If there is something that dissatisfies you (e.g., your role at work), you cannot make it right without making it different. You need to do something different from what you’re doing now because whatever you’re currently doing is not giving you the results you want.
Remember the show Seinfeld? In one episode, George, currently unemployed and living with his parents, decides to do the opposite of whatever he’s thinking. As a result, he gets a beautiful girlfriend and his dream job with the Yankees. If you’re thinking of strategies to jumpstart your career or job search, remember George. Do the opposite. Mix it up. Make it different.
If there is something that dissatisfies you (e.g., your role at work), you cannot make it right without making it different. You need to do something different from what you’re doing now because whatever you’re currently doing is not giving you the results you want. While it’s tempting to wait for a new assignment, the only proactive thing you can do is effect the change yourself. This may mean a new project, a lateral transfer, a title change, or a new job altogether. For any of these, you have to decide what you want, know what’s available in the company and outside, and make a case to your boss or to prospective employers why you are the right person.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that whatever you’ve done to this point has been bad. Oftentimes, we hit plateaus en route to our goals. So, while your current role may have satisfied your career at the time you accepted it, depending on where your career goals are now, you may have outgrown it. Think of weight loss plateaus, where you might need to introduce a different exercise program or change your eating habits to get to the next level. Similarly, in your career, by questioning and changing the routine you break through with different results.
Taking a different tactic can seem threatening. However, by mixing it up, we ensure that we do not fall into a rut. We force ourselves out of our blind spots. Our new tactic may feel counterintuitive, but it will take you somewhere different, and that different place might be better than where you were. So, if you find yourself dissatisfied but stymied on what to do, do something unexpected. Think of what could be different somehow. Pull a “George”.
Is Your Job Search Flexible or Just Unfocused?
As a recruiter, I’ve seen lack of flexibility on the recruiting side with employers clinging to every last detail in their ideal spec while perfectly good candidates get overlooked. As a career coach, I see jobseekers prematurely dismissing possible targets waiting for that perfect job. It’s true that you want to be focused in your job search (otherwise you dilute your efforts and come across as scattered and possibly desperate).
5 Questions to Test If Your Resume Is Recruiter-Proof
After recruiting in search and in-house for over ten years, I have read thousands of resumes. Due to sheer volume of resumes received and all the other things that vie for the recruiter’s attention in the hiring process – scheduling, interviewing, networking, reference checks, client debriefs, and more – the resume review process is ruthlessly quick.
Why Conventional Wisdom On Work Flexibility Is Always Wrong
In a previous post, I wrote about why employment statistics are always wrong. In a similar way, conventional wisdom on work flexibility is always wrong. It is impossible to generalize something that is inherently case-by-individual case. Therefore, any boilerplate advice or conventional wisdom is bound to omit a key consideration, underweight or overemphasize other considerations, or take too long-term or short-term of a view.
