The Calculated Risk That Transformed My Career from Compliance to Program Management
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Complete interview transcript & analysis below
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INTERVIEWER
Looking back on your career. And and what you've done What would you say is the most important calculated risk you've taken in your career?
CANDIDATE
Good question. Mm. I think um going from compliance. Uh, which was mainly focused on different information security, different compliance framework, for example, ISO 27,000, I have some of that in my, um, resume. Going from the compliance world more into the software development life cycle, uh, and program management. Um, that was a decision that I made based on Not only personal interest and curiosity, but also um kind of like seeing where the market goes, kind of like the um more successful careers, and I'm going into the more technical, um, and bringing myself up to speed. Um, that was something that It was challenging at the time. It was a challenge that I took and, and slightly risky, uh, but I think it was, it was a great move. Um, so I kind of had to put myself, um, bring myself up to speed with some technical technologies, especially as I was starting, ramping up on new projects, um, taking some courses, SQL reporting, um, Brushing up on a little bit of coding to be able to. Read some quotes if needed. Um, and, and I, and I think it took a certain confidence, um, that I was willing to, um, challenge myself with.
Interviewer Insight
this is a good setup, but without having a structure in place for how to present answers, this one falls short by not making it clear what was at stake.
INTERVIEWER
But, so help me understand what was at stake, right? Cause you said it was, it was slightly, your words, slightly risky, right? And the question was the, the, the most important calculated risk. So help me understand what was at stake, you know, what was at risk?
CANDIDATE
My performance, um, whether I can perform at the level that, because I, I basically had 4 years, uh, 3.5 years of compliance on the, uh, mainly focused experience. And now I wanted to put myself out there to be more familiar with, um, agile development life cycle, working much more closely with engineers and product managers, um. So, I think that risk was mainly just uh My Performance and also my um kinda What do you say? Uh, Just like how I'm known in terms of Um, my, I think it's called, uh, professional label.
Interviewer Insight
this is an OK, but not great answer. What analysis was there to support this decision? What could have gone wrong? How was candidate addressing and or mitigating these risks?
INTERVIEWER
OK. And so, when you think about the steps that you took to mitigate the risk, now that you, you mentioned a couple, but I just want to focus in on that. What, what steps did you take in your mind at the time, you know, consciously to mitigate that risk?
CANDIDATE
Um, definitely, um, training. Mm, myself, uh, my education, training, and, uh, research. Um, like I mentioned, I started kind of like, um, more career market research, training resources, um, definitely like a higher, uh, spend more time. Or mapping, uh, whether it was before a meeting or, um, starting on a project. Yeah, I think that That was the main thing, yeah.
Interviewer Insight
more depth is necessary.
Expert Assessment
Interviewer assessment - would be used in a hiring meeting
A recurring theme to this point in the interview was that the candidate is lacking in structure of their answers and also not providing sufficient depth of content when specifically being prompted for it. In this case, the candidate did not demonstrate much in the way of stakes or impetus for the decision made so it's hard to know how much Bias for Action was actually on display. Is it risky to change careers or industry? Yes. But the decision to do it is governed by a myriad of factors and inputs, and the risk of that decision (for a high performer) is managed and mitigated with forethought. That was not on display here.