If you were to write a letter of advice to yourself 10 years ago what would you say? (question #34)

At Movinhand, as part of our research on Behavioral Interviewing, we interviewed Liam from Canada for a Head Chef position in the UK. We asked him to take a pen and paper and answer the above in about 5–10'. He gave what we consider to be an answer that stands out:

“You’re about to make mistakes, a lot of them. Those mistakes will bring you pain. I could tell you what those mistakes are so that you can avoid them, but I kind of like who I’ve become because of them.

More importantly, help Josh make a better decision about his marriage by pointing out things earlier! And even risking your relationship with him, if it works it will be worth it!

One more thing, don’t complain. NEVER complain. You’ve got more going for you than most so stop complaining and start thinking about how to make use of everything you’ve got. You don’t need to focus on answering the big questions in life. Keep moving forward and the answers will come, mostly in unexpected ways.

And maybe one last bit of advice, because I’m in a merciful & kind mood: Don’t eat those oysters on your trip back from Italy…”

Why we love this answer:

• Continuous improvement mindset

He doesn’t believe in a ‘magic bullet’ that will change everything but in gradual improvements leading to a better career outcome. He acknowledges that life is too complicated for us to have a preset formula that will solve our problems.

• Metacognition -the ability to monitor our own thinking and to learn

…or what we call here at Movinhand “the gift that keeps on giving”!

He demonstrates a kind of intellectual humility and higher level introspection when he acknowledges the mistakes he made but then reconsiders whether it would be better to avoid them… This ability to analyze one’s thinking can prove invaluable to one’s learning capacity and speed. The closed mind is oblivious to its surroundings, while the open mind absorbs them. Like a sponge, it soaks up observations, becoming fuller and more robust.

• Selflessness

His 2nd sentence is not about himself; it’s important to uncover whether a candidate sees the world as revolving around others or them.

• Authenticity

It’s always hard to establish and maintain trust if a team member believes someone’s words are hollow. The key priority for relationships to work is whether teams feel that their colleagues are true to and good for their word.

We asked our client just after the interview: Do you trust this guy? Do you feel he was mostly truthful in this 1hr interview? The answer was, “He’s either quite sincere or a really really good actor…”

• Humor

As Eisenhower said: “A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.”

A little humor puts others at ease and is an excellent stress buster for any team.

This is part of our “Art of Behavioural Interviewing” series. For more, check out this… or interview question #18.