How I Manifested My Dream Job at Microsoft

Hello! Welcome back to the 2nd edition of Stress Fit Mondays.

So it’s December 2018, and I’m interviewing for a senior manager position at Microsoft I have little to no experience in. Seven years working with partners…? Nope. Seven years in training and development…? Fake it till you make it. A strong understanding of Microsoft’s tech stack…? What in the world is a cloud?

Somehow I make it to the last round, wondering the whole time how this is actually going to work.

I pretty much fail the first two of three final round interviews. Then comes the final one with a senior leader, the hiring manager’s manager. As we wrap up, he asks me, “Dat, is there anything you need me to know before we finish this interview?”

I figure I have nothing to lose. So I look him straight in the eye, throw a Hail Mary, and say, “Eduardo, I recognize I may not have the partner or readiness experience at scale you’d expect. But if there’s one thing I want you to know, it’s this.“

“If you give me this job, I guarantee I will not only meet, but exceed every expectation you have of me, because I have the confidence to overcome any challenge or stressor you send my way.”

He said, “I believe you”. A week later, I got the call from HR with an offer.

Seven years later, I caught up with him and asked why he picked me over every other, more experienced candidate in the process. What he told me will make sense of everything I’m about to share with you.

But first, let’s talk about three things you have to do in order to build the kind of career confidence that’ll help you not only manifest, but also thrive in your dream job and propel you to the top of the corporate ladder.

Every week, do something hard on purpose. Take on the challenge nobody else is willing to touch. Go to the gym when you’d rather just numb out on the couch. Ask for critical feedback from your peers, the kind that stings.

This trains your mind to face hardship & builds confidence.

Every week, attempt something that makes you cringe. Speak up in a meeting full of senior leaders. Learn a new skill that makes you feel like an imposter. Walk into a class where you’re the least experienced person in the room.

This trains your mind to face fear and uncertainty & builds courage.

Every week, push yourself to do something that brings you discomfort. Sit in the sauna without distraction. Set boundaries at work or home without explaining yourself. Listen to a peer vent without offering a solution when you know the answer.

This trains your mind to stay grounded under pressure & builds composure.

Here’s why this works.

Every time you choose the lazy path, avoid a hard conversation, let fear hold you back, or dodge the things that make you uncomfortable, your brain loses confidence. It gets trained to expect stress in those exact moments.

Inaction leads to bad stories. Bad stories build negative evidence. Negative evidence builds fight, flight, freeze patterns.

Do the opposite, and the pattern reverses.

Action leads to good stories. Good stories build positive evidence. Positive evidence builds stress fit patterns.

When I caught up with Eduardo, what he told me reiterated the importance of doing those three things. “You can teach anyone skills, but you cannot teach attitude. You had the attitude of someone who wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of their success.”

Anyone can thrive when life is easy and relatively stress free. But if you want to manifest your dream job in tech, or any competitive career where challenges show up around every corner and survival of the fittest is the law of the land, experience alone won’t cut it.

You NEED the attitude of someone who stress fit, which I define as:

The confidence to thrive even when faced with
hardship, fear, and discomfort.

People who are stressed tend to avoid hardship, let uncertainty overwhelm them, or let discomfort trigger their fight, flight, freeze response. Which leads them to losing people’s trust faster than they can ever rebuild it, and pushing away their dream job before it can actualize.

Instead, be the one who shows up with the confidence to do what it takes to succeed. Who faces whatever hardship comes their way, takes bold action anyway, and stays calm through the discomfort.

That’s what it takes to go from stressed to stress fit. And it’s exactly the kind of career confidence that will help you manifest your dream job and stand out above the competition.

Dat

• Stress Fit Group Cohort: An 8-week program that helps high performers go from stressed to stress fit, who ready for a change backed by community accountability. Third cohort launching Aug 21-Oct 16 (limited seats). Learn more.

• Stress Coaching: 1-1 sessions to help get you unstuck, build your capacity to thrive through life’s toughest challenges, and customize a plan that fits your ambitions and lifestyle.

…to help you go manifest your dream job, relationships, and thrive in this high-pressure era of AI and crazy high competition.