You Want It, When?

You Want It, When?

When I was working in Corporate America several years ago, there was a popular one panel cartoon that was often hung around the area of copiers or service desks. The cartoon contained one perplexed individual with a pile of work in their hand. The remaining characters in the cartoon where all laughing hysterically, slapping their knees, rolling on the floor and having a great old time. The cartoon had under it a simple four word, caption, “You Want It, When?”

While in our service oriented world and economy such behavior would not be encouraged or tolerated very well today, the cartoon comes back to me often when I begin working with a new client, especially one that responds to me as follows. When speaking with new clients and having a consultation with them, I will lay out the logistics of a research developed and strategy based job search. There are steps to take, industries to target, people to connect with for interviews, consistent follow-up, etc. And, while on very rare occasions an individual learns of a job, is interviewed and is offered it quickly, the chances of that happening are closer to the less than 1% category, than it being the norm. However, I will still have individuals that will say to me, “I can’t have it be that long before I find a job. I need a job now. What do I need to do to get someone to hire me immediately?”

While privately I’m thinking “You Want It, When?”, and more privately I am thinking this individual is in for a lot of frustration in the coming days and months, I try to work with them a bit more closely. For example, I understand for some individuals “cash flow” is an immediate issue. Therefore, I’ll begin to probe about their willingness to work a job for a period of time to help pay the bills, while they in their remaining hours focus on the steps needed to reach the type of job they really want. Are they willing to work a minimum wage job? How open are they to working part-time, contract or consulting work? Is there an openness to taking limited contract assignments, (three months, six months, etc.), or are they only willing to search and search for “full-time permanent employment”, and cast other possibilities aside? (NOTE: While I do understand the desire for “full-time permanent employment,” there is a part of me that is of the belief that no position taken in today’s world is “permanent.” To put aside the habits developed while in job search after landing such a position, is a recipe for problems when something unforeseen happens at the “permanent” job).

We only control so much in our lives. We can control the planning we do, the choices we make, the strategies we develop, the people we choose with to network or not network, the courses we choose to study. Additionally, we are the ones responsible for the message that we use to introduce what it is we do, what we can do to help others meet their needs and solve their problems. HOWEVER, we cannot make choices for another. We cannot get them to buy our product or services if they are not in the market for it at the moment. We can only INFLUENCE their thought process and offer them ideas and thoughts to process as to why we are the best fit for what they need. And, to do that, a well thought out approach and strategy is essential. DOING THAT TAKES TIME AND EFFORT!!!

So, remember, we only control so much of the narrative. Even if we choose to go into business for ourselves and can make more of the decisions as to what products and services we will offer and which we will not, we still are facing the prospect of finding “buyers of our talents”. Therefore, unless we absolutely are in charge of ALL aspects of a process, (including the actual doing of the work or tasks involved), we may want results on our time schedule, but we may have to accept that they may not come as quickly as we expected.