A compelling career opportunity suddenly and unexpected appeared on the career radar screen of 43 IT Dallas Business Development Professionals in the form of a LinkedIn inmail message that included this question…

It Started as a Normal Day

I’ll tell you what happened below, but first let me put a little context around this "open to explore" question.

I read recently that LinkedIn says 87% of their members indicate they’re open to new job opportunities at any given time. This report also indicated the #1 reason people change jobs is “career opportunity.”

I don’t believe it, at least not in the context of the following, nor based on my LinkedIn inmail to these 43 Business Development professionals.

Based on my 30+ years of recruiting I believe most people “say they are open” to a compelling new career opportunity, but they frequently don’t act like it! Consequently, their career growth can suffer immensely.

The Difference Between a “Good Job ” and “Career Opportunity”

There is a difference in a “good job” and a “great career opportunity.” People who recognize this difference act differently.

At a minimum, great career opportunities provide opportunities to learn new and highly marketable skills, provide more challenging and interesting work, build more robust professional networks for career leverage, all contributing to becoming SWK – someone worth knowing.

Good jobs are often interpreted to mean a reliable paycheck, good benefits, lower risk, work contentment, and a comfortable work environment. All of these are certainly important, but they don’t necessarily mean a great career opportunity. Average jobs typically lead to average careers.

Timing is the most underrated component for taking advantage of great career opportunities. Good jobs can often be found when a person decides to move on their time table. Great career opportunities most frequently come along when you least expect them, i.e. not necessarily when you’re in job seeker mode.

People allow themselves to become too busy or distracted to think long-term career. Instead they put more focus on short-term goals. They don’t make time to pay attention to their marketability, build robust professional networks and/or open themselves to having brief career discussions when opportunities find them. They need a system and process to determine if the opportunity is a compelling career opportunity.

Here’s a Case-in-point

Recently I spoke to a person with long-term stability working at one of the most respected technology employers in the world.

Her job was eliminated when her business unit was sold to another company leaving her without a compelling internal job opportunity. Suddenly she was faced with entering the job market on her time-table, with skills that weren’t as up-to-date as they should be along with a limited and neglected professional network.

As we talked she acknowledged she had made every mistake

Now Back to the 43 Candidates