As you might know by now, I believe the path to career satisfaction has 5 steps:
- Define your criteria (what do you want from your work life?)
- Find opportunities (what positions/organizations seem likely to offer you what you want?)
- Research & Prepare (testing and refining your hypothesis — learn as much as you can about THEM and how YOU match)
- Win the Job (package and present yourself so the decision maker understands how you are the best person to solve their problems)
- Negotiate, Decide, & Start (get the most from the offer; start with clarity & purpose)
Clients come to me seeking help with different steps. It’s not uncommon for people to believe job hunting is mostly about Step 4. I think this is a mistake.
For most people, if you’ve done Steps 1-3 wisely, Step 4 isn’t so hard. Conversely, no matter how much time and effort you put into Step 4, you’re unlikely to be successful (or happy!) if you’ve skipped Steps 1-3.
The best book I’ve found that can help you with Steps 2 and 3 is The 2 Hour Job Search. Please ignore the misleading title. The author is clear about what the book offers: no help with Step 1, no help with Step 4 or 5 (my lingo, not his). It’s not really about tech, either.
But what it does offer is wonderful. It’s about sensible, human networking, and thoughtful research and preparation to help you discover (and become) a great match for openings that will make you happy. It tracks with what I’ve been teaching for years, but does so in a methodical and systematic way that is well-packaged, cogent, and appealing. I’ll be referring to it often in my 1-on-1 coaching. The author is a career coach at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, and he has a great way of explaining the steps he recommends.
Implementing his advice will save job seekers heartbreak, anxiety, and stress. He explains networking, research, and hiring in ways that are true — and I can tell he’s encountered the same myths, time-wasters, and terrible advice that I’ve seen clients struggle with so many times.
Here’s where to find the book. If you know someone who is clear about what they’d like to do next, but struggling with the HOW of the job search, do them a favor and suggest it.
I haven’t read the author’s second book (The Job Closer) yet, but on the strength of this book, that I borrowed from the library, I’m buying a copy of both books for my personal library. I do this rarely, and it’s my highest compliment.
