“People destined to meet will do so, apparently by chance at precisely the right moment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Busting the Slow Summer Career Transitions Myth

If you manage your worklife like everyone else, summer is a bad time to think about career expansion. But who ever got anything or anywhere special by doing things like everyone else?

The traditional, front-door career transition mindset (e.g., looking for openings, applying for jobs) has lots of professionals poo-poo the holidays or summertime as inconsequential for one’s career.

Most figure that those times are bad for gaining the attention or championing of others because, hey, everyone’s in their slow-down time. The last thing you want to do is bother people in their time off, right?

What too few professionals realize is that you can make a much better and lasting impression when you connect with folks outside of the traditional front-door approaches and calendar periods.

Consider this: you never know who is sitting right beside you sunning on the beach in their swimsuit; or who’s in front of you in line at the theme park; or who’s doing a crossword puzzle in the seat beside you at the terminal gate.

In my book, Never Apply for a Job Again: Break the Rules, Cut the Line, Beat the Rest, I point out several rules that we want to break to free us up for connecting with others.

Two of those rules are “Don’t speak until spoken to” and “Don’t bother people.” These are just a couple of the many ingrained, subconscious rules we live by that keep us in our own private Idaho.

Am I saying that becoming a Chatty Cathy with everyone all summer long will land you in a dream job? Not necessarily. But, as I say in the book:

“Just keep in mind that when we’re out pointedly finding ways to interact with others, we discover resources, knowledge, and information that moves everyone forward. Plus, we have an opportunity to be continually amazed at the profound truth of the simple statement: ‘It’s a small world after all.'”

That goes for career AND life.

You definitely don’t want to become a walking megaphone for wanting to make a career change, just like you wouldn’t want to be overtly broadcasting that you are looking for a mate.

As I described last month, any form of neediness works in career transition the same way it does in the dating world: not good.

But connecting, interacting with and discovering the lives of those around you can bring unexpected, unforeseen and inexplicable benefits.

A question to ponder this summer: What if you’re only 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon* away from the most unimaginable career redirection in your life. . .if you only play the game and connect?

So, your AI (Aspiration Intelligence) enhanced mission, should you choose to accept it, is to play this summer for bringing home the Bacon in terms of career- and life-enhancing connections by simply tapping into the world around you.

Think differently, play better.

Radically,

Darrell

CareerGuy and Back Forty Freedom Flier

*The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game is based upon the concept of six degrees of separation. This concept states that any two people on earth can be linked together through six or less acquaintances. For the Kevin Bacon game, the challenge is to find the shortest path possible between Kevin Bacon and another actor.

“Sometimes the greatest adventure is simply a conversation.” – Amadeus Wolfe