1 min lesson
I was over-indexing on the technical win and skipping the business case
For each case in "I was over-indexing on the technical win and skipping the business case", name the signal and the response you would use.
Step 1 of 2
“I've leaned on inbound-heavy motions, so I'm deliberately rebuilding outbound muscle.”
Specific, true and paired with action.
“I'm a perfectionist / I care too much / I work too hard.”
Reads as evasion and fails the truth-seeking screen.
“That's a good push - I was over-indexing on the technical win and skipping the business case. Let me reframe it for the VP Eng's actual priority, which I think is onboarding time and pull the SE in on the security piece rather than wing it myself.”
Low ego is graded as hard as competence here. A candidate who can't say “I don't know, here's how I'd find out” or who waves off feedback to protect their plan reads as someone who won't take coaching during ramp. On a flat team, that's disqualifying.