I was talking to a friend who is job hunting and was reminded of one of my favorite job search stories. It's a brilliant (ha!) example of a light action, so I thought I'd share it here.
Winter 2016. I'm living in Singapore, planning a move back to the US. Headspace is still a relatively unknown brand, but I've used it and loved it. Through a friend (thank you, Mark!), I sent an email to their founders (yes, that Andy is Andy Puddicombe!).
And they wrote back!
We hopped on a call and they directly asked me what I wanted. My answer: a job where I could support their growth.
Fast forward a few months, and they crafted a role just for me.
It came six weeks after I accepted a role at IDEO Palo Alto, so I declined. But still, it was my most favorite job search story ever.
Here's what made it light:
- I was clear on what my vision was
- I flipped the script on traditional job hunting (instead of looking for a role, I looked for a company I believed in and got curious about what I could do for them)
- I began with genuine admiration and curiosity, not a hard sell
The point of Light Actions is that we only have so much energy. When we make things heavy (be it a job search or a critical corporate initiative), we are spreading our energy thin. We're spending it on things that don't matter, and have less for things that do.
My favorite question when something's stalling or you're not moving forward is a powerfully simple one: What have we made too big or too risky?
And if that leaves you scratching your head, try this: What's an assumption we're making that might be incorrect?
In the Headspace example, I could very well have assumed that the only roles available were listed on the website. Or that there's no way the founders would get back to me. Because I didn't assume either of those things, I carved a direct path to a job catered to me.
