Let’s say I had a woman come to me for coaching who wanted a specific job. And, just for the sake of illustration, that she wanted a job working as the head of the manufacturing division of a Fortune 10 company within twenty minutes of downtown St. Louis.
First of all, that’s not what the real client wanted – this is an illustration.
Second, hypothetically, of course, when you do a search for a Fortune 10 company with a manufacturing division within twenty minutes of downtown St. Louis, you come up with only one candidate.
And let’s say, purely for illustration purposes, that this is the precise company that let the prospective client go.
So, what the woman really wanted was her old job back.
And when I asked her, “Is that what you want?” she said, “No! But there has to be another company like that! I don’t want to have to move, or change my commute, or do anything different!”
[She did really want her old job back, didn’t she?]
Her search was so targeted, and so specific, and maybe even a little “I am going to right a wrong”, that she was doomed to failure before she even started.
This is a real dichotomy – experts suggest that you make your job search specific enough that you can create a target list, but if your target list is too specific you find that you have too few prospects.
I say, the most vital part of your job search depends…on your results.
If you’re in the middle of a job search – and the new rules of work require us to function in a permanent job search mode – and you’ve got a good sense of who you are and what you can do (rather than who you were and what you did), and you can talk about it easily in person, and in your resume, and you’re connecting with your networking, and still you’re not getting interviews, then it’s time to be less specific.
You’re not getting results with your strategy? Change the strategy.
Especially when time is of the essence.
And I see organizations hiring. Right now. So, time is, indeed, of the essence.
If you have a vision of your dream job – go ahead, list out all the key requirements on a piece of paper – and you know your own skills – list those, too – then ask yourself this question:
Who needs what I have to offer, regardless of category? Who offers what I need?
Take a job that meets at least 80% of your key needs, and that utilizes 80% of what you have to offer.
Even if it’s not your dream job.
Because you never do the same things on your first day of work that you do on your last, do you?
You can grow. You will grow.
And, who knows, the opportunity you uncover may just turn into an absolute dream job over time.
Even if it’s more than twenty minutes from downtown St. Louis.
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