Bill Burnett, Dave Evans “Designing Your Life: Live the Way You Need It,” Alpina Publisher, 2018.
The main philosophy of the book is in the title: design your life like a constructor, and remember that any prototype is born after a dozen failed attempts. The authors urge each failure to be assessed as a step towards the goal, because giving up something wrong brings you closer to finding the right path. But really - how often we grab onto the first solution to a problem or a vacancy, without evaluating other options, just to grasp what is within reach. “Don't be afraid to be stuck. The state of the impasse is a springboard for creativity ”is the motto of this book.
Two of the 11 chapters of the book are devoted specifically to job search (chapters 7–8). Before looking for suggestions, the authors advise you to decide what you have now and the direction of movement. “Every time when it begins to seem to you that everything goes awry in your life, you should check the health of your compass”, “In order to find your way, you need not only a compass, but also a direction”
Figurative thinking will help you choose a direction
Case. Burnett and Evans cite an example of a lady who loved Italian cuisine and dreamed of opening a deli shop and cafe with him. Instead of creating abstract images of her idea (to find out how it feels to work all day in the field of catering, hire staff again and again, take an inventory, study the contents of products) and try to look into the future, she zealously got down to business and went along the way overcoming difficulties - I found a rental room and money for the first investments, hired staff, made a menu and much more to do to realize the idea. The project was successful. But the lady was at an impasse, she simply did not know what to do next. She realized that owning a cafe is not the same as visiting it or planning to open it. As a result, she sold a cafe and took up interior projects: here it is - planning! What she really liked to do at the stage of opening the cafe. To find herself, the heroine had to overcome a lot, but this could have been avoided.
Methods of figurative thinking. A lot of them. One of the most effective, in my opinion, is the “fitting” of a dream job. Attend specialized conferences, talk on the sidelines, ask vital questions to authoritative experts, work as a volunteer in the company or area you are interested in, and so on. Simple observation and information gathering will also help: if you want to become a taxi driver, find out how many hours a day will have to work (and this is not a legal 8 hours), are clients unscrupulous and what do taxi drivers do when they meet, and indeed, can you do it daily ride in traffic jams without experiencing much stress. What if you get sick at all and have to refuse to work already for medical reasons?
Another example: you plan to change the position of a sales manager to an accountant, ask yourself, are you ready to perform routine tasks of the same type every day? You can even download the balance sheet or other report on the Internet and try to fill it in during the working day. And, perhaps, to form 1000 payment orders in 8 hours?
Homework
At the end of each chapter of the book there are tasks for independent work - they will help consolidate the knowledge gained. The main thing is not to flip through these pages with a promise to yourself that someday you will return to their implementation.
For example, one of the exercises will be useful to those who are at a crossroads - the current activity is annoying, and what is next unclear. In a notebook (its authors call the diary of good time) for two weeks you need to write down the duties, during the performance of which you feel boredom or anxiety and, on the contrary, emotional uplift and good mood. Such monitoring will help to find out exactly which functionality to focus on. Performing such an exercise, you need to understand that getting rid of routine, unloved things forever will not work, but their number and the time spent on them can be minimized.
A spoon of tar
“Employers do not hire resumes, but people. Those they like, ”the authors specify, and one cannot disagree with them. But some tips on this seemed to me to be broken.
Burnett and Evans offer standard search methods an alternative - conducting so-called prototype conversations with “useful” people, in fact, with potential employers. During conversations, your task is not to ask for a job or even present yourself, but simply to show interest in the interlocutor and maintain a sincere conversation. According to the authors of the book, at the end of the meeting, you, as an active listener, should receive a job offer, and for a position that is being searched for in a closed mode or in general is still closed.
Now let's think about how this will work in practice. I can vaguely imagine a situation where an ordinary applicant (or employee) will be able to invite the first person of the company to a meeting so that the latter tells him about his life or work. No, an invitation may work out, but not the fact that the employer will respond to the invitation and come.
Then, active listening, and in fact, interrogation, may look like industrial espionage: who will tell a stranger about their projects? Paranoia? Not at all - any information is for sale today.
In general, this method has flaws, in my opinion. But this does not mean that you need to brush it off. No, it can and should be adapted. American authors, like many other foreign business trainers, once again showed an important thing - the most interesting offers and on the best conditions can be obtained when you personally know the decision maker, when you are on an equal footing, you have informal relationship and each of you understands how it can be useful to the other. Networking is a great help in finding a job. You can establish useful contacts or just chat with interesting people at mentor evenings, thematic conferences, trainings, etc.
Richard Templer Career Rules. Everything you need for career growth ”, Alpina Publisher Publishing House, 2017.
The feature of this book is that in one place all the theses important for a career are collected, in fact, it can be called a collection of useful life hacks. The book will be useful not only at the stage of job search, but also for building a career. Therefore, she has every chance to become a careerist handbook, along with other, equally interesting publications.
The book contains 100 rules, which are grouped into 10 groups: “Know how to do business”, “Remember that you are always evaluated”, “Make a plan”, “If you can’t say anything nice, keep silent”, “Be careful and prudent” , “Become Your Own”, “Be Ahead of Events”, “Be a Diplomat”, “Use the System for Your Own Benefit” and “Learn to Cope with Opponents”.
Many tips are widely heard: for example, “Maintain an impeccable appearance”, “Learn to speak (write) correctly,” “Define long-term (short-term) goals,” “Dress like your superiors,” “Don't talk about your plans,” “ Explore your strengths and weaknesses ”and much more.
Consider a few tips in more detail:
“Understand the ethical component of your work (profession).” In each profession, you can find the opposite: it can be a lawyer who helps the boss protect the company from raider seizure, or a lawyer who implements schemes for transferring money to offshore; an accountant who knows the law in such a way that does not allow a single tax inspection penalty, or an accountant who conducts double reporting ... Remember, if something does not suit you, you always have the choice and the opportunity to find a new job.
“Learn what others don't know.” You must be the best in your industry. For some reason, many workers believe that once having received an education, it will be enough for a successful career. No, no and NO. Being an eternal student - these are the realities of this century. Technologies are developing and becoming obsolete so quickly that by the time they graduate, it is often necessary to retrain again. Check your professional compass with the "competitors": study their resumes, evaluate the vacancies of the companies you are interested in, read the biographies of successful professionals in your industry and so on.
"Never Stay Inactive." Richard Templar advises finding time and opportunities for self-improvement, study, analysis and planning: “While others are thinking about the upcoming smoke break or how to hold out until the end of the day without doing anything, try to consider the strategy and tactics of your next maneuver. Ideally, you should cope with your immediate responsibilities before the lunch break in order to free up the afternoon. At this time, you can write suggestions and reports that will attract attention to your work, explore ways to optimize the workflow for you and your colleagues. ”
"Do not miss the chance." A chance is when you find yourself together with the CEO in the elevator and to his question “How is the project progressing?” You know (!) What to answer, and not mumble something inarticulate or “tasteless”. Or when you encounter a boss on the stairs and you can tell him 10 shortcomings of the competitors' new service and how to beat them with benefit for your own company.
"Think like superiors" and "Think about the problems of the company." These two tips are a must have for everyone! As soon as you begin to think not only about your own benefit and personal interests, a career will immediately go uphill. It seems to me that career consultants have already filled up a callus in the language, saying that at the interview you need to talk not about your desires (“I want to work in a large developing company that provides employees with a free work schedule, a cool social package and high salary”), but about how you can help this company in its development - then you will have a high salary, and a social package, and other goodies. Also during operation. For example, salespeople are sewn up at the end of the month - they try to implement the plan. And they ask you to linger and help - as part of your functionality. But it doesn’t bother you - you have a working day up to 18 hours, and then an electric train to the suburbs ... You get up and leave. Lingering at work is not part of your plans, even if it is paid. A proposal to go out to work on the weekend (also for a fee) causes trembling and antipathy. By the way, employers consider such employees to be unstable, which means that they will not see a rise in the career ladder.
The main philosophy of the book is in the title: design your life like a constructor, and remember that any prototype is born after a dozen failed attempts. The authors urge each failure to be assessed as a step towards the goal, because giving up something wrong brings you closer to finding the right path. But really - how often we grab onto the first solution to a problem or a vacancy, without evaluating other options, just to grasp what is within reach. “Don't be afraid to be stuck. The state of the impasse is a springboard for creativity ”is the motto of this book.
Two of the 11 chapters of the book are devoted specifically to job search (chapters 7–8). Before looking for suggestions, the authors advise you to decide what you have now and the direction of movement. “Every time when it begins to seem to you that everything goes awry in your life, you should check the health of your compass”, “In order to find your way, you need not only a compass, but also a direction”
Figurative thinking will help you choose a direction
Case. Burnett and Evans cite an example of a lady who loved Italian cuisine and dreamed of opening a deli shop and cafe with him. Instead of creating abstract images of her idea (to find out how it feels to work all day in the field of catering, hire staff again and again, take an inventory, study the contents of products) and try to look into the future, she zealously got down to business and went along the way overcoming difficulties - I found a rental room and money for the first investments, hired staff, made a menu and much more to do to realize the idea. The project was successful. But the lady was at an impasse, she simply did not know what to do next. She realized that owning a cafe is not the same as visiting it or planning to open it. As a result, she sold a cafe and took up interior projects: here it is - planning! What she really liked to do at the stage of opening the cafe. To find herself, the heroine had to overcome a lot, but this could have been avoided.
Methods of figurative thinking. A lot of them. One of the most effective, in my opinion, is the “fitting” of a dream job. Attend specialized conferences, talk on the sidelines, ask vital questions to authoritative experts, work as a volunteer in the company or area you are interested in, and so on. Simple observation and information gathering will also help: if you want to become a taxi driver, find out how many hours a day will have to work (and this is not a legal 8 hours), are clients unscrupulous and what do taxi drivers do when they meet, and indeed, can you do it daily ride in traffic jams without experiencing much stress. What if you get sick at all and have to refuse to work already for medical reasons?
Another example: you plan to change the position of a sales manager to an accountant, ask yourself, are you ready to perform routine tasks of the same type every day? You can even download the balance sheet or other report on the Internet and try to fill it in during the working day. And, perhaps, to form 1000 payment orders in 8 hours?
Homework
At the end of each chapter of the book there are tasks for independent work - they will help consolidate the knowledge gained. The main thing is not to flip through these pages with a promise to yourself that someday you will return to their implementation.
For example, one of the exercises will be useful to those who are at a crossroads - the current activity is annoying, and what is next unclear. In a notebook (its authors call the diary of good time) for two weeks you need to write down the duties, during the performance of which you feel boredom or anxiety and, on the contrary, emotional uplift and good mood. Such monitoring will help to find out exactly which functionality to focus on. Performing such an exercise, you need to understand that getting rid of routine, unloved things forever will not work, but their number and the time spent on them can be minimized.
A spoon of tar
“Employers do not hire resumes, but people. Those they like, ”the authors specify, and one cannot disagree with them. But some tips on this seemed to me to be broken.
Burnett and Evans offer standard search methods an alternative - conducting so-called prototype conversations with “useful” people, in fact, with potential employers. During conversations, your task is not to ask for a job or even present yourself, but simply to show interest in the interlocutor and maintain a sincere conversation. According to the authors of the book, at the end of the meeting, you, as an active listener, should receive a job offer, and for a position that is being searched for in a closed mode or in general is still closed.
Now let's think about how this will work in practice. I can vaguely imagine a situation where an ordinary applicant (or employee) will be able to invite the first person of the company to a meeting so that the latter tells him about his life or work. No, an invitation may work out, but not the fact that the employer will respond to the invitation and come.
Then, active listening, and in fact, interrogation, may look like industrial espionage: who will tell a stranger about their projects? Paranoia? Not at all - any information is for sale today.
In general, this method has flaws, in my opinion. But this does not mean that you need to brush it off. No, it can and should be adapted. American authors, like many other foreign business trainers, once again showed an important thing - the most interesting offers and on the best conditions can be obtained when you personally know the decision maker, when you are on an equal footing, you have informal relationship and each of you understands how it can be useful to the other. Networking is a great help in finding a job. You can establish useful contacts or just chat with interesting people at mentor evenings, thematic conferences, trainings, etc.
Richard Templer Career Rules. Everything you need for career growth ”, Alpina Publisher Publishing House, 2017.
The feature of this book is that in one place all the theses important for a career are collected, in fact, it can be called a collection of useful life hacks. The book will be useful not only at the stage of job search, but also for building a career. Therefore, she has every chance to become a careerist handbook, along with other, equally interesting publications.
The book contains 100 rules, which are grouped into 10 groups: “Know how to do business”, “Remember that you are always evaluated”, “Make a plan”, “If you can’t say anything nice, keep silent”, “Be careful and prudent” , “Become Your Own”, “Be Ahead of Events”, “Be a Diplomat”, “Use the System for Your Own Benefit” and “Learn to Cope with Opponents”.
Many tips are widely heard: for example, “Maintain an impeccable appearance”, “Learn to speak (write) correctly,” “Define long-term (short-term) goals,” “Dress like your superiors,” “Don't talk about your plans,” “ Explore your strengths and weaknesses ”and much more.
Consider a few tips in more detail:
“Understand the ethical component of your work (profession).” In each profession, you can find the opposite: it can be a lawyer who helps the boss protect the company from raider seizure, or a lawyer who implements schemes for transferring money to offshore; an accountant who knows the law in such a way that does not allow a single tax inspection penalty, or an accountant who conducts double reporting ... Remember, if something does not suit you, you always have the choice and the opportunity to find a new job.
“Learn what others don't know.” You must be the best in your industry. For some reason, many workers believe that once having received an education, it will be enough for a successful career. No, no and NO. Being an eternal student - these are the realities of this century. Technologies are developing and becoming obsolete so quickly that by the time they graduate, it is often necessary to retrain again. Check your professional compass with the "competitors": study their resumes, evaluate the vacancies of the companies you are interested in, read the biographies of successful professionals in your industry and so on.
"Never Stay Inactive." Richard Templar advises finding time and opportunities for self-improvement, study, analysis and planning: “While others are thinking about the upcoming smoke break or how to hold out until the end of the day without doing anything, try to consider the strategy and tactics of your next maneuver. Ideally, you should cope with your immediate responsibilities before the lunch break in order to free up the afternoon. At this time, you can write suggestions and reports that will attract attention to your work, explore ways to optimize the workflow for you and your colleagues. ”
"Do not miss the chance." A chance is when you find yourself together with the CEO in the elevator and to his question “How is the project progressing?” You know (!) What to answer, and not mumble something inarticulate or “tasteless”. Or when you encounter a boss on the stairs and you can tell him 10 shortcomings of the competitors' new service and how to beat them with benefit for your own company.
"Think like superiors" and "Think about the problems of the company." These two tips are a must have for everyone! As soon as you begin to think not only about your own benefit and personal interests, a career will immediately go uphill. It seems to me that career consultants have already filled up a callus in the language, saying that at the interview you need to talk not about your desires (“I want to work in a large developing company that provides employees with a free work schedule, a cool social package and high salary”), but about how you can help this company in its development - then you will have a high salary, and a social package, and other goodies. Also during operation. For example, salespeople are sewn up at the end of the month - they try to implement the plan. And they ask you to linger and help - as part of your functionality. But it doesn’t bother you - you have a working day up to 18 hours, and then an electric train to the suburbs ... You get up and leave. Lingering at work is not part of your plans, even if it is paid. A proposal to go out to work on the weekend (also for a fee) causes trembling and antipathy. By the way, employers consider such employees to be unstable, which means that they will not see a rise in the career ladder.
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