Tips for Job Seekers from Co Founder of LinkedIn

The game of searching ‘that right job’ isn’t easy; but with some good career advice, it is even not difficult to get through the struggle of job hunting. Reid Hoffman, co-founder and chairman of LinkedIn has talked about some points to follow and some points to not follow while searching job; have a look at these:

Do not prove that you are a ‘Jack of all trades and master of none.’

During your job search or interviews, you might need to answer why you should be hired over others? For such situation Hoffman suggests, “If you try to be the best at everything and better than everyone (that is, if you believe success means ascending one global, mega leader board), you’ll be the best at nothing and better than no one.” For instance, he says, “…Don’t try to be the greatest marketing executive in the world; try to be the greatest marketing executive of small-to-midsize companies that compete in the health care industry.”

So, focus on majors. Accept that you cannot be perfect in everything but you can have mastery in a particular field and this is what you have to convincingly convey the recruiter.

Following well thought upon ABZ Planning:

Be it a job search or any major career decision, ABZ planning always works. ‘Plan A is what you are presently doing,’ says Hoffman. Regarding Plan B, he suggests, “What you pivot to when you need to change your goal or your route to getting there.” Next is Plan Z, i.e. a backup plan or a fallback plan. “In business and life, you always want to keep playing the game. If failure means you end up on the street, that’s an unacceptable failure.”

Here is one of Hoffman’s personal stories of Plan Z. “When I started my first company, my father offered up an extra room in his house in the event it didn’t work out — living there and finding a job somewhere else to earn money was my Plan Z. This allowed me to be aggressive in my entrepreneurial pursuits, as I knew I could draw my assets down to zero if necessary and still have a roof over my head.”

Finding Vs. Emerging

Several Job search advisers suggest job seekers to ‘find the true self’ before hunting the job. There are several self-help books, which suggest finding out the true self deep within, but Hoffman doesn’t agree with this. According to Hoffman, “Yes, your aspirations shape what you do. But your aspirations are themselves shaped by your actions and experiences. You remake yourself as you grow and the world changes. Your identity doesn’t get found. It emerges.”

Indulge in relation building

Networking is important, especially when hunting for a job. Do you believe in this? Well even Hoffman says, “It’s the presumption that building relationships in a professional context is like flossing. You’re told it’s important, but it’s no fun.” So, if you too believe that networking is no fun, then ultimately you would need to motivate yourself for the same by thinking about some happy moments connected with others. Hoffman says, “We’re not suggesting that you have to be an extrovert or life of the party. We just think it’s possible to appreciate the mystery of another person’s life experience. Building relationships is the thrilling if delicate quest to at once understand another person and allow that person to understand you.”