Cast Your Net W-i-d-e
“Research is formalised curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.” ~ Zora Heale Hurston
It does help, of course, if you know what you’re looking for. In any situation – from a shop to a dating site, from a holiday to a car; the more specific you can be about what you do – and what you don’t – want, the easier it is to hone in on.
Let’s say you’ve decided it’s time to branch out, to find a new role or a new industry – you know it’s time.
When you know the part of the business or industry that you want to focus on, the easier it is for others to help you. If you, for example, know that you want to work for ABC Banking Company because you see how well they’re doing in the press; you know from your colleague that they’re recruiting and they have a salary scale that is attractive, then I recommend focusing on that company like a laser beam.
Read up about them in the press, cross-reference your network on LinkedIn, focus on them via recruiters and speak to friends and colleagues and let them know you want to find a way in.
When you focus like this based on what you sense or know, you start to do two things quickly. First, you become more of an expert in that company and what they stand for, who’s who in the zoo, and what their results look like. These days so much information is available on the internet that there’s no excuse to say you don’t know anyone. We are all one or two clicks away from information or introductions; if we search or ask for it.
Second, you start to notice things, which refer to that company or industry or you start to attract conversations, which involve them. In the Law of Attraction premise, what you focus on expands and, just as when you decide to buy, for example, a Black Audi TT, you start to notice them more than ever before. Your attention is tuned towards seeing them. The same happens when you focus on a company or an industry.
If you don’t have a clue which company or you don’t necessarily know which industry you want to direct your attention to, you can still hone in on some of the details which will support your research.
Researching and profiling something is what we do naturally. When we’re thinking of going to a certain location for a holiday, we cross-reference the hotels and the recommendations. We use recognised feedback sites like TripAdvisor™ to find out what others think or have experienced. It’s just the same for your career. It’s just that it’s so much more important.
Extracted from Kay White’s 2nd Book – Title: TBA.
Launch Date: Thursday 4th October 2018