Last week I kicked off a series called “Why job searching is like dating”, something that’s occurred to me many times before but felt too silly to write about (no longer!)

You can check out part 1 here which was all about how it only takes one (one job to solve your job search problem that is!)

Here is the 2nd reason job searching is like dating: It always makes sense to be yourself — the best possible version of yourself.

Here’s a little background first. Deciding who to give a job offer to usually comes down to two main things – the “what” and the “how”  — what the person will do and how they will do it:

1. The what: if the person can do the job

While many managers are willing to train their employees, they’re also looking for someone who already has the skill set and past experience that will enable them to be great at the job.

So that’s the first part… can they do the work?

2. The how: the person’s approach to the work (their style, their personality)

Have you ever heard of the word “fit” in the job search? This is kind of what that means.

If I’m a recruiter and the person next to me is a recruiter, we might very well do the same things every day… but you can bet the way we do those things is very different.

That’s the how…

Both of these things are heavily evaluated in the interview process.

That’s why recruiters ask questions like “tell me about a time when…” They want to see how you handle  challenging or interesting situations.

People are constantly trying to beat the system when it comes to interviewing… and try to tell the interviewer what they want to hear. While I think it’s important to be polished and prepared for interviews, I also think it’s so important to be yourself.

Like dating, you should go into an interview (or date) being yourself, but the best possible version of yourself.

It may not be what the other person is looking for, and this is the part we need to become okay with (with dating and with job searching!) If you fake it in an interview, and pretend to be someone you’re not because you think that’s what the company is looking for, you’re not doing yourself any favors.

That just means you’re going to have to fake it every day on the job… and that takes a lot of energy away from doing your job well.

There is a company that is the right fit for everyone’s personality and approach… and it may take a little work to find that company… but it will be worth it.

Because don’t you want to be with that person that wants to be with you? Yes.

And you should want to work for the company that values what you bring to the table, how you approach your work, and who you are as a person… without faking it.