Aug 17, 2022
Hey everyone,
My new book, Never Search Alone, comes out September 13 and the pre-order page goes up soon.
So, today I’m going to share a story of how one member, we’ll call her Cynthia, used a draft of my forthcoming book to get a great promotion inside her company.
Cynthia’s search started when her second boss in four years retired, a new President of the division took over, and then signaled that he didn’t want Cynthia to stay on his team.
So, she asked for help.
On a call with me, she shared that she wasn’t sure what to do.
On the one hand, she thought about leaving for something new, while on the other, she liked the company and wanted to try for a job in a different division.
I suggested she could do both.
I call this the “two roads” plan and have helped many members do this – i.e., pursue internal promotions/new roles while also looking for jobs outside the company.
As she was a CG member, I gave her a draft of Never Search Alone, and suggested she begin by forming a Job Search Council with other ‘two-roaders’ (note: we help recruit and launch JSCs for CG members).
With the support of her JSC, Cynthia tackled what I call “candidate-market fit.”
As I explain in the book, if product-market fit drives business success, candidate-market fit drives career success.
In other words, when you are looking for a job (whether inside or outside your company), you are the “product.” Thus, before you begin networking and interviewing, you need to identify precisely what you want and what the market wants. This key step will help you figure out the intersection of your hopes, dreams, and market realities.
As she worked on her candidate-market fit, she made some important discoveries. For example, she started by thinking she might want to pursue a job in a Series B startup, but her years of experience in Fortune 50 companies both made her a less palatable candidate to them and she realized she was not interested in moving into smaller companies with fewer resources.
So, she decided to stick with larger companies where her skills and experience were a better fit.
After several months of looking, Cynthia found a great new Product role in a different division inside her 100,000 person company.
And *importantly* as she interviewed for the role, she did something I also emphasize in Never Search Alone: set up a Job Mission with OKRs and then used that to negotiate not just compensation, but also the budget, resources, and support she needs to succeed in the new role.
That’s what I’m talking about.
Finally, I’ll note that with the new job in hand, Cynthia is already moving to the next steps in my next next book (Never Lead Alone), which include First 90 Days Peer Coaching Calls, Positive Politics, Caring/Not Caring, etc.
That’s also what I’m talking about.
After all, you must realize by now that my multi-decade mission is simple: help you learn to ask for help *every* single step of the way.
Never search alone. Never get promoted alone. Never lead alone.
Phyl
P.S. This fall we’ll begin celebrating our 20th anniversary year – 20 years since I founded the Councils (and nearly 40 years since I started my first council in college, and 60+ years since my mom started the very first council).
