Be Honest and Have a Plan

Matt Ragland
Jul 20, 2017 · 2 min read

I remember flying to Park City in 2014, about to interview for one of my dream jobs at Backcountry. My flight was delayed and I missed my connection, sleeping in the Denver airport and then being 3 hours late to my interviews. The conversations went well, but I left the next day thinking it wouldn’t work out.

Why?

There were vital components of the job (Product Manager) that I didn’t know yet. I was honest about what I didn’t know regarding the job, and they still flew me out to talk about the job.

What did I miss?

I know how to communicate those gaps better now. How to be honest but still have a plan, and that’s where a lot of people are missing an opportunity.

We take one of two paths

The first is to BS your way through the interview and fake it ’til ya make it. There can be value in that, I’ve certainly taken that route. The second is to be honest you don’t know it, but just leave it at that. Also the wrong route.

Here’s what I would do now

Be honest, but have a plan. Instead of “I don’t know how to do that” I would continue with “Here is how I plan to develop that skill in the next 3 months”. At that point your interviewer or boss is going to say “Great, that’s what I’d recommend” or “I’d do this instead”.

This third way is how you should be approaching interviews, opportunities to grow in your current job, and LIFE. “I need to know more and here’s my plan. Any feedback?”.

This will change everything for you


Watch more of this story and how it impacted my journey towards a job at a fast growth startup…


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Backcountry article for HelpScout

Site teardown of the Backcountry experience

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Matt Ragland

Written by

Onboarding Lead at ConvertKit. Started a weekly vlog this year to teach everything I know, check it out: https://www.youtube.com/mattragland

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