For those of us who were around in the Eighties, or who are avid students of history, the phrase “trust but verify” is one that has special significance. It’s a translation of a Russian proverb that was famously uttered by President Ronald Reagan as part of a nuclear treaty negotiation with the USSR, suggesting that both sides would generally assume the other had good intentions with regard to reducing nuclear arms — but that inspections would still need to be conducted to make absolutely sure neither side was engaged in any funny business.
The relevance of this to job hunters today? In recent weeks, the concept of “trust” has cropped up multiple times in discussions I’ve had with clients seeking new employment — and I thought it might be useful to share a few insights about the issue, for whatever it’s worth, in order to assist others currently going through a career transition of some kind.
On one hand, I’d encourage people to keep their guard up with regard to many career services and employment websites out there today on the web — particularly “faceless” ones where it’s hard to identify exactly where they’re located, determine how long they’ve been around, or engage directly in conversations with a real, identifiable person. Sadly, sprinkled among the ranks of many legitimate service providers are a ton of predatory scams, rackets, and unethical outfits who are all-too-aware of how desperate many professionals are to land their next role — and who will therefore offer “too good to be true” solutions at exorbitant price points, knowing a certain number of unsuspecting folks will fall for their pitches.
In one such case, I had a client pay an extensive amount of money to have a resume written by an online service that claimed each document would be written by a current hiring manager at one of the top FAANG companies, which would (allegedly) maximize one’s chances of breaking into such an organization. And yet, in hindsight, red flags were everywhere. The company specifically said all work would be conducted exclusively via e-mail with no opportunity to chat with the writer, either by phone or web conference, and went to oddly detailed lengths to explain why this wasn’t an issue — and wouldn’t impact the quality of the resulting document. On top of this, the company’s website included no actual address or phone number for the business, insisting that all communications be conducted strictly via email.
Needless to say, the resulting product was atrocious. Not only was it no better than what any basic free resume tool/template could produce, but the content was clearly not written by a native speaker and my client wasn’t even given a copy of the file in Word or another format that she could edit directly. It was strictly produced as a PDF document and any changes/customization needed, either now or in the future, had to be made by using the company’s proprietary system — a ridiculous limitation that essentially prevented my client from really using the resulting document in an effective long-term way.
So again, if you come across a career-related service that sounds too good to be true or seems to be trying a little too hard to convince you they’re legitimate, trust, but verify. Ask tough questions. Examine their guarantees. Request samples of their work. And above all, insist on speaking with the actual person who will be providing the services, not simply dealing with a “front” person seeking to close the sale — but who isn’t the individual who will actually be performing the work in question.
On the flip side? There are also cases in the job hunting process when you might not extend enough trust in a given situation. I’ve come across certain professionals, in other words, who are so skeptical about the marketplace and organizations/people they encounter that they routinely shoot themselves in the foot. For example, in one recent case, I chatted with a sales professional who landed a high-potential job offer after many months of looking, but who had been counseled by others that most employers were inherently dishonest, out to lowball him, and likely could pay a lot more money than they’d initially offered. As a result, this individual engaged in a very aggressive counteroffer strategy, spanning multiple e-mail rounds, that involved demanding multiple concessions and improvements in the offer terms, even after the company had already sweetened the pot to some degree and stated that they simply weren’t able to go any higher.
Ultimately, the employer withdrew the offer, despite promising initial discussions and the strong likelihood it would be win/win for both parties. Their parting words to the applicant were that the manner in which the negotiations were conducted led them to believe it would no longer be a good fit and that the candidate would always have “one foot out the door” and not be satisfied with the compensation package offered. Ironically, the person in question didn’t have any other opportunities in the pipeline and actually would have taken the job under the original terms offered. But again, they assumed that all employers were out to get them and had been told “not to trust” any compensation numbers offered — and as a result, they pushed too hard in the negotiation process until an unfortunate breaking point was reached.
Does this mean that one shouldn’t ever push back or negotiate for improved offer terms? No, of course not. But in doing so, when it’s clear the employer is bargaining in good faith, listening to your concerns, and explaining the reasoning for why they can (or can’t) make certain concessions, there’s no reason not to be polite and extend a bit of conditional trust their way to keep the offer from going south. Ultimately, if the role in question simply isn’t one you’re willing to take, that’s totally fine. But don’t jeapardize the deal up front by automatically assuming the other party is the boogeyman.
Again, just a few thoughts about the role “trust” plays in different facets of the job hunting process, based on a few recent experiences I’ve witnessed. If you have any similar stories of when you’ve seen trust shared too easily in the job search process — or vice versa, not extended quickly enough — I’d welcome your comments!
