Are you asking yourself the right questions?

We recently read a blog by Mark Manson and it got us to thinking about how we recruit and how people search for jobs.

When looking for a job, the first question you ask yourself is “what am I looking for?” or ‘”What do I want to do?”

That question is fine in principle but it can be very limiting. The answers you come up with will be jobs or tasks that you have already done or are already aware of. But where is the fun in that? You could be completely missing a great opportunity that you have never even considered.

Another pit fall of asking “what do I want?” is that we often jump to the end result, for example, I want a large detached house in the country, but there are lots of things I need to do and achieve before that will ever be a possibility.

How about flipping it around and asking yourself, ‘what am I willing to do?’, ‘how hard am I willing to work to get me to where I want to be?’

For example, if you are looking for a skilled position and a high paying salary, you have to be willing to start at the bottom and work your way up. One does not come without the other.

Thinking about what you absolutely do not want to do, can often be a much more open way of finding what you actually want to do.

Next time you sit at a computer and head to a job board, rather than putting in a job title, try putting your area and salary and browsing through all the different jobs that come up to see if something catches your eye. Or perhaps when you talk to a recruiter, rather than giving them a list of job titles, explain your goal, what you are willing to do to achieve it and anything you are absolutely not willing to do. The recruiter then has a much more open criteria to work with and can work with and could have an opportunity that will surprise you.

Sometimes looking at something from a different angle can give you a whole new perspective and new possibilities.