8. What's Out There (interactive mode)

You're listening to career compass, aHimalayan learning audio course. Be sure to check out all of the other awesomeexclusive content in the Himalaya app or on himalaya.com. Welcome everyone.Thank you for joining us today. This isn't a rate of Salinas, your host forcareer compass. An audio course for those on a journey to find work that moreaccurately aligns with their career compass,

[00:00:34] Laura, halfway through ourcourse. If you think back to the beginning, we first focused on how to turninward, finding out who you are transforming that into succinct coherentstorylines then, or in parallel, focusing on doing research about the landscapethat you wanted to enter. This research, if you recall, we first did in stealthmode, what can you learn from websites, from job descriptions that are outthere, things that organizations or individuals might post on the internet.

[00:01:05] Then we married the work we haddone on telling our stories. With the stealth mode research to inform exactlyhow you craft your resume, your LinkedIn profile and all the other careercompass products. We want all of that done before we begin to network withothers. Before we begin to connect with others.

[00:01:27] In episode seven, we looked at afew careers stories and began to draw themes from these career stories andthink about how they might connect to professional accomplishments. Then welooked for headlines from these career stories and discussed how to integratethem into your resume, your LinkedIn profile and other career compass products.

[00:01:48] Today, we'll revisit how to bestlearn what's out there and how to talk about these themes of yours, dependingon where you want to go. We'll talk a little more about the stealth moderesearch and begin the interactive mode of your career research. We'll discussthe two way street between what's out there and how you talk to the possibledecision makers about what you have to offer.

[00:02:11] We'll also discuss the importantreframes that are necessary to succeed in this work.

[00:02:23] So you mentioned these potentialdecision makers, a key part of what you need to do is know your audience. Youdid a little bit of this in the stealth mode, looking up organizations,thinking about the culture of an organization, the mission, what do they say ina job description? How do they really. Talk about what they are doing and whatthey're trying to accomplish.

[00:02:46] What are those, what's thatinternal lingo that they are using. Once you have a sense of who you are andhow you want to contribute and what you're looking for. And once you workedsome of these authentic phrases that represent you. Into these leave behinddocuments, your resume, your LinkedIn profile, maybe a brief bio.

[00:03:09] Then it's time to start buildingconnections with others. And I want to talk a little bit about why this isimportant. First and foremost, you have to understand that there is a hiddenjob market. Depending on the industry, there's always about 50 to 80% ofexisting jobs that aren't even officially posted anywhere.

[00:03:32] Some of them are in a manager'smind waiting to be created, even if they may already have budget for them. Andsome of them are just shared internally because they're really trying to find acertain type of person. So the more that you're connected into a group ofindividuals who work in an industry or in an organization, the more easilyyou're going to have access to this hidden job market.

[00:03:58] Another reason why building thiscommunity of connections is so important is that it's going to allow you toamplify your eyes and ears out in the field, looking for opportunities that arealigned with what you want. Right now, it's just you one pair of eyes and earslooking. But if you've connected with say a dozen or two dozen people who knowwhat you're looking for, then the probability of being connected with thatright.

[00:04:26] Opportunity or learning about apotential opportunity greatly increases. And this amplification is a reallyimportant part of why you want to build and maintain this community ofconnections. Another reason is the refinement and reflection that happens withevery conversation that you have with a stranger or someone that, you know, youfurther refine your pitch introduction, or you hear yourself talk to people ina particular way.

[00:05:00] And the more you do it, thebetter you get at it. Yeah. Equally importantly, if not more. So is you alsohear these individuals reflecting back to you what you were saying to them andwhen they do that, you may realize, Oh yes. The way they phrased this, thatreally resonates with me. Let me integrate that more into my pitch, becausemaybe they reflected it back to you in a manner that is.

[00:05:30] A little more tailored to theirparticular organization or industry. And if you really hear that coming fromthem, when you're applying to that organization, you may want to consider usingthat framing for a particular skillset or strength that you bring to the table.So both the stealth mode and the interactive mode of this career research arereally important.

[00:05:56] The stealth mode allows you todo your homework, but the interactive mode allows you to get feedback directlyfrom the field. There's some very interesting research that comes out fromHarvard university by professor Dan Gilbert. And he has this concept, which hecoined simulation versus surrogacy in simulation.

[00:06:17] The individual goes out andgathers a lot of information, the way many of us like to they simulate in theirmind just how a particular role might feel for them. When it comes tosurrogacy, what the individual does is they go out and they talk to someonewho's doing the role and they try to live vicariously through that individualthat they're interviewing and say, Hmm, based on how John likes this role.

[00:06:45] I wonder how much I would likethis role. And it turns out that in predicting your likings, even someoneelse's direct recent experience seems to yield a lot more value than your ownmental hypothesis based on the simulation which you created in your mind. Sothere's a lot to be said for this kind of conversation with other people.

[00:07:08] You never know how they're goingto reflect things back to you and you gain a great deal from their own recentexperience. Recently, one of my clients was sharing with me that she was in oneof these virtual icebreakers with someone in her organization. And this wassomeone who was quite senior, more senior than her.

[00:07:30] And in this virtual icebreakerthat they were doing, they both received a card and they had to answer thequestion. What is something that you have worked fairly hard at, but thatyou're known for that others really respect you for. And she kind of froze. Shedidn't really know what to say. And she said, Oh, cookie making.

[00:07:51] And she just was very kind ofthrown it back. She'd never been asked that question in that particular way.And this. Senior member of the organization looked at her and said, Oh, that'sfunny. You're, I'm sure you're known for more than cookie making. And she said,well, I guess, and he said, yeah, everybody knows that you're amazing atmobilizing resources and getting things done.

[00:08:12] She's found herself using thisphrasing quite often in the last few months ever since she had thatconversation with that senior member. As I mentioned in the last episode, itcan be very valuable to see how others, whether they're peers or superiors orpeople that you manage, what they most value about you, because it might be setin terms that you never would have thought of conveying it.

[00:08:36] And therefore it might resonatewith other hiring managers who are looking at you with a specific

[00:08:50] building. The community ofconnections involves a bit of a two way street that you need to engage in. Soas to make sure that you AE. No, what opportunities are out there and B you'reable to talk about yourself and adapt how you talk about yourself so that youcan be both authentic and persuasive to the audience that you are trying totarget.

[00:09:13] The first part of this is sayingto yourself, okay, now that I know what I'm interested in and what skills Ibring to the table and that this is where I want to leverage them. Now that Iknow those succinct phrases and themes I want to use. I also want to make surethat I'm sharing them out with my possible future coworkers or bosses and seeif they resonate.

[00:09:36] And if I hear anything back thatmight make me, help me better convey these. For example, perhaps you've donesignificant marketing work in your past two positions. And now you're sort oftoying with the idea of working in the world of admissions within academia.Universities don't really think about marketing even though every graduate andundergraduate admissions office does it for many in the world of academia.

[00:10:03] They think of marketing assomething you do for cookies or tech products, but not for people. In many oftheir minds, people are recruited. It's the same thing, recruiting, marketing,positioning, but you use different words depending on your audience. So youwant to learn about the two way street between what's out there, what you haveto offer and how you go about talking about it in a way that resonates withwhat you're bringing to the table.

[00:10:29] And also resonates with thehigher, with what the hiring manager is looking for. So, if you know, you're astrong marketer, you now know that this is the same as an experienced recruiterand that the second might be more appealing to someone in a more academicsetting, understanding the nuance difference that this language betweenmarketer and recruiter is about understanding the culture of an organization oran industry.

[00:10:56] And when you are new in anorganization or an industry similar to a new country or a new city, you simplyneed to grow comfortable asking questions or asking for directions.

[00:11:15] This type of professionalconnecting or networking can feel very uncomfortable to many people. But thereare easy ways in which you can reframe how you build your connections, so thatit's done in a way that feels authentic to you. I mentioned earlier that it'sabout growth, comfortable with asking for directions.

[00:11:34] The first time I heard of thisreframe asking for directions was from my colleagues and friends over at theStanford life design lab, where they have worked with many undergrads graduatestudents and alumni on this very concept. This interactive mode of gatheringinformation as asking for directions, they even put together six, two to threeminute entertaining videos that I linked to in the episode notes that conveyjust how to go about reframing the many aspects of asking for directions.

[00:12:05] I really encourage you to watchall of them. It won't take you more than 30 or 40 minutes. They talk about theoutsider problem. And how hard it is to see the many jobs that are in thehidden market. They talk about the outside of problem and how it's hard to seethe many jobs in the hidden job market when you're not connected to it.

[00:12:27] They also talk about theimportance of being curious. So you can better understand the lingo and cultureof an organization. There's a great one on the five basic steps of successfulinformational interviewing, and the one theme they always underscore iscuriosity, and doing your homework, the stealth mode of career research,there's an entire little video and asking for directions.

[00:12:53] And there's another reallyinteresting one on how you're really looking for offers rather than jobs. Soplease take a look and enjoy them. They were quite entertaining and creativelydone. One of the main themes that runs through the first half of our audiocourse. And through most of these videos is the importance of letting yourselfbe naturally curious, pay attention to what you're drawn to and use that as thefuel to reframe the journey.

[00:13:28] There's a real challenge ofknowing where to start. Even if, you know, you need to start with thisinteractive mode of career research. I encourage people to start doing aholistic map, depending on what mode of creativity you prefer. Some of us liketo draw on white paper or on whiteboard. Some people like to do this in Excel,but really just think about the organizations and industries that you'reinterested in and who you might know that's already in these industries.

[00:13:57] If there's an industry where youdon't know anyone, you may know someone who. Is connected very closely, maybe apartner or a sibling or a parent to someone in those industries. This is whereLinkedIn comes in so handy. As you look people up, there's also the two hourjob search. If you're really lost, just Google two hour job search, and you'llfind some really interesting resources that have been developed for learninghow to do this in a spreadsheet manner.

[00:14:28] First and foremost, you want tostart with trusted folks. And these are your easy people who are alreadyfriends or acquaintances, and you can have these conversations, then there'sthe semi trusted. These might be people who went to your college or yourgraduate school, or maybe to your church or your gym.

[00:14:47] So you know who they are, butyou're not that connected to them. Whenever you speak to someone at the end ofyour conversation, it's absolutely normal to say. So now that you know what I'minterested in and what I'm curious about, learning more about, I'm wondering ifyou might happen to know someone whom I can connect with, who could tell memore about this.

[00:15:09] Some people might share aconnection right then and there other people might say, let me get back to youon that. But this is a great way of generating more loose ties. And one thingthat's going to be very important and has come up in the research over and overis just the power of loose ties and how valuable they are in sourcing reallyimportant opportunities in the realm of careers.

[00:15:32] Another thing for you toconsider doing is joining professional organizations or groups on platformssuch as LinkedIn or in a particular industry that you're trying to move into ormove up in. So whether it's the holistic network of mapping, the two hour jobsearch or just you and your loose ties, sourcing new leads, you begin to createa map.

[00:15:56] Of people and organize this. Andwe'll talk more about how you maintain it in the middle.

[00:16:08] No, I want to talk about theexecution and maintenance of this interactive mode. The informationalinterviewing, keep in mind that you are always being assessed. So it's good tohave a few things that you're always consistently doing in order to make surethat you're putting your best self forward.

[00:16:29] First of all, basic research,conducting some basic research on the person that you're going to be speakingto their role, the organization, the industry, all of that. Is very simple todo in stealth mode. Now don't be creepy. You know, if there's something thatyou're thinking that you might want to talk about, but this person may not wantto discuss, then don't mention it.

[00:16:55] Remember, we're reaching out tothem for a professional reason. You may have come across that they're sellingceramics on Etsy, but that's not necessarily something that you want to askthem about. It can come across a little weird when someone asks you somethinglike that. So do your basic research and try to keep it professional.

[00:17:12] You also want to come up with agood list of questions that you're genuinely interested in learning about. Youdon't want this person to feel that you're wasting their time. And there's agreat news article that has seven go-to questions that I included in theepisode notes. Some of my favorites are, what do you read to stay current inthis particular industry or the one I mentioned earlier now that you know, alittle bit more about me and what I'm curious about, can you think of one otherone or two other people that might be good for me to connect with?

[00:17:45] And number three, stayorganized. It's really important to try to maintain all of this in some methodfor most of us, it's an Excel spreadsheet, but whatever method helps you stayorganized. And if it works for you, then it works. You want to make sure you'resending a thank you. A brief email is fine.

[00:18:07] People, some people are very impressedwith handwritten notes, but those do take a lot longer. So make sure that atthe very minimum you send a brief, thank you note to every person within 24hours after you've spoken to them, thanking them for their time, stayingorganized, always keeping notes on what you learned about these individuals.

[00:18:26] If you read an interestingarticle a few days or weeks later, that goes back to something that. Youlearned about that person in the conversation, feel free to share it with them.Say, Hey, I remembered that we talked about a, B and C, and I came across thisarticle. I thought you might be interested in reading it.

[00:18:45] This allows you to keep theseconnections as warm leads. Should you ever need to reach out to them later? Andit also gives you a way of adding value back to them after they gave you somany insights on their role organization or industry.

[00:19:06] If there's the thing we haven'tcovered on here today that you think, well, I wonder how you write aninvitation to informationally interview. Someone know that there are so manytemplates for these things on the internet. If you simply Google. Informationalinterview invitation template. You'll come up with a number of differenttemplates, right on the internet.

[00:19:28] The muse is a great place that Ireally like going to for templates and where I tell my clients to go to. I hopeyou have fun with this part of the job search process. It can really allow yourcreativity and your curiosity to take you in new directions and learn newthings. So have fun with it.

[00:19:51] Thank you for listening toepisode eight of career compass, a Himalayan learning audio course. Be sure tocheck out all of the other awesome exclusive content in the Himalaya app or onhimalaya.com.