Though Hoffman (co-founder of Linkedin) and Casnocha see the struggle through the eyes of one percenters (they don’t seem to know anyone who didn’t go to a good college), there’s lots of good advice that you can apply to your own career. We’ve distilled that advice into eight solid tips that you can apply to your job search today.
1. “A Company Hires Me Over Other Professionals Because…”
To answer this question, Hoffman uses the example of Zappos, which focuses on mainstream shoes and clothes. While it might be tempting to adapt the company’s “over-the-top customer service” to other categories as well, that would make Zappos’s unique selling proposition less apparent.
2. You Don’t Need to “Find Yourself”
“Contrary to what many bestselling authors and motivational gurus would have you believe, there is not a ‘true self’ deep within that you can uncover via introspection and that will point you in the right direction,” Hoffman writes.
3. Use ABZ Planning
In Hoffman’s formulation, Plan A is what you’re doing right now. Plan B is “what you pivot to when you need to change your goal or your route to getting there.” Plan Z, meanwhile, is your fallback plan. “In business and life, you always want to keep playing the game,” Hoffman writes. “If failure means you end up on the street, that’s an unacceptable failure.”
4. Look at Professional Networking as Dating
Hoffman distinguishes between old-school “networkers” who pursue relationships based on what they think others can do for them and “relationship builders” who think of the other person first. Relationship builders “don’t keep score. They’re aware that many good deeds get reciprocated, but they’re not calculated about it.
5. Have Fun Building Relationships
Hoffman writes that networking gets a bad rap because most people don’t enjoy it. “It’s the presumption that building relationships in a professional context is like flossing,” he writes. “You’re told it’s important, but it’s no fun.”
6. Build Your Weak Ties
Hoffman illustrates this by pointing out that Frank Hannigan, a software entrepreneur in Ireland, raised more than $200,000 in funding in eight days in 2010 by reaching out to his 700 first-degree connections. But 30% of the investors actually were second-degree connections.
7. Pursue Breakout Opportunities
Every once in a while, a great opportunity comes along that might help you leapfrog up the career ladder. For example, George Clooney was a struggling TV actor when he heard about ER in 1994. Clooney “caught wind of an opportunity, hustled to seize it, and catapulted his career to new heights.” Clooney didn’t necessarily know that ER would become as huge as it eventually did. “How did Clooney recognize ER for the breakout opportunity it was?” Hoffman writes. “Well, he was not certain it would be a breakout. You can never be certain.” But ER had “high quality” people on board and the opportunity was a lead role in a major network drama.
8. Be Resilient
Not everyone will appreciate your great idea, but if you really believe in it, you can put up with a lot of adversity.
Via Mashable