“Success is a process, not an event.”
— Dan Kennedy
I like quotes…
In fact, I have a number of motivational quotes – some framed, others literally written on the wall during important “aha” moments – behind the giant computer screen where I do most of my written work.
Yes, it is an ugly, messy wall…
But I like to think of it as a reminder of the fact that life, especially a successful life is messy.
Today, however, I’m not here to talk about the messy nature of life. Today, I want to give you a key, which you can use to successfully unlock your career.
And it has to do with the quote above…
After all, that quote singlehandedly unlocked my career, and I want you to take it to unlock yours!
A Process to Unlock Your Career
You see.. most people think that success happens as an event.
For instance, they think that you get a “break” in your career and get that key job. Or that you happen to go to a special school and you get “set” for life.
Or even that you get connected with a bunch of important people, and then, suddenly, you “make” it.
In other words, most people think that success can be attributed to specific events. And they rarely talk about the underlying processes.
This is only natural…
After all, when you ask someone why they became successful, they won’t tell you that they worked really REALLY hard and spent 16 hours a day for 6 years to achieve their business goal. They tell you that they got lucky.
Or when you ask someone how they got fit, they don’t tell you that they followed a specific regiment of diet and grueling exercise, over several disciplined months. They tell you that they just stopped drinking soda and eliminated gluten from their diet.
Or when you ask someone how they found their new and exciting Chief Marketing Officer job, they don’t tell you about the attitudes and actions that enabled them. They just say that they discovered the opportunity through their network, and got lucky by being a great fit.
In other words, when talking about success, people talk about the sexy ingredients that go into their success. But they do not share the overall pattern, or the framework which enables it.
Part of this is because people want to be helpful, and they genuinely think that these are what caused their success. By telling you about these specific events or actions, they think they are motivating you and helping you.
But part of this is because they don’t even see or know the framework that led to their success. For most people, their success process is unconscious.
Yes, they are following a process, but they don’t know it or cannot articulate it. It’s just habit to them. It’s the way they have been taught. It’s what they have always done. Or it’s just the way they are.
Unfortunately, for those of us who want to model success, this is not good enough!
We need to figure out the success process people with great careers use, so that we can replicate their results…
Deciphering the Job Getting Frameworks
When I realized that I needed to learn their success model to become successful myself, I started researching how people got their jobs.
I wanted to not only find out the specific events through which top performers got their roles, but I also wanted to understand the frameworks they were using.
And I wanted to understand how the winning frameworks compared with the mainstream approach.
It took considerable research, dozens of books, and countless interviews – over the course of the better part of ten years.
But at the end of it, here’s what I found…
There were three categories of approaches to finding jobs. And I organized these into the three “funnels”, or processes, people use to find their next job.
These were:
- The most common brute-force approach
- The less common warm application or active networking approach
- The least common passive networking approach
The Brute-Force Application Approach
This is the most common job application approach.
It is the form most educational institutions teach us. It’s what many career coaches show us. It’s what most recruiting firms and headhunters play with.
And it’s also what most HR professionals get hired to facilitate.
You guessed it! It is also the least effective approach!
When applicants take this approach, they find jobs (mostly through online sources) and apply by sending in resumes and cover letters.
I liken this approach to a brute force password guessing attack, where a computer hacker tries many different passwords to stumble upon the credentials required to login to a computer system.
Similarly, applicants send countless cover letters and resumes to HR departments of various companies, hoping that one will yield a job.
And yes, sometimes, when the stars are aligned right, this approach does yield results. But, statistically speaking, the success rate turns out to be about 2%.
It also takes an enormous amounts of effort, especially for those candidates that are just starting their careers. An average candidate needs to dedicate about at least an hour every day to get an interview every other week. And a fresh out of school student can expect to sink three to five times that!
The time isn’t the only problem. Yes, this approach takes time, but what’s worse is that, it also breeds desperation…
And the more desperate the applicants get, the more frantic they become. And in that frenzy, they work harder to try to beat their odds by sending more and more applications each day.
This usually requires them spending less time with each application. So, they do less research about the companies and roles they go after. In fact, some even stop reading job descriptions and just try to spam their way to their new “opportunity”.
As you may imagine, the quality of their applications degrade. And, eventually… they get burned out.
The Warm Application Approach
The second approach is a less common and more educated approach.
Good career coaches guide individuals to this path. A few good recruiting firms and top headhunters help you play this game.
While many HR professionals don’t engage in this process, it is also worth noting that almost every manager worth their salt participates in it.
When applicants take this approach, rather than starting at openings at job boards, they start with the position they want to get.
Based on that position (think title), they pick the companies they are interested in by researching what companies offer such positions.
And then, they “infiltrate” these companies through networking, by connecting with hiring managers directly instead of going through HR.
The key to making it work is meeting the hiring managers BEFORE sending in an applications, through some social function.
And that social function cannot be a “give me a job please” talk, at least for the first meeting…
In essence, this is what people refer to when they say “networking”. And the crux of the approach relies on building relationships.
And relationships work!
Rather than sending in a cold application and crossing their fingers, applicants are able to test the waters at a company ahead of time.
More importantly, they are able to understand the needs of the employer and craft their applications accordingly…
As payoff for this up-front work, warm applicants get preferential treatment. Yes, the process has more steps, but the success rate is much higher. In fact, our research for Secrets to Six Figures suggest that the success rate is somewhere between 2 to 7 times higher!
It also takes significantly less time. But it requires some skill…
Keep in mind, we are not talking about cold calling companies or showing up in their office like some boomer who hasn’t searched for a job since the 80s might suggest.
Neither are we talking about attending some local meet-up where the only attendees are job hungry graduates and old timers on their way out of their field…
The warm application game is effective, but it requires some finesse, and some training.
The Passive Networking Approach
The third approach is the least common and the most effective approach.
I’ve never met a career coach that talked about this, but freelancers do it all the time.
I’ve also met two headhunters that knew about it. And many of the executives I’ve worked with were playing this game as well.
When applicants take this approach, they stop hunting jobs. And they focus on attracting jobs.
I like to call it the passive networking approach…
Rather than going out of your way to meet companies and hiring managers, you create systems for them to come to you.
Obviously, this is easier said than done! But it is possible and highly effective.
In fact, when you understand how to attract attention to yourself, it becomes easy.
And if you are in a field you are passionate about, it becomes almost effortless!
The key to making it work is to build a platform through which people in your profession can engage with you.
And instead of focusing on a roster of people to connect with to expand your network, you focus on creating an ecosystem of introductions.
In other words, you create value in your field, and the value you create attracts people’s introductions.
You can do anything – from operating your own blog to organizing industry gatherings – that gives the type of people you want to meet (i.e. hiring managers) a reason to find you.
But whatever you do, it must provide value in to the people engaging with it. You can’t simply purchase billboard ads and interrupt your next manager’s drive during his daily commute and think you are creating an “ecosystem of introductions”.
You have to provide value…
And this takes work.
In fact, that’s the only downside with this approach: it requires significant effort at the start.
But, once you set this up properly, and you engage with people in your profession actively, you are actually “set” for life.
Which Approach Is Right For You
First of all, avoid falling into the first approach.
Most of us are conditioned to behave this way. You need to fight it, and almost approach life as if job boards did not exist.
Again, much easier said than done, especially if you are unemployed and eager for an opportunity.
But it’s important to realize that the second and third approaches are infinitely more effective. They also help you reach the hidden job market, which keep 80% of the jobs, and all the desirable jobs…
So, which of the other two approaches should you take?
The third approach is ideal, but it is best started when you already have a job.
This means, if you need a job – right now – go with the second approach. You can learn the correct sequence of steps in about two weeks and get results from it within six weeks. But you have to learn it to effectively use it.
If you are, however, currently employed, and already entrenched in your career, start the third approach.
I recommend that you start with it today!
And I cannot warn about this enough…
In about five years time, with the pending automation of white collar jobs, you will need a powerful network to avoid severe underemployment. And the only way you can start building that real network, not just a list of acquaintances, is through building your own ecosystem of value.
Our events may be a good place to start…
And if you happen to be in a hurry, and you really want to get a great job… The kind of job that even your friends think is “too good” for you, you need this.