Getting outside the bullseye
The past two years have meant, for many people, a retreat.
We retreated to our homes. We retreated to our tight inner circles. A lot of us stopped going into the office, which had been a central source of connection. We retreated in terms of the chances we were willing to take.
That’s understandable.
But financial and career counselor Chris Stevick wants you to consider, if you are looking for a job, making some moves to expand your circles.
Networking has always been a central concept for job hunters, and it’s all the more important for older people who may have trouble getting to the top of a pyramid of candidates vying for a generally-advertised position.
Stuff happens
Then came the COVID era.
“COVID really pushed the issue that for many, the inner circle was all people had to interact with,” Chris said. “So many of us lost a lot of rings during COVID - they kind of collapsed.”
And that inner circle, while important for general mental health and support, is often not so helpful when it comes to getting a job.
“People in your inner circle know what you know. And if they have information to share with you, they would have shared it by now,” she said.
“For some people, there was an anxiety vortex and it was feeding on itself. So look for someone outside of your partner or spouse, outside of your bullseyes, who has a little bandwidth who could have coffee with you and say, ‘Maybe we can have an analytical discussion about what to do here. Maybe you have more flexibility than you realize.’”
Venturing out of the bullseye can be a virtuous cycle as well, since the more people you interact with, the more potential there is to meet even more people.
We’re all vulnerable
With our circles contracted, Chris said it may take longer than we expect to expand them again. While in the past she might have recommended that a coaching client pick at least four people to contact each week for a potential connection, maybe now that’s the goal for a month instead.
And while moving from that connection to the next and the next may seem like a daunting task, everyone else is a bit starved for connection right now too.
“I always go back to something that I think is really core: and that is that people like to help other people,” she said.
If you’re open and honest with others, they will usually mirror that back to you.
Just start
For introverts like me, this process can feel scary and intimidating. But just like a writer staring at a blank page - something I know a thing or two about - my advice is to look ahead just one step. Just the first word, just the first call. The rest will follow.
Chris puts it this way: “I’ve always tried to get people to go softly, go slowly - but go.”
“When you break through, and it works, there’s joy.”