Would You Hire You?
Curt Skene’s In2Win! Career Coaching Supplement.
This has to be one of the toughest soul-searching questions there is because ultimately the answer tells you how you feel about your own skills, career history and opportunities. It is the question every executive struggles with. Just remember there is a fine line between self-promotion and conceit; your duty is to find it and stay on the correct side of it! Take a good hard look in the mirror to find your strengths and start building the confidence to promote them to others.
When many executives are asked this question they often say no. While that may be true for some, more often many have just lost the confidence to comprehend their value. The bitter truth is that if you don’t know why you would hire you, then no one else will. A career search is like becoming a sales rep for a short period of time.
Know yourself “the product” well. Know your compelling points of difference. Know why your ‘customer’ will want it. Then become very comfortable talking about it.
Ask those who know you best where they think you excel and why. Understand your shortcomings by completing a comprehensive skills gap analysis and develop a plan to fill in the blanks. Be prepared to let go of the old you, as this is your chance to evolve into someone different and more spectacular. Commit to keep evolving, growing and changing until you can answer the “Hire You” question with a resounding and undeniable “YES”!
You cannot communicate conviction to an employer until you recognize and believe your own value.
Why I Wrote This Page
Because self-doubt is invisible, but its effects aren’t. An employer can’t see what you believe about yourself, but they can hear it in hedged language, apologetic framing, and hesitation, and they read all of it as reduced value, even when your actual experience is strong.
Call it the doubt tax. It shows up as “I think I could probably help with that” instead of “here’s how I’d solve that.” The substance is identical. The impression isn’t. Employers aren’t just evaluating your track record, they’re unconsciously pricing your conviction about it.
The good news is that conviction is trainable. It doesn’t require you to feel certain, only to speak like someone who has already done the internal work of deciding your own value.
Action Steps
- Record yourself answering “why should we hire you” and listen for hedging language, “I think,” “probably,” “sort of.” Cut it out deliberately.
- Write your case for yourself in writing first. It’s easier to be direct on paper than out loud, and it gives you language to reuse in the room.
- Ask someone who knows your work well where they think you undersell yourself. Blind spots on this are common and hard to see alone.
In2Win! Afterthought
Curt’s current observations and updated guidance will be added here.
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