#042 - How To Break Into Your Dream Industry

The other day, my girlfriend, Teddy (our beautiful, best-boy, brilliantly-behaved 6-month-old toy poodle puppy) and I had to run out of the way of a helicopter.

We were playing with him and another dog - Chip, who’s about as alpha as prime Michael Jordan - on a big green field when we saw an air ambulance circling overhead.

“Imagine if it was landing on here,” said Chip.

(Kidding. My girlfriend said that. Just making sure you’re paying attention.)

Then, the helicopter turned towards us and started flashing a huge white light.

“Maybe that means we should move,” I half-joked.

As it got closer and closer and lower and lower and louder and louder - and as Teddy and Chip got more and more agitated - we realised that if we didn’t move, this air ambulance might soon be attending to us.

We got out the way, it landed, the paramedics ran out, got into a police car that had stopped by the side of the road, and they sped off towards the scene.

Imagine if when the paramedics got to the scene, they weren’t paramedics at all. They were ‘just’ helicopter pilots who knew nothing medical except that your liver regenerates so it’s fine to drink to excess.

(Can you tell I’m not a doctor?)

What would the families of the people in the accident think?

Would they be like, “Well, they don’t know how to save our loved ones, but they seem to have a great attitude so that’s fine.”

No. They would not be like that. And neither would you.

To be clear: the worst person in the entire world could turn up - someone who chews loudly and doesn’t like dogs, for example - and as long as they knew how to save their loved ones, the families wouldn’t care. They wouldn’t care even one iota. The only thing the families would care about in this situation - the only thing - is, “Can these people save my loved ones?”

Okay. That was intense. Take a deep breath and think about a four-day work week or whatever calms you down.

The above is an extreme example, of course.

But.

There are similarities - believe it or not - when it comes to your job search. And especially if you’re trying to change role or industry - or both.

And no, I’m not saying a hiring manager wants to hire someone with a poor attitude - someone who comes across as arrogant or closed-off or selfish. But they absolutely do want to hire someone who can do their role.

Not just someone who wants to do the role. Someone who, yes, wants to do the role, but who can also actually do the role. And not just any role - their role.

In other words: they’re probably not in the business of ‘giving someone a chance.’ Maybe that sounds harsh but let me ask you this: are you in the business of giving companies a chance? Would you interview somewhere, know it wasn’t right for you, and then think, “Yeah but I think they deserve a break so I’ll just join them and hope for the best”?

I think not.

I advise not.

To hire you, a hiring manager needs to begin to trust you can do their role. And when you’re changing role or industry - or both - this becomes more important than ever.

So how do you do that? How do you get a hiring manager to start to trust you can do their role?

• You can read the job description as much as I’ve read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - a lot - fine, you don’t have to read it that much - and then make sure you have solid examples for everything it’s asking you to do.

• You can change role in your current company rather than trying to apply for jobs you aren’t totally qualified for. Your current company knows you - your strengths, your weaknesses, your attitude, your ability to learn new things, your results. They already know you and - hopefully - have a good opinion of you, so they’re more likely to trust you can do a completely different role.

• Talk to people who’ve changed role or industry (or both). Ask them how they did it. Ask them what they struggled with. Then say to the hiring manager that you’ve spoken to people who’ve done what you’re trying to do and what you learned is [x], [x], and [x].

• Get a referral. Having someone internal vouch for you can make a world of difference.

• Ask the hiring manager what advice they’d give to someone changing role and industry. As they answer, you might get them to sell themselves on you. You smart, smart person.

(If you want to go deeper on changing role and industry, take a look at The Job Search Strategy System.)

Okay.

Finally.

When it comes to all the above, remember one of my favourite job-search quotes from Naval Ravikant:

“Impatient with actions, patient with results.”

You got this.

Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:

1. The Most Common CV/Resume Mistakes And How To Fix Them.

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3. Dive right into the full version of The Job Search Strategy System.

I’ve been in recruitment for almost 10 years. I’ve been named a LinkedIn Top Voice for Job Search Strategies (didn’t even have to bribe them). I’ve helped hundreds and hundreds of people get new jobs. Tech jobs, gaming jobs, remote jobs, mid-level jobs, senior jobs, software engineer jobs, data jobs, cybersecurity jobs.

Dream jobs. Fulfilling jobs. And jobs that have come with a salary increase of more than 130%. (Sounds wild, I know).

The Job Search Strategy System is where I share exactly how to do the above - to get your dream-industry, very-well-paid, totally-fulfilling new role. Dive in today.

PS If you want to go deeper on changing role and industry, take a look at The Job Search Strategy System.

PPS Teddy met a dog the other day who was approximately eight thousand times the size of him. He did pretty well.