Know, Like, and Trust

The know, like, and trust (KLT) principle is tried and true in business, especially marketing and sales. In a nutshell, people do business with people (or companies) they know, like, and trust. So, it’s game on. Marketers and sellers try to develop KLT, and buyers try to find it. There’s nothing new here; one can imagine this has been going on in various forms for as long as humans have exchanged goods and services.

This same KLT principle applies to job seekers. Job hunting and interviewing are marketing and selling. Hiring someone is a form of purchasing (their services). I teach reentry job seekers to see it this way. Most get it (to some degree) intrinsically, but few take it further, seeing job hunting and hiring at the root level as flat-out selling and buying.

So, to get hired, the marketer/seller-job seeker must move toward KLT explicitly or implicitly. The employer-buyer must see enough KLT-ish to make the purchase. This is way too simplistic, but stick with me.

However, there’s a catch: KLT takes time to bloom fully. Employers will make many decisions as they weigh the pros and cons of buying (hiring), one of which is a candidate’s potential score on the future KLT scale. And this is where the road forks for the background-challenged job hunter. In truth, all people searching for work fall into the bucket I’m about to describe, but the stakes are higher for someone reentering.

Before a prospective employer expends any energy on best-guessing a candidate’s future KLT report card, they’ll consider the first impression made by the job seeker. This means the candidate needs to be liked immediately—and if they aren’t, it’s over. A lousy first impression shuts the process down, and there’s no forward movement or future KLT rating.

I know what you’re thinking, “Well dah, you think? Isn’t the first impression thing obvious, just plain common sense?”

You’d think. And maybe for some (those without background snags) with loads of options and lots of time, the importance of a good first impression will come as second nature. But for those reentering? When resources are low and pressure is high, when piles of emotional puzzle parts fly around, even obvious things can be overlooked.

Physical things may be easy to address: clothes, shoes, hair, and hygiene (we hope), but what about intangibles like mindset, biases, regrets, fears, and everything else not seen but felt? How often does an unprepared reentering job seeker communicate unhelpful vibes, immediately turning off the other person? Frequently, I’m being generous.

The key word here is PREPARATION. Some rules and expectations apply to the job search game, and as with all games, if you don’t know them, you’ll have to rely on luck (and the odds are?) or instinct (right, and what will that produce?).

The rules I’m referring to are more like expectations, things the hiring person (the buyer) wants or doesn’t want to see in a candidate (the seller). And here’s where a distilled version of KLT comes into play. People don’t buy from people they don’t like. Yes, there are exceptions if the price is low enough…maybe, perhaps…but that’s not applicable here because those jobs should not be considered, period. More here.

The first rule is to know the rules. The second is to prepare. The third is to plan to be likable. Build likability into your preparation and make it happen deliberately.

To have success, you must know what’s expected, and you must deliver. I have a cranium jammed with examples of how not to do it. As I write this, I can picture Mr. Got-It-Nailed heading out, tats blazing, pants sliding, and an attitude to match. And what happens? Well, nothing. No one at the warehouse was impressed, especially Patricia in the front office, who is always asked by the warehouse manager for her impression. ** Rules. **

You may not like them or hate following them—that's fine. But if you want to make a sale and get hired, it’s in your best interest to take the time and effort to understand the rules. Repeat…Your Best Interest.

So here it is, in dumb-down, overly simplistic, bonehead simple terms…which guy gets the gig, the one above or this guy?

I said it was simplistic.

But he DID get the job.

Onward!