Like many of you, I love aphorisms and am a collector of quotes. Sometimes I stumble across a phrase, work very hard to commit it to memory, and then go on a mad dash across the internet to find it when I can only remember part of it. Has this ever happened to you?
I found myself in this position last winter as I was searching for this gem from Isaac Babel: "Your writing becomes clear and strong not when you can no longer add but when you can no longer take away." I saw this quote on a signpost outside a building on the Smith College Campus back in 2008, it took me the better part of an afternoon to get it back.
The quote that comes to mind today is a more familiar one
Work like you don't need the money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
And dance like no one's watching.
Time waits for no one.
This quote, penned by Crystal Boyd and posted on an Internet list-serv back in 1998, is hard to forget. But does such advice exist for the job search?
After recently attending the annual Career Management Alliance conference in New Orleans last month, I'd have to say yes...
My wordsmith is Robyn Greenspan, Executive Editor of ExecuNet. If you haven't heard of ExecuNet before, I highly recommend Robyn and her colleagues as an organization you should know. ExecuNet is a
networking destination--and provider of excellent competitive intelligence--for both job seekers and recruiters. I've been following their Executive Job Market Intelligence Report for years, and recommend you do, too.
While conducting research for ExecuNet, Robyn and her colleagues have asked a simple question of the senior level executives they serve: What gets you out of bed in the morning? The most common answer wasn't money. It wasn't a title. It was a challenge. Successful executives are driven by the opportunity to solve problems.
With that in mind, Robyn encourages job seekers to approach their own transitions with the mindset that the job search itself is a challenge to be solved. Here is her recipe for success:
Collect data like a market researcher.
Investigate like a private eye.
Talk to others like a journalist.
Evaluate like a business development professional.
Target like a sales professional.
Think like a marketer.
Interview like a consultant.
Operate like a profit center.
Help like a humanitarian.
Can you do it? We believe that you can. Let us know how we can help.