Problem: You don’t have a job, you hate your current job or you need a new job.
Goal: To find or/and create meaningful, profitable work.
I recognize for many young adults even those with college degrees that finding a new job may be difficult. Companies are taking their sweet time in prolonging the process. Why? As people are growing to hate their jobs more and more each day, almost every good paying job vacancy receives thousands of applications and resumes. Thus, companies take an exceptionally long time to hire someone else other than you. It is frustrating to receive rejection after rejection especially when you know you can do that prospective job well. Do not get down on yourself. You are capable of great things. I have two solutions derived from two of my favorite books: The $100 Start Up and 48 Days to Work You Love.
To starting earning a meaningful living, you can do one of two options or both (I am doing both): Create a micro-business or conduct a creative job process to access the hidden job market (roughly 87 percent of jobs are never advertised).
If you are creating a micro-business, think convergence. You are looking for your respective sweet spot. You want to combine your passion and skill with something valuable to the market. For example, if you love writing (your passion), possess ostensible writing ability (skill), you need to provide a service (ghost writing, copy writing, speech writing, writing consultancy, research or freelance writing) or product (an e-book, a book, a how-to-guide, a newsletter, a monetized blog, your own line of pens or publishable poetry). To further elaborate, let’s say you can do hair or cut hair, you need to provide a service (hair design, hair care or hair consultancy) or product (an e-book on building your clientele as a cosmologist, a book about the business side of running your own hair business, a podcast about hair, your own hair care products, uniforms for beauticians, etc.).
If you are creating a micro-business, think convergence. You are looking for your respective sweet spot. You want to combine your passion and skill with something valuable to the market. For example, if you love writing (your passion), possess ostensible writing ability (skill), you need to provide a service (ghost writing, copy writing, speech writing, writing consultancy, research or freelance writing) or product (an e-book, a book, a how-to-guide, a newsletter, a monetized blog, your own line of pens or publishable poetry). To further elaborate, let’s say you can do hair or cut hair, you need to provide a service (hair design, hair care or hair consultancy) or product (an e-book on building your clientele as a cosmologist, a book about the business side of running your own hair business, a podcast about hair, your own hair care products, uniforms for beauticians, etc.).
The second strategy besides creating your own micro-business is the creative job search process, a topic I have discussed in detail. Here is an outline of how to find that 87 percent of available jobs to greatly reduce any competition thus assuring you a highly increased shot at obtaining a position you desire and opportunity to do work you love.
- Identify your three strongest areas of competency.
- Revise your resume and cover letter(s) to reflect your three highest, strongest areas of competency that you thoroughly enjoy doing and want to continue.
- Create a list of 30-40 companies, organizations, influential people, etc. that you would like to work for or with using your three areas of competency.
- Research those companies, organizations, and influential people to gain background information and the name(s) and information of the hiring personnel.
- Contact the hiring personnel via an introduction letter and phone call to schedule an interview. Do not simply leave a voice mail message. Be persistent.
- Follow up the initial contact with a physical copy of your cover letter and resume.
- Continue to contact the hiring personnel until an interview is scheduled.
- Research and prepare for the interview.
- Kill the interview, impressing your potential partners/employers, and actively assess if this would be a good match for you.
- Send a handwritten thank you letter/card post-interview and continue to contact hiring personnel every three to four days until a decision has been rendered.
*** Key point to remember: Go after what you think you want to do. You will not be able to thoroughly know if a certain area is your sweet spot until you try it. Instead of over-thinking or over-planning, act now. You will find your niche, purpose, and calling through action. You have to try. Try to start a micro-business. Learn as you go. Try to stand out in a new field of interest that you are passion about. You will learn from your failures. Before you become truly successful, you have to fail. So fail now, so you can live a long life of success later. Thus, start writing that book today. Start writing that blog today. Start helping others today. Keep honing your strongest areas of competency now. God filled you with great gifts in an unique way. Only you can create or contribute to the world in your own special way as God designed you and only you. Empty your greatness into the world. ***
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