. That means you have to know how to answer each question, including the tricky questions that are made to confuse you.
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But what if you don’t know the answers to these tough questions?
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As expert Jeff Haden shared with CNBC, he made thousands of interviews with various candidates. Most of all, they try to pretend they know every answer. But in essence, the thinking “know all” to get points with recruiters, is not the right way.
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In other words, candidates are mistaken that they are required to answer any questions from recruiters if they want to impress.
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Google’s CEO Sunder Pichai’s Honest Answer In A Job Interview
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At the time, Pichai was asked what he thought of Gmail. In fact, on the day he was being interviewed, the service had just been launched. He replied at the time honestly that he didn’t know about it
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Most candidates will try to make some answers to quickly move on to the following sentence. But Pichai did the opposite and impressed the interviewer. Finally, he was recruited.
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The magic of saying: “I do not know”
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A “team” that is often guided by a leader, the leader knows the strengths and weaknesses of himself and his team. And things become easier, as members know to acknowledge their own weakness.
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This was explained by scientists as follows: When a group member acknowledges his weakness, it will create a psychological effect “Domino effect” with the remaining members. The rest of the people will no longer be shy, embarrassed and ignorant when they show their weaknesses. And it will create cohesion, trust among the members together.
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Coming back to the story of Sundar Pichai. Obviously, the question about Gmail was actually just a trap. Because at that time, no one knew anything about Gmail, except Google employees and leaders. And Sundar dared to acknowledge the vulnerability of their own knowledge. He simply said: “I don’t know”.
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In an indirect way, he revealed his humble virtuous nature.
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Laszlo Bock, Google’s former deputy chief executive officer, called it one of the top qualities he sought in a candidate. In an interview with the New York Times, he emphasized: “Successful, intelligent people rarely fail and so they don’t know how to learn from that failure. Instead, they have a fundamental fault that if something good happens, it is because they are genius. If it does not happen, they will get a fool to blame or complain that they did not get the necessary resources or due to the markets sudden fluctuations.
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Often when telling an interviewer that you do not know the answer to something will reduce your impression in their eyes, but it is better than to give something that can be completely wrong.
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Research has shown that people who have “intellectual humility ” or as they say, willingness to admit what you do not know-are people with better spiritual learning. Laszlo Bock called this one of the top qualities he sought in a candidate.
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The next time you face a difficult interview question, stay calm and take a moment to think before answering. Pichai thinking very carefully about the interview question. What can you say about something you’ve never seen? Gmail, at the time, was a new product launched, only for the invitee and so he concluded that he could not give the answer.
Pichai says, instead of just answering briefly with ‘I don’t know’, it’s better to explain why you don’t know. By doing so, you show a desire to find out which aspect the employer wants most.
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He recounted, when he answered not knowing, showing a desire to learn. Until his interviewer decided to teach him about Gmail.
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After confirming what he did not know, Pichai had redirected the conversation to affirm what he had known. A glimpse of Gmail has given him a better understanding of this product. This allowed him to represent his candidness and wisdom and that was also the cause of his popularity at Google in the future.
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It is worth saying that giving an honest answer does not cause you to score virtue. The value of honest wisdom is that it gives you the opportunity to present what you know.
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Recruiters and Headhunt always want honest candidates, which helps them determine if you’re in line with the job in applying to check the time and cost of recruitment. Remember not to exaggerate your experience and professional knowledge. With the experience and skills presented in a job resume, be prepared to be able to answer questions about them when the employer asks. Being confident in your own skills and talents is not a bad thing, but make sure that you are always honest and humble.
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Good luck! Hopefully you will succeed in your next job interview.
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