Your Fear of Being Seen Is Costing You Job Opportunities

Your Fear of Being Seen Is Costing You Job Opportunities By Nick Kossovan Imagine you're an executive at a major Hollywood studio. You're meeting with two producers you've worked with before. They're pitching a screenplay set in 1870s Oregon about unrequited love. Your interest is piqued. As you skim through the script, you ask, "Any thoughts on who should lead this? Pitt? Hemsworth? Butler? Pascal?" "I can see DiCaprio playing Heathcliff," one producer replies. "His preparation for Hugh Glass in The Revenant speaks volumes about his work ethic." You nod in agreement. "Who do you see for Ellen? I'm thinking Blunt." The meeting continues, names tossed around based on reputation and fit. The requirements needed for success in Hollywood mirrors the corporate world: · High level of self-confidence · Strong work ethics · Perseverance · Thick skin · Patience ... and you need to be connected. Who you know—and who knows you—determines your success in an industry where careers are built on exposure. As I've mentioned in previous columns, right now, opportunities are all around you; the caveat is they're attached to people; hence, the relationship between visibility and opportunity, in other words, being known, leads to being sought after. Visibility = Opportunities Being the "best-kept secret" won't get you anywhere. Yet, despite all the digital tools available for self-promotion (social media, blogging, website), most job seekers remain under the radar, resulting in lengthy job searches. Similar conversations to those of my fictional Hollywood scenario echo through boardrooms daily. A recent example is Starbucks's sales slipping, which resulted in its board searching for a saviour, someone known in the food and beverage industry for turning things around. Hence, Starbucks chair Mellody Hobson reached out to Brian Niccol and, I'm sure, a few others. I've witnessed such discussions firsthand. "We need fresh blood heading up marketing. I hear Bob Cruller at Kirkland & Haywood is looking for a change." "Missed drop deadlines by our vendors are hampering our production schedule. Does anyone know someone we can parachute in to address this?" "Gerald told me last night he's retiring at the end of Q3. It so happens that the CFO at Soylent Corp, Norm Peterson, didn't survive last month's acquisition by Cyberdyne Systems. We should give Norm a call." With AI changing the job search landscape—not for the better—the most notable being the growing use of application bots, "Who do you know?" conversations are becoming more frequent. Today, many job seekers don't read job postings. Job seekers increasingly use application bots to spray their resume 24/7, believing that following the idiom "keep throwing spaghetti at the wall until something sticks" will yield results. The response from employers and recruiters to the ever-growing influx of spray-and-pray applications isn't surprising. From the conversations I've been having, many have given up advertising job openings. Instead, they're proactively contacting potential candidates. Hidden job markets aren't just alive and well; they're growing exponentially! In my case, before AI altered recruitment, my current and last two jobs weren't advertised. I was either found or, as one HR manager said, "Your name came up." Early in my career, I noticed promotions went to those who were vocal about their work and (key) visible to upper management. Typically, they're the employee being referred to when you're told you weren't chosen because "We decided to go with someone internally," which you likely heard at least once. While many of my colleagues resented those who knew how to move up the corporate ladder, I didn't. Instead, I resolved to overcome what keeps most people from putting themselves out there: fear of judgment. What transformed my career wasn't having a stellar resume, being able to write a compelling cover letter, having a scroll-stopping LinkedIn profile, or oozing out David Lee Roth's level charisma during interviews. It was confronting my comfort zone addiction of staying small, under the radar, hoping my work (read: results) was passing muster with my boss. My observations—observations I'm sure you've also had—taught me a hard truth about managing my career; if I wanted to attract opportunities, I needed to be visible. With so much competition in today's job market, savvy job seekers harness social media's unprecedented ability to broadcast who they are and what they do, especially by participating on LinkedIn, where they share professional achievements and engage with industry leaders. They also build their network, write articles and blogs on platforms like Medium or their personal websites, appear on podcasts, and offer to speak at conferences, activities that'll expose their expertise to potential employers and industry peers. Traditionally, job seekers applied to postings and viewed it as a numbers game. That job search strategy is obsolete. With the job market jam-packed with active and passive job seekers, if you're not visible, you're invisible. Visibility is paramount to achieving job search success in today's job market, especially if you're targeting top jobs and companies everyone wants to work for. Think of ways you can be top of mind for hiring managers or at least easily found when they are looking for someone with your skills and experience. Ask yourself, "What can I do so my name gets mentioned when opportunities arise?" _____________________________________________________________________ Nick Kossovan, a well-seasoned veteran of the corporate landscape, offers advice on searching for a job. You can send him your questions at artoffindingwork@gmail.com