Cool Idea: Inventing Your Job

Yesterday, I was reading an interesting article in Forbes about “Inventing Your Next Job” and taking back control of your job search. In the article, writer Jerome Young, explains how finding a job in this economy is becoming more and more difficult. However, his answer to this dilemma is what sparked my interest. He talked about how we, as young job hunters, need to start tapping into our expertise and approach companies with new jobs outlined specifically for us. He breaks this process down into 5 steps:

1) Understand your expertise
2) Create your Brand
3) Create the Project
4) Find the Right Contact
5) Attract Employers Interest

Imagine creating our future job based on our experience, skill-set and industry knowledge. The fact that each one of us has varying degrees of knowledge and hands on experience, we as individuals can offer a combination of different strategies. Young explains that by offering quantitative results in the proposal, potential companies can easily measure our worth and compensate us accordingly. Young reiterates that in this tough economy, this may be your best alternative:

As you look for any new job opportunity, remember that a job posting is only a company’s attempt to increase its profits by adding a resource. That’s why creating your own job opportunity by presenting a profitable project can be a great way to shorten your job search and maintain your salary in a tough market.

By taking our future into our own hands, we are not only shifting our paradigm, but strategically making ourselves accountable for our success. This is also surefire way to build our credentials and make lasting connections with those we’d like to work with.

Defining what we want to do and how to go about it, is the most important factor in inventing our next job. When trying to create our job in a difficult market, we must zone in to exactly what we can provide the employer. If we want companies to look at us as a resource, we must be secure and confident in what we offer. This will reassure potential employers and even improve work habits for overall success. When we believe in ourselves, it’s hard NOT to produce.

Whether we want to create our next job or join a company we can excel with, it’s important to remember that destiny is in our hands. Yes, it may seem like taking odd jobs here and their are beneficial for us in the short run, but those can also be distractions. Sacrifices might need to be made, but it will all be worth it in the long run.