The New Job Search Paradigm

The old paradigm doesn’t make all that much sense if you think about it. I’m making the next sentence bigger and putting it in bold, because it is the critical insight that you need to wrap your brain around. Here it is:

When we feel like we're working very hard, it is usually because we're doing something that we aren’t very good at. Why would anyone pay you a lot of money for something that you aren’t good at?!

The new paradigm is all about bringing value to the table. Forget (for a moment) about finding a job, earning money and paying your bills (I know it’s hard, but trust me!). Focus instead on the value that you can bring to the table. Answer the question “what can I do better than anybody else” – and trust me, everyone has something that they can do better than anybody else.

This is where the fun begins. Imagine: a homework assignment telling you to focus on the things you actually enjoy! Pay attention to the little stuff in your daily activities. When you feel like what you're doing could put you to sleep, jobs that require you to do that activity are probably not what you should be going for!

The fact that you tend to like what you’re good at is not an accident. You like it because when you are building upon your strengths, you feel good. Following the directions that your strengths lead you towards will land you a job you actually enjoy. A good rule of thumb for deciphering if you're good at something or not is to ask yourself if something is easy or difficult for you.

For example, for some people, selling is really easy, while for others, it's really hard. If it's easy for you, it probably means you're good at it. Write these observations down just like you did for your exercise in figuring out the things you enjoy doing. When you compare the two lists, chances are you'll find a lot of overlap between the lists – proving that there's a strong correlation between the two. It also strongly suggests that your dream job may lie somewhere along this overlap!

This leads to a very important equation for job-seekers: VALUE > COST. I’ll explain what this is all about in the next post.

Note: This post is extracted and adapted from the post by the same name on Tough Economy Jobs. In addition to being the creator of the Tough Economy Jobs blog and HuntingToHired, Danny is also co-founder of Firepole Marketing, the definitive marketing training program for entrepreneurs, small businesses and non-marketers.