Neil Bearden - Harvard Business Review: In the 1930s, Hedwig von Restorff, a German psychologist, made an important, though not very counterintuitive, discovery: things that somehow stand out are remembered more easily than typical things. Suppose we read the following list to a group and then asked them to recall it:
apple, truck, necklace, tomato, glass, dog, rock, umbrella, butter, spoon, Lady Gaga, pillow, pencil, chocolate, desk, banana, bug, soup, milk, tie
One doesn’t need to be a German psychologist to see that “Lady Gaga” will be more easily remembered than, say, “butter.” In the context, “Lady Gaga” is atypical, and that’s why she’d be remembered more easily. That’s the von Restorff Effect in action.
12 comments:
This article is kind of pointing out the obvious. I mean it clearly states that its point is 'not exactly counter-intuitive'. It is important to stand out in a job interview because there could be a million people interviewing for that same job with the same person. Personally when I go to an interview I try and wear an outfit that has a little something to it, which is especially useful in theater when people are expected to be a bit 'artsier'. I used to wear a pair of pink boots to interviews and I have had people remember those same boots I wore. It was good to have something like an article of clothing or a pair of boots which is easy to control rather than try and come off a certain way to the person who is interviewing you. As the article stated, different people remember encounters differently, but pink boots and pink boots.
This seems to be common sense. You obviously don't want to be like anyone else in a job interview and you really do want to stand out and be noticed. However, I like how this article says that more eloquently and puts science behind it. I really enjoyed that. In theatre, I feel that this point is something we all seriously need to consider in every aspect of hiring. We tend to have more design oriented resumes which say a lot about us and we are also in a world full of weird people so we need to really be proud of our quirks and make them work for us instead of against us.
Although this is definitely common sense to some people, I don't feel that attempting to be the one to stand out is the best way to go about it. I would never go as far as to wear something extravagant or strange to be remembered. However, I would think that bringing something with you to your interview that will make them remember you would be better. I think it is naturally better to hopefully have something about you that stands out rather than altering yourself, but that is much less common. As Jason says above, embrace the quirks.
Hrm, I think that it's important just to be yourself. In a job, I think the main thing is finding the right community and environment where you and your co-workers will thrive. People are hired largely on their personalities, and you shouldn't try to hide it or you will most likely not be happy. I don't think people should 'try' to stand out. That's just forced and will probably cause some really strange interviews. Just like when applying for college -- people are looking for a well rounded person with something special that they do in particular. What's crazy is how people have started doing all the clubs, all the classes, all the sports in an attempt to look attractive as an applicant. Doesn't it make more sense to just follow your natural passions and get admitted or get a job because of the thing you are passionate about? Sometimes I think we try too hard to look great at everything…when usually that's just not possible. There's so much pressure and so many people, it's hard not to do this or try to do this. But sometimes it's better just to relax, do what you love, and find the place you belong because of it. This is probably just my idealism and not always possible, but I can't help but try to be positive!
While this may be common sense to artists or other people of that nature, I don't think this is common sense for maybe an engineer or a physicist. This article definitely can seem redundant and obvious but also maybe it can help us to remember to be rememberable in interviews whether by clothing or personality.
Everyone is saying how this should be common sense, and it kind of is, but how many people are actually following through with it?! When you go in for a job interview, yes you want to be different, but you're going for a job and not to make friends. Sure, be yourself, but when yourself is very out there, it's not always a great thing. And what makes your differences more memorable than everyone else's? Who knows anymore! You don't know who you will encounter and I think you should act professional and still keep a touch of yourself!
Being the "Weird one" Is the kind of thing that will get you remembered. Obviously. I agree with Simone and Jason completely . But I also think that a lot of people (who aren't theater students) would think that standing out in someway might jeopardize their chances at the job. I have always thought that your personality and overall presence will always speak more than just you're resume alone. People will want to work with someone whose easy or fun to work with over the best resume.
I think this article points out something that we in the theater profession understand. If you want to be hired, you have to be interesting, okay, I get that. But we take it a step forward and look for people that are interesting and are fun to be around. We do spend lots of time working with these people, which often includes late nights and tense collaborations. Therefore, we look to hire people who we can gel with, people who are going to make the process easier and more enjoyable. This article definitely puts that phenomenon into words much more eloquent than this blog comment.
I agree with Sophie that the most important part of interview is to be genuine to who you are. If you're kind of weird, great, use that (but maybe don't go too overboard). However, like Sophie said, if you follow your passions and don't just do what everyone else does and follow the path that every expects, that can give you a huge leg up, because you're able to talk about how following your passions makes you different than the other applicants. I think instead of using the word "weird" in this article, a better word would have been "passionate". Be the passionate candidate; if you're passionate about jazz and use a ton of weird jazz references, great. If you're passionate about Jay-Z and something he said, use it. But don't go out of your way to be the "weird" one just to be memorable, because that will come off as just plain weird and forced, and memorable in a bad way.
I think that this article is really great in that it's all about being yourself and in not holding yourself back because you think that parts of you are strange. It's definitely the unique and the out of the ordinary that interviewers are going to be looking for. Everyone in the resume pile has mostly the same credits, people need defining characteristics in order to not be lost in the pile. Something that Joe Pino told us the other day was that there's a lighting designer who's main criteria for hiring people are the weird things. His policy is that people can be taught lighting design, what he wants is a person interesting enough that he can go to a bar with him after work and talk about more than just lighting. Standing out from the pile is super important in getting a job.
Always make an impression. This is a tricky place to be in because first impressions are very hard to correct later on. This article does a good job of illuminating that and teaches successfully how to take advantage of the fact that the person interviewing you knows very little about you, so it's important that we only show them what we want them to see.
Everybody is saying that this is common sense, however a lot of that is probably because it is becoming more and more well known to the point where we assume it has always been that way. Still though, I can't even recall the number of people I saw in high school who were raised to pad their resume's in the exact same way so that nobody actually stood apart. I got my first real job partially due to having Juggling listed as a skill on my resume. Quirkiness is cool.
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