Too many people begin their job search at the point where they are annoyed or angry enough to take action. Job searches should begin years before that with a plan.
Let’s say you are starting your career and you want to become CIO of a large corporation. What steps do you need to take in order to achieve the top rung?
Well, you may have missed one criterion by not having an undergraduate degree from a top school … but you can rectify that with your Masters.
What else?
Not sure?
Well, reach out to CIO’s of top companies via e-mail or U.S. mail. Research them on Hoovers or Google them. Ask them about their backgrounds and what steps they took to achieve their position. Ask a million questions. Not everyone will answer, but some will.
Duplicate what they tell you.
Jeff, if it were that easy, everyone would be doing it.
That’s not true. Often, because of life circumstances (parenting, dating, job responsibilities, fear, laziness), we become distracted from our objectives and then give up.
We forget that we can get back in and adjust our time line and achieve some remarkable things.
For example, I trained for and ran the New York Marathon in 1990. I started off training with eight others and only two of us ran it. Six dropped off because, while training they got colds that threw off their original schedule. They thought, “Oh, I’m behind everyone else. I’ll never do it.”
Nonsense.
All that was necessary for them to do was to find the will to start running again. and they would have been fine.
Raise your hand if you have also given up when all that was necessary was to adjust your time line.
So ask questions of those who have already achieved what you hope to. Learn from successes and not cynics. When life circumstances interrupt your straight line to success, adjust your goals and timeline. Never surrender your dreams.
© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC 2009, 2016
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.
Follow him at The Big Game Hunter, Inc. on LinkedIn for more articles, videos and podcasts than what are offered here and jobs he is recruiting for.
Visit www.TheBigGameHunter.us. There’s a lot more advice there.
Pay what you want for my books about job search
Subscribe to TheBigGameHunterTV on YouTube for advice about job hunting and hiring. Like videos, share and comment.
Trying to hire someone? Email me at JeffAltman@TheBigGameHunter.us
Do you need more in-depth coaching? Join my Coaching program.
Want to ask me questions via phone, Skype or Facetime? Have your job search questions answered.