The Law of Subjectivity 🗿⚒️ EBH

In an interview, what's really real?

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1. The Law of Strategy

2. The Law of Focus

3. The Law of Perception

4. The Law of Ownership

5. The Law of Impact

6. The Law of Desire

7. The Law of Quality

8. The Law of Fit

9. The Law of Clarity

10. The Law of Subjectivity

Looking at the hiring process as, say, an alien would, you might wonder how a company can ever hire anyone. 

For example: After interviewing with a company that it's likely you never heard of the day before you applied (statistically speaking), you get an offer. Then you quit your current role. But that “offer” isn’t a contract. It’s a… non-binding promise? An intention? Plenty of people have had their offer “rescinded” after quitting their current job. 

If it weren’t for the imperative to feed and house ourselves and our families, prospects would have rejected the whole thing long ago.

Recent news stories about fake companies hiring people, and getting a few weeks of work out of them before it becomes clear that the “employee” has been scammed only make this issue more clear.

Even in situations where everyone is trying their best to be upstanding and forthright, there’s so much biased language, spin, agendas, misdirection, and bullshit that hours of talking can go by without much being said. 

And what needs to be said in a more clear and direct fashion is why someone would choose this company. Your company. What is the value you offer candidates to become employees?

That sounds simple, but it really isn’t. There are two kinds of value that an employer offers an employee: Objective value and subjective value.

Objective values are things that, when offered, all parties have a shared understanding of what’s being offered. When the company offers a salary of $80,000, it’s not $75,000. Or $80,000 Canadian dollars. There’s no equivocation. It’s a fact. Everyone knows what $80,000 means.

Other objective values offered would include the title, the start date, the office location, and specific benefits. Some roles come with stock or specific bonus structures. Defined paid time off. These are all things that are objectively true.

Subjective values are the things that you “offer” but it's not strictly clear that what you said and what they heard are the same. When you say that you offer “world-class benefits,” what does that mean? Is dental included? Is it a 100% paid premium? What’s the co-pay? What’s the deductible? Will you pay for my gym membership? What if my gym is an MMA gym? Do you offer pet insurance? Are in vitro services offered? What about freezing eggs? What sounds like a “nice claim” is actually… nothing much at all.

Now, I don’t mean to impune companies. I’ll assume, for the sake of argument, that most companies aren’t trying to obfuscate things. They are mostly trying to “sell” them. They are taking the same approach your grocery store does to a box of crackers. Have you ever looked at some of the “throwaway” language on store-brand food? It’s hilarious. You’d think they had to split the atom to make those pretzels or that eating those nuts would lead to world peace.

But jobs aren’t something you can sell. They are too important for flourish-y language like that. Jobs demand specificity.

Especially when what you’re talking about is subjective.

Because it turns out that what candidates want is the subjective stuff in a job: innovation, a mission, support from their team, a boss who wants them to grow, recognition, etc. But since you talk about those subjective ideas like they are fun things to claim and not the real reason someone’s interested in the role, it isn’t helping you.

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-James Ellis [LinkedIn] [Website]

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