Recently, I had lunch with a good friend of mine, Jim Hogan of Enaxis Consulting. He specializes in corporate strategies and processes to make business more productive.
We discussed a number of things from business opportunities, the market to technology, but one thing Jim said really struck me. He said that his father always said the
“Cream of the Crop, always rises to the Top”
With the amount of lay-offs and downsizing due to the economy, I am consistently hearing people say things like:
“There are no good opportunities available…”
“I can’t find a job that fits my skill set…”
Well, my advice to those who are looking for opportunities, but are not finding the right one.
Stop looking for the “Right Opportunity”, and look for an opportunity that you can turn into the “Right Opportunity”.
Too many times, we refuse to entertain lesser paying job, but the job opportunity may have unseen:
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Upward potential
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May allow us to learn new skills to make us more marketable.
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May allow us to refine the skills we already have.
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May put us in contact with people who can help our career take off.
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and may more unnoticed benefits
Secondly, if you are looking for a opportunity, it may be in your favor to take a “lesser paying” job to learn a new skill. This will put you in a position to eventually under promising, and over deliver, which makes you look more valuable to your team and employers.
So the next time, you are looking for a job opportunity, take notice of the unmentioned and unseen possibilities and not just the salary and benefits that are in the contract or offer. You may just be surprised at the “new height” it could take you.