How To Ask For Job Opportunities (A Brand New Concept Called OPPORTUNITY STACKING)
Hello. In this post, I’m going to be talking about how to ask for job opportunities, and I’m going to give you some concrete ways to do that.
And not only that, though, I’m going to give you a high-level strategy as to why you’re not getting opportunities right now.
And what’s probably stopping you from getting into the job search like you’d like to and having everything going on and give you some tips on how to proceed in the best way possible for you to have as many opportunities as you want and be in total control over the next job that you get.
So stay tuned.
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I’m a career mindset coach, I can’t just give you the scripts and templates.
I’m going to give you those too, but it’s not the thing that’s actually going to create your success.
And I know this from working with hundreds of clients.
I can tell you that you can find templates OR scripts anywhere on the internet.
If you want to google finding networking templates, finding how to find opportunity templates, you can find those and they are readily available for you anywhere.
And so I would ask you why is it that when we know what to say, and we know exactly what to do, we don’t always do it and it, and when we do it, it doesn’t always work OR it doesn’t always work right away.
And then we get discouraged.
What I’m going to offer you in this post is more of a high-level strategy for creating opportunities for yourself and how you can be more in control of your job search. If you feel like right now, you’re just at the mercy of whatever job sites post, whatever they post.
The first thing I want to ask you is why do you think you’re not getting opportunities now?
Is it potentially because you know, you’re not taking the action that you need to be taking.
If that’s the case, totally valid, why aren’t you?
And if you’re not, it’s probably along the lines of you don’t believe that people actually want to help you.
And that’s a very common belief may be because you’ve tried in the past and it hasn’t worked. Maybe somebody hasn’t responded to you, maybe somebody tried to help you and they didn’t.
Maybe you got to some points in a networking conversation that didn’t go anywhere.
Then you decided to make that mean that people can’t help, OR people don’t want to help, OR this doesn’t work.
If you aren’t getting opportunities now it’s because you’re not taking the action to get them. And the reason why you’re not taking the action to get them is that you don’t really believe they’re there.
You don’t really believe it’s going to happen OR it’s going to work.
Otherwise, why wouldn’t you do it?
What I offer you is some new ways of thinking about this.
The second thing I want to point out is if you check your information, you will go and find that anywhere will tell you that networking is the best way to get a job.
That’s what any site will say. The most common stat is 20% of jobs are found on the job postings that are actually posted and then 80% is not right.
Maybe you’ve heard this stat before, but you can go to any site, look up stats for networking, and you’re going to find this information. And they’re going to have different surveys from different people that have been surveyed.
Maybe it’ll be students for some, OR it’ll be mid-level professionals for another, OR they’ll have just a general survey.
But every survey I guarantee you ’cause I’ve checked them all is going to tell you that the majority of jobs are found through networking connections.
If you don’t believe that, then go and check your information.
If you don’t believe it’s going to work, then you’re not going to take the action to do it, and it won’t work because you won’t do anything towards it.
In the meantime, your alternative is to be stuck on the job boards, waiting for something to happen.
If you’re not getting any response from that, you’re going to be pretty discouraged.
I’m not saying do not apply on job boards, you can absolutely do that.
And some of my clients have had success with that, but if you’re not having success with that, OR if it’s very slow, you’re not getting a lot of interviews, then don’t limit yourself to just that, because it is definitely not the only way or the best way, in my opinion, to find that next opportunity for yourself.
The third thing is that don’t limit yourself by strictly defaulting to the job boards, because that’s what you think is the best way to do it because that’s what everybody else does.
There’s a way to make it really easy on yourself.
Asking for opportunities can be a hard thing for people to do, especially if they’ve never done it before and they don’t know how to do it, which is why you’re here reading this post.
You think you need a template OR a script to tell you how to do it, but really you need to figure out in your mind how you are going to do it comfortably.
However it is, you need to do it.
I have a podcast episode, which will explain to you what the easiest way to start is.
And it’s called “Niche Networking”.
In the podcast I go into great detail about how to network with people first that you already know, network with people who are like you, OR a few years ahead of you in their career.
Click below to listen to it.
Thing number four, make sure that you can approach it in a way where you start to feel comfortable with it.
A lot of people feel really uncomfortable asking for opportunities.
And so I would suggest that you ask for opportunities in a way that you can feel comfortable about.
It doesn’t mean that you’re directly saying, do you have a job for me?
OR is there an opening available?
Normally these things, these questions don’t turn into job offers.
Sometimes they do, but it’s not an established connection yet, and you haven’t shown your value yet if that’s all you’re doing.
You want to do it in an authentic, comfortable way for you.
And reaching out to the person, in the beginning, might not be comfortable, and I wouldn’t expect this whole process to be comfortable.
But if you do it in an authentic, genuine way, then you can feel good about who you’re being and how you’re showing up in this process.
And it’ll be a lot easier and more fun for you to do it.
What I mean by that is asking questions of the person, getting genuinely curious about the person that you’re communicating with, OR networking with and connecting with. And having a really good meaningful conversation.
Then at the end of that conversation, asking them some questions like, if you were me, what are you recommend that I would do if I’m looking to, and then be very specific about what you’re looking to do.
If I’m looking to transition into a role like yours, for example.
OR do you suggest anybody that you know that I could talk to, OR do you have any ideas for any companies I should be looking into?
And you can come up with your own questions too, but do it in a way that’s authentic and feels good to you, but make sure you are taking action and moving forward from a belief that this works and that people want to help you because they do.
And I’ve had people say, no, they don’t, they don’t want to help me, nobody wants to help me.
And that is my friend, what I call a negative story.
And if you believe that, then you can keep that negative story and you can just ask yourself, what does that do for you?
How does that serve you? And where do you end up with that negative story?
Because I know there’s a lot of you who have negative stories.
You might not know they are because a negative story is just something that you’ve been repeating in your head.
And it’s not a fact, but you don’t know, it’s not a fact you report it like it’s the news.
I’m here to tell you that people do want to help you, they help my clients every day.
And it’s just not something that automatically happens immediately because you have to learn how to do the process in a way where you can show up genuinely and authentically where people feel that energy from you and they want to help you.
If you’re showing up like a creepy weirdo, who’s like, do you have a job for me?
Is there an opening then you’re not going to get the response that you want and then you’re going to think that it doesn’t work.
So when you show up genuinely and authentically versus a creepy weirdo, you will get different results I promise you.
Alright, number five, a concept I teach is called opportunity stacking.
And what that means is we can have the ability to stack opportunities on top of each other.
Meaning we have a lot of opportunities happening VS relying on one.
What normally happens is when you’re applying through the job boards, you only have one opportunity, one opportunity at a time.
You go on that interview and automatically just because you have that one interview and nothing else going on, you have a lot of pressure on you to perform in that one interview.
And then if you don’t, you’re going to be very disappointed in yourself, or if they don’t offer the position, you’re going to be very disappointed in yourself.
You’re going to think, Oh no, now I got to start from square one, this sucks.
What I offer you is if you are stacking opportunities if you are putting, let’s say we use it as an example of a piggy bank.
We’re putting money into that piggy bank every day, we’re stacking opportunities.
Then you can be a lot more relaxed in the interview knowing that you’ve got two OR three interviews lined up. So if you don’t get this one, that’s okay, ’cause you’ve got and other things going on.
It also makes you feel a lot more confident, ’cause you’re a highly in-demand candidate.
You’re somebody that people want to talk to.
You’re somebody with skills to offer that people want and need, people don’t set aside time just for anybody.
And so this is why you need to have more than one opportunity going on.
That’s why opportunity stacking is not only going to help you with your networking and your skills to interview, but it’s also going to help you with your ability to gain confidence in yourself.
And the only way that we get this is by taking the action towards it.
The way that we get to take action, it is we start believing that it’s possible, that you could be wrong about networking, and that networking works.
Do you see how that works? And so the last thing is, is check your expectations.
What are you expecting?
Most people without knowing it, without being conscious of this at all, are expecting to have one OR two interviews and land the job.
Then when they don’t they spiral into confusion and sometimes extreme disappointment or depression, depending on how extreme you felt about this opportunity.
But that expectation was only set by you. And you had control over that expectation.
If you don’t expect to get a win the first time, and you understand that it’s a process, then you are not going to be so disappointed.
And you’re going to go to work on figuring out what it is you need to learn in order to get that job. And you’re going to be so much more empowered by that.
You’re going to be like, okay, I knew this was coming.
Now, I’m going to do my evaluation.
I’m going to figure out where I went wrong, what I did well, the fact that you got the interview in the first place is where we always want to start because people don’t just want to interview people who think they’re going to waste their time.
They obviously saw something in you. We always need to start with what’s working and then we need to go from there.
But the number one reason people give up too soon, people quit, people slow down, is because they underestimate the amount of effort that it was going to take to get there in the first place.
And if you have that heads up and you know that, then you won’t be blindsided by that, and you will understand what needs to happen for you to move forward.
So with everything else I’ve talked about in this post, you have total control over this and you can go and ask for your opportunities.
You ask without asking, asking the questions that I gave you.
You subtly ask.
And you do it from a very genuine and authentic place so you don’t feel like a creepy weirdo because a lot of people come to me and say, yeah, it didn’t work, it didn’t work, it’s not working.
There’s a reason why, okay.
And results don’t lie.
There’s a reason why you’re getting the result you’re getting.
And it’s not because there’s anything wrong with you, it’s not because you’re not capable, it’s simply because you haven’t learned the process the way that it needs to be done. And until you do, you will keep getting the same result.
That’s what I help you with.
And I have free training for you. It’s called to Get A Better Job In 30 Days.
And we go into detail about opportunity stacking and I give you the script to send out and the very tactical actions that you can take.
So, click the link below to get that training.
SIGN UP TO WATCH THE FREE WORKSHOP HERE
In this training:
- We’re going to go over the opportunities and how to get infinite opportunities, so you’ll never have to worry about where you are getting your next opportunity from.
- You going to find out how to crush your interviews and how to focus on what you can control to nail those interviews.
- Also, how to get a win no matter what, how to feel likeable, so whether they like you or they don’t, how you’re still going to feel intact, and how you’re still going to feel confident in yourself to keep going to ultimately get to your goal.
- We’re going to talk about mastering salary negotiations so that you can make the money that you want to make over the course of your lifetime. We’re talking five, ten years out, what is it that you want to be doing.
- You’re probably thinking pretty small right now if you’re like most people. I want to challenge you to think bigger.
- And the last thing we’re going to talk about setting up your promotion, so, the things you need to be focused on right now in order to get where you actually want to go.
If you’re interested in that, click the link below, you can get it immediately, you just have to enter your information, and It’ll be in your inbox.
SIGN UP TO WATCH THE FREE WORKSHOP HERE
Do you know one person who could benefit from the information in this post? If so, do your friend a favor and share this info with him/her.
And remember, the current system isn’t perfect, but you can outsmart it. I’m here to prove to you that you do have what it takes.
I’ll see you next time and I can’t wait!
In Work & Life
I’ve got your back
– XO Natalie
