so i had an epiphany this week...

some years ago i applied for a cfo role at my place of work - i knew i was the best person for the job, and the person i would be reporting to (if successful) told me that not only did he think i was the best person for the job but that he wanted me in the job, so imagine my surprise when i am not offered the job (instead it went to someone with seemingly good technical skills and NO people leadership skills, and no understanding of the particular business we were in).....

the feedback i was subsequently provided with was that my interview technique wasn't great and that i was too waffly and fluffy...

kinda threw me as there are not many times in my life where i would have been described as fluffy....

soooo i've kinda buried that away and then the other day it hit me! in the middle of an mbti debrief session with a client i realised that my mbti preference/type (infj or infp - can't even decide on that, maybe I am fluffy after all) and in particular the 'nf' combination, means that it is not my natural tendency to talk about my achievements in concrete terms - i am an abstract person at times and i tend to relay things in conversation by way of how i remember feeling (that would be the 'nf' combination) and what i realised is that to an 'st' i am simply just a waffler - they don't get enough detail from me, they think i'm fluffy because i talk about my experiences in terms of how i felt, rather than what i did, and of course, when i look back it's no wonder i didn't get the job...

sooo then now this is also an interesting concept when writing one's cv - this is something i have ALWAYS struggled to do - until i was given some exercises to encourage me to be specific, fact based and concrete - things that frankly, bore me to tears...

soooo the ephiphany i had was that even the simplest of things (such as writing a cv) can be materially impacted by our preference - doesn't mean we can't develop good cv writing skills or become fact based, and concrete, but what i do know is that for a true 'nf' it just isn't where we want to be...

sooo it's really nice years on to be able to look back and agree with the feedback and to know, that despite me not getting the job, i probably still was the best person for it...having said that i am sooo relieved i didn't get it - coz i wouldn't be right here right now doing what i love!